Northern Plains Storm Brewing?....huh?

Ed L.

Ed L.

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The Weather Channel tells of a major storm event coming out of the Rockies and into the upper plains and I'm thinking wooohooo...maybe we'll finally see a push of birds to our area. Then I look at forecasts on Intellicast.com and Weather.com and there's nothing but a few snow flurries and no accumulation...Jeesh. Anybody recommend a good book on fly tying or how to collect cast iron frying pans?
 
There is a storm coming but I don't think it is going to be a heavy snow event except maybe in northern MN. The bigger thing might be ND getting cold enough to lock up the water. Might even start to freeze up a little here in tropical SD.

Tim
 
I am waiting for the last push of mallards myself. We have snows in my area, but in a 150 mile jaunt yesterday, I only found a couple small concentrations of Mallards. all other ducks are gone, except a few bills here and there. Small and some medium sized potholes froze last night, but still lots of open water.
 
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There were no new birds for us in NW MO this AM thought we might catch some newbies but they were all used to us. Did shoot teal though and two of them were blue wings!
 
Tom,

I shot two teal on Sat. near LaCrosse, Wisconsin and one THEM was a blue wing. Not only that but they came into a DIVER spread - very odd season indeed.

BTW: I'll be down to Kansas next week - you been over to CB lately? I'll likely be there early in the week.
 
did not plan on going this year going to stay instate, less water out that way but you might be there when it gets real good. Best wishes
 
Ed:

What kind of tying do you want to do? I'm out here in trout country, but tying techniques and styles are much different for saltwater, or for warmwater species.

Are you looking for a book to help you get started tying, or a pattern book that has recipes for lots of different flies?

If you are starting, I STRONGLY recommend you start by finding some in-person instruction. Failing that, find a good video. Fly tying is very difficult to learn from a book--many of the basic techniques simply need to be demonstrated to make sense.

Around here, most fly shops and many adult education program offer winter tying classes. Your local Trout Unlimited or Federation of Fly Fishermen chapter might, too.

Can't help you on the cast iron pans, but I am told Griswold's are good!
 
Ed, at first I thought you were posting about a new brand of beer! LOL

As for weather and ducks migrating I found this interesting bit of information the other day:

As a general rule of thumb: The average daily temperature must be at or below 32 degrees for three days in a row for freeze up to cause ducks to migrate. The average is calculated by adding the high and low temperatures and dividing by two.


The entire article can be found here:

http://www.prairiestateoutdoors.com/index.php?/pso/article/duck_migration_forecast_waterfowlers_hoping_for_freezing_temps_in_northern_/
 
Ed, at first I thought you were posting about a new brand of beer! LOL
Click to expand...

Me too! There sure as heck aren't enough ducks around to make an interesting conversation. Actually I saw a flock of sandhills this AM, seems I usually notice them in October. Hopefully something will kick things loose up there.

Chuck
 
Pete I'd read about others shooting BW's a couple of weeks ago. I threw out a doz. BW dekes on Sunday and the guy I was hunting with started laughing! I also thre out 6 Woodies and that's what I got to shoot at. Woodies are usually long gone by now too.
 
Mark and Chuck....That does sound like an interesting brew when I think about...LOL. Probably wouldn't have any better luck brewing beer but at least we could sit around and talk about ducks!


Jeff, I don't know anything about tying flies. I don't fly fish but I've heard theres some good creeks in Iowa for it. I may need a new hobby. I'll look for some videos.
 
Got up this morning with temsp in the teens. First time for that this year I believe. Driving into work has shown many of the smaller bodies of water frozen completely. Don't know how thick the ice is but some water is out for hunting. I'm heading out in a few minutes (make that sneaking out) of work and driving over to my fav frozen water hunting spot,. Hopefully the landing is still open cause as you know Ed, I don't have a way to carry my Hoefgen on top of the jeep. Maybe I'll have to borrow the kids car and put it on top of a Toyota car. That might interesting.

It would really stink if I can't get the big boat into the end of the year hunting spots. One season ends Tuesday and I've always hunted the last day of the season for as long as I can recall..

Mark
 
Ed,

I thought the fly tying comment was made in jest, or perhaps frustration at the lack of birds, at any rate, a very good site to look at for tying instruction videos, (if you're serious), is www.flyfishohio.com. A real wealth of information there. Another good bet is to go to a sports shop that caters to flyfishermen. Those guys love to help out folks new to the sport. Good luck and good hunting.

Dave
 
the bad news. last night all water froze, even the big lakes around me. bad news, snow geese are still here in big numbers and ducks seemed to concentrate and are still hanging around. I saw a number of flocks just sitting on the ice driving into work, so they must think its going to warm up.
 
Bill...LOL...thanks for the update. I'm sure I'll be out somewhere this weekend. Can't just sit home. The only exercise I'm getting is from throwing out the decoys and picking them up.
 
Thanks for all the input on fly tying. Some of it was in jest. I didn't grow up with anyone that fly fished. I bought and outfit many moons ago and after reading a couple of books and unwinding the line from around me a few times and coming to realize a tippet had nothing to with drinking beer I decided after all that work a 25 yard cast was a little short sided and went back to my spinning outfit. Maybe now that I'm a little older and thus must have gained some patients thought the years I may have to try it agin.
 
A buddy called me from his place in southern ND last night. Invited me to come up and shoot snows with them as they are filming an episode for some outdoor channel I never heard of. Said there are two and a half to three million snows there. Tempting but I am in florida, our seson opens saturday, my two grandsons are doing their first real hunt with my son and myself, and last but not least I already used up my two weeks of ND license. Lifes tough! Rich
 
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