Ice On The Guides

Last Saturday was a nice, clear day, although somewhat cold. At the river it was 26 degrees, somewhat colder than the water itself which was 37 degrees. With the air temperature below freezing, I pulled out some Stanley’s Ice Off Paste. It is a paste that you can put on the guides to help prevent them from freezing up. It actually reminds me of fly floatant when it is cold and a thick paste.

There were three cars at my original destination so I headed a little further upstream and parked near the bridge. There were only two cars there and I could see one fisherman working his way downstream so I decided to cross the bridge and head upstream. Saturdays are usually more crowded but at the same time, I’ve always had good luck on Saturdays. Often I see people leave just as I arrive in the afternoon. Sure enough, the fisherman who was fishing upstream was just headed back to the truck so I had the whole upstream section to myself.

The water is a little deeper under the bridge so I thought I might as well at least give it a shot before hiking further upstream. I cast upstream and across as I usually do, allowing the nymph to sink and then float drag free under the indicator as it works its way downstream. I raised the rod to pick up line and prevent drag as the indicator came closer and then lowered the rod and gently flipped the line upstream as the indicator floated past. This is when the indicator hesitated and I lifted the rod. I could tell right away from the head-shake it was a big white fish. After an embarrassingly short fight for an 18 inch fish, I slid the fish up on the ice to remove the hook. There’s nothing like catching a fish on the first couple of casts to warm up the reflexes. Further up stream at the next hole, I caught a couple more white fish and then a couple of nice brown trout. It’s nice to know I can catch something more that white fish.

Back to the Stanley’s Ice Off Paste, it worked well at first but after a half hour and three or four fish later, I could feel that the line was not shooting out the guides as well as it was earlier. I put more paste on the guides after breaking off the ice. This kept them free again for another half hour or so. In the end, Ice Off Paste works, but you do have to keep applying it every30 to 40 minutes or so.