They say we're young and we don't know..

          It's almost  here, the day we've all been waiting for. Soon we will know how many more miserable weeks of winter we will be subjected to.  On February 2nd it will be Groundhog's Day. The story goes, a couple hundred years ago in Pennsylvania, a bunch of drunken American- Germans stayed up all night drinking  beer and come morning, decided they could predict the weather by observing the behavior of  a marmot. If the rodent popped out of his hole and saw his shadow, he would crawl back in and there would be 6 more weeks of winter. I never understood this, it always seemed backwards to me. One would think that if he saw his shadow, it was sunny out and spring was just around the corner. But who am I to judge. I'm  glad my Irish Heritage doesn't have any silly traditions that involve staying up all night.

          And then there was the movie. You know the one where Bill Murray, an arrogant and egotistical weatherman, wakes up every morning and it's the same day, Groundhog's Day. Over and over, woken by  the same Sonny and Cher song on the radio, every day, the same thing. Musky fishing can be a lot like that movie. At times when I'm fishing I feel like I'm living the same day, over and over, with the same dismal results. Cast after cast, spot after spot, day in and day out.  I mean it's not always  the same. I change lures every now and then. Sometimes I even fish spots where  I've never caught fish before. In the movie, self centered Murray, stuck in a rut with no end in sight,  decides to change. He eventually  achieves self-improvement  by educating himself on a daily basis. Then one morning he wakes up and sure enough it's the next day, Feb 3rd. Huh, maybe there is a lesson to be learned here. I don't know.

          One thing we do know is Spring will eventually come. Maybe it'll come early or late, but it will come. With it brings the Ice Out Challunge. It might be held on Mar. 22nd. or Mar. 29th. We will just have to wait for that woodchuck to let us know. Either way, we will embrace the 2014 Musky season with open arms. Some of us may also embrace it with open minds. I know I will ...if I 'm not too hung over from St. Patrick's Day.

I got you, Babe,

Jim Welsh