Most of the recent fishing traffic has been on Holter Lake

The arduous winter slog continues as frigid temps and snow persist. Fishing days have been few and far between this winter unless the hard water is your game, in which case you’ve been enjoying one of the better ice fishing seasons on Holter in recent memory.

It’s been a long winter and our thoughts are definitely wandering. Wandering towards spring and a return to fishing the amazing Missouri.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. The Montana snowpack looks awesome right now and with colder than average temps and more snow in the long term forecast all indicators point to a good water year ahead. This is in stark contrast to the southern Rockies where they’re currently sitting at less than 50% of average snowpack.

We experienced a brief shot of spring weather yesterday with temps creeping into the high 40’s but it’s  back to winter  today. The next couple of days look tolerable with temperatures in the high 30’s but we’ll see another polar plunge on Sunday and throughout the better part of next week. Depending on which forecast you follow we may not make it above zero on Monday or we may see temps in the teens, regardless, it’s going to be too damn cold to fish the MO’.

Fret not however because the season will be here before you know it. Spring has to arrive sooner or later. In fact it’s just over a month away. It feels to me like winter may indeed overstay its welcome this year but I expect in the next couple of weeks we will start to see a glimmer of hope. A sunny, warmish day or two is all it takes and we’ll be on our way.