I put in with a couple other online buddies yesterday on what is likely my last launch of 2013. Mars and Regulus shone brightly in the Eastern sky as we left the ramp - and it was 28°F at Pineview Reservoir in northern Utah. My fingers got so numb by the time I started fishing that while baiting my hook, I was surprised that I couldn't let go. A closer peek showed the hook buried nicely in my numb forefinger. "Hmmm," said I to me, "It didn't hurt going in, so..." And I yanked.
Didn't hurt. Then.
Did later. Sho' nuff.
A few hours later, after watching schools of perch and crappie go by on my Humminbird - all with their middle fins raised - I bagged it. I had managed to avoid the odor of skunk, even catching one double. But the flyswatter crappie and hammerhandle perch were too small to clean. The only thing I brought home was this photo, taken by a fellow shiverer...
That's not a smile - my cheeks had contracted with the cold.