Tundra music overhead prompted me to look up from my spring bobber and smile on Valentine’s Day. The big white birds are harbingers of rapidly approaching winter.

Two days after Thanksgiving they were flying tall, loud and southbound. The walleye bite was aggressive on B-3 blades. Old guy wisdom says three days after the tundras leave, the River ices over. Once again natural wisdom insight was spot on.

Sadly, I missed the part about tundra’s return from the Chesapeake when my mentors were passing the Korbel around the old surplus army stove.

There was 16 inches of good, clear ice in the backwater where lotsa little gills and a few keepers were making the spring bobber dance on a Chekai tungsten jig in Sam Darnold’s old colors. I’m even happier about not settling in Minnesota than I am about leaving Illinois.

Refugees from both these states will be welcome in my Lund when the guide shingle goes back up on March 15. This will be my last year working. Yeah, I said that last year. But teaching secrets of the immortal River to those who really want to listen are still a driving force in life, and this precious life force can change for the worse or end at any time with 7 plus decades on the planet already downstream.

With essentially every backwater, running slough and even the river mainstem pretty much locked up in ice on Feb. 14 I couldn’t help wondering what kind of cosmic compass goaded this vee of about 20 birds to push north. did the Creator whisper refuge and a happy loafing area are somewhere on the Pool I’ve never been?

Valentine’s Day has no natural significance other than my bride of 54 years seeming quite happy that i’m headed out the door with a bucket full of short rods.

Feb. 12 is an entirely different manner. For some reason this has been the day crappies start biting aggressively on Li’l Cecils–either purple or gold–half way down in the water column of DeSoto Bay and more cloistered spots on Pool 9.

My fishing diary confirms this subjective belief over the past 20 years, regardless of ambient temperatures. Data for 2026 is missing cuz i was coming back from South Alabama after an extended mental health escape.

We’ve had a long, brutally cold winter. The roughest in at least 10 years. But runoff from temps tickling 50 was already making the ice pop on Valentine’s Day, with open water at the tailwaters and in tribs increasing in surface area by the hour.

I plan on launching the boat on Monday or Tuesday, either alone or with a couple of kindred spirits who have managed to avoid compulsory attendence at a sanity hearing thus far.

The Mississippi is a dangerous, unforgiving place, even during quiet times. But ice in various configurations will make fishing even more treacherous and hazardous in open water and at the boat ramp for another month at least.

I’ve never been a fan of “bumper boats” at the tailwaters, avoiding this circus if there is any open water downstream. Looks like a red rubber nose and orange fright rig. Will be part of the attire besides my Striker float suit for at least a couple more weeks.

We still have plenty of winter weather ahead. But if the ambient temp is above 32 degrees the eyes on my St. Croix rods won’t freeze and these sensitive sticks will be in a state of perpetual bendage, Lord willin’