Punxsutawney Phil sees early Spring

We have had a warm front end to the week and we see that the weather guessers think it will continue for some time. Is winter over? No, not by a long ways. But you cannot refute that Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow this last week!

Remember that Phil is only right 45% of the time. Meaning, he is as accurate as your financial advisor.

I thought about the warm spring like weather this week already and decided not to feel guilty about enjoying it while it is here. I certainly want more snow in the hills this winter for more water in the rivers this summer. We all do. But why not enjoy the air temps when they touch the 60F benchmark.

Implications of Phil’s Shadow

If Phil is right

Then we move forward into spring early. Get out your dry fly rods and midge boxes. Clean that fly line and practice a few times in the next couple weeks to improve your accuracy. Accuracy is important when pinpointing roaming and rangy midge feeding trout. Sort of…

Back on track. If Phil is right and we see an early spring we will see an increase in water temps which will advance the bug cycle. Early Midges, BWO’s, March Browns, Caddis, on and on. Warmer weather and early run-off. This is all pure speculation at this time.

If Phil is right we will be seeing a ton more anglers early in the year. We already have seen a bunch of familiar faces and new ones too. Most are interested in trying out that two handed stuff.

If Phil is wrong

Then we are back on track. We do need more snow n the hills. Our wettest months are yet to come. February is the driest of them all. March, April, May and June bring the precipitation. Although as you may remember us saying on this blog the water managers claim that the 3 week of April is the tipping point. Whatever snow is on the ground at that time is what dictates our summer flow. There is more to it than that simplistic view, but essentially that is the nuts and bolts of that equation.

Not too many years ago, our first 4 years open in Craig, we had higher than average water. Lots higher! So it is not beyond Mother Nature to turn things around in a hurry. In ’08 or ’09 it looked lean until early April. Post Missouri River Annual Water Meeting it started raining. And did not stop. That can happen. So Phil while not being a genius, or even accurate…could be wrong.

 

A coin toss is more accurate than that damn hog.

 

We do know that Montanans are out in force. Cleaning their garage. Working on projects that they did not complete in the fall. Skiing a bunch. And of course fishing on the Mighty MO! Look us up this spring on the Missouri.

We have a Spring Special starting March 15th. $350 Guide Trips offered by Headhunters through the end of April. Discounted pricing on lodging too from Craig Trout Camp beginning @ $125.

All I can tell you is that Punxsutawney Phil always fishes with Headhunters Fly Shop & Guide Service.