Fishless January

January ends today as it began, frozen. Temperatures rose above freezing only a few days in the month and those days did not coincide with days off of work. That meant the waders stayed hanging in the garage. The rods stayed safely in their cases. And I suffered from severe cabin fever.

As the gang at Chagrin River Outfitters proved, the hardest of the hard core could find both open water and steelhead this month. But things just didn't work out on my end.

Some years I can fish straight through the winter, but the last two winters have been colder than normal. The shallow rivers of Lake Erie's south shore are jammed with anchor ice and the 10 day forecast offers no promise of a thaw.

Time to break out the cross country skis.