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Ice out happened on this lake last Sunday at about 8 pm or so. This upcoming week will be all about turkeys and rainbows. Can’t wait.

It seems like the ice is holding on forever around here. No matter, a busy week of work and poor weather have kept me grounded.

I’ve been tying soft-hackled flies and  a few wool-headed patterns in the mean time. My fly boxes have never been so full.  Here’s hoping next week brings some open water and a bit of fishing on the lakes around here.

Ice will be with us on some lakes until May I think.

It seems to me that the Ice Gods are toying with us. You see a little open water at the edge of the lake and then it freezes up again by next morning. And this weekend promises nothing but more cold, maybe even snow.

On the plus side, I’m seeing plenty of turkeys and my fly boxes are full as they’re ever going to get. Now I’m tying muddler minnows and their variants just for the fun of it.  They’re a darn good fly to have handy, especially in the early season.

When it comes, I’ll be ready.

Spring is well on its way.

I can hardly make it off the road I’m on without running into deer or turkey these days. And just the other afternoon, my springer spaniel Callie put up four grouse on a short walk. Woodcock, mallards and geese are back too. And bears will be out of their dens any time now. Life is great. My fly boxes are full. We’ve made it through another winter.

Within three weeks we’ll be chasing turkeys. Before that, we’ll be fishing for trout in some of the local rivers. And, sometime within that time frame, ice out will happen too. I’m guessing that this will occur a little later this year, but I could be wrong.  Once open water is here it’s crappie, rock bass, lakers and rainbows.

Not long  after we’ll be chasing pike, walleye and bass. It’s coming quickly.

I can hardly wait.

The Alexandria streamer is a nice looking old pattern that is an adaptation of the wet fly that shares the same name. It’s relatively simple to tie and said to work well on trout, something I hope to confirm at ice out.

The one pictured is the third I have tied and still a little rough around the edges. Even so, the photo doesn’t do justice to the way the peacock herl wing reacts in the light. My gut instinct says this will be a winner on trout and bass, although I’m still not sure about the durability of this handsome streamer. The wings seem too pretty to take much abuse.

This neat little streamer is known at the Bolshevik. According to The Art of Fly Tying, by Claude Chartrand (a really neat Canadian book)  this fly was first tied by Neil Thorpe of Toronto in 1921. It is said to be very effective when trolling for lake and brook trout.

I just like the classic look of it and find it easy to tie.  This year, sometime around ice out, I’ll put it through the paces to see if it performs as well as it looks.