Mike Bleech: Off by a few degrees ~ LAWOK LEPAS

Wednesday was a beautiful day, at least through midday, in the Kinzua Creek valley.

Along with three other fly-casters, I spent the middle part of the day fishing, and enjoyed every moment of it. The sky was rich blue, the sun shone brightly, and when the wind was not blowing the temperature was tolerable.

There is where we get to the gist of this column -- the temperature. On March 30, more than a week into spring, we hoped it would have been warmer. Temperatures in the high 30s are not unusual for late March. But when that represents an upturn in the temperature, that is not what we expect.

Nor was the sight I saw while crossing the Morrison Bridge on my way to Kinzua Creek. As far as I could see, the Allegheny Reservoir was covered by ice. Most years, I troll the reservoir for trout on the opening weekend of trout season. Now it seems more likely that I could ice-fish there.

This should be a time when we are going into some of the best fishing of the year. It is what I call an "iffy" time, though -- a time when weather conditions might spoil everything.

Trout were not cooperating in Kinzua Creek. I started using a metallic blue bead-head nymph, one that I devised the previous year when I watched a friend hit the trout pretty well in the same stretch of water using a bright blue nymph.

The very next time on Kinzua Creek, just a few days later, the new blue nymph proved its worth. A few days after that, the fly was a winner on steelhead at Elk Creek. But not this week at Kinzua Creek; our group could not manage to catch a single trout.

After a couple hours of futile casting, I found a nice spot to sit in a sunbeam. Between extended periods with my eyes closed, I noticed ice on a hemlock limb hanging in the water. That is how cold the water was: too cold to melt ice. That is cold.

As soon as the water temperature rises a few degrees, everything should bust loose. Steelhead will hit better, crappie will hit better and perch fishing in the bay should pick up.

After leaving Kinzua Creek, I drove to Erie to attend a meeting of the Northwestern Pennsylvania Sportsmen's Coalition. When the meeting concluded, I walked out to the parking lot, where a couple of inches of fresh snow was on my truck, and big flakes were falling.

MIKE BLEECH can be reached by e-mail at mikeb73@verizon.net. Read more of his columns at NWPAoutdoors.com.