And mud.

We've put a lot of miles on the snowblower this winter and it ain't over yet. The vernal equinox is within hailing distance, but closing the gap and crossing into Spring could prove a perilous passage. And even Spring can turn on us. We're still cleaning up after last April's Patriots Day storm.

A heavy snowpack and a rapid runoff can mean flooding, and the chances are better than average that we'll have some of that this Spring. Floods are not only damaging to human activity in the flood plain, but to stream life as well. If the timing is bad, the efforts of spawning fish can be scoured away and swept downriver by the flood, leading to the loss of a good portion of a year class. I have been told, too, that a deep snowpack can lead to fish mortality in lakes and ponds due to excessive blockage of sunlight, but the reports of good ice-fishing would seem to ease fears in that department -- although I think the greatest risk is in small water not open to ice-fishing. If you know more about this than I do, which is not much, it would be good to hear from you.

Surfing the Web for interesting fly-fishing sites is a lot more fun than working, and can occasionally result in a good catch, such as Larry Antonuk's site, ClassicAtlanticSalmonFlies. Larry lives in New Hampshire and ties presentation-quality streamer flies which he sells artfully displayed under glass domes or in frames, accompanied by a photo if desired. Good stuff. Works of art. I'm hoping to lure Larry to Upper Dam this season for a bit of angling, to see if his creations actually catch fish.

A reliable indicator of Spring is the annual L.L. Bean Fishing Expo, coming up at the end of next week. A reliable indicator of the economy is this: Bean's used to give away little plastic boxes of trout flies to attendees with coupons; now I see on their website (and in the mailing that arrived yesterday) that you have to buy $25 worth of stuff to get the box of flies. Things are tough all over.