Friday May 4th, 2012
Greetings and welcome!
We had a mixed week for weather this week. We had a couple of days where it rained pretty good, and we had some nice ones. Wednesday’s rain filled up puddles, but Thursday’s rain filled them up and kept them full, and the driveway even got a little soft. The USGS gauge by Kosir’s is only reporting 6/10th of an inch, but it seems like about double that.
The weekend weather looks like another mixed bag, and it looks nothing like the early week forecast. My guidance is suggesting that early fishermen Saturday might get a few hours in before the rain comes late morning. One model isn’t quite as optimistic and starts the rain a little after dawn. There is a 40% chance of rain Saturday, and the NWS is expecting cloudy day in the mid-50s and a 10-15mph east wind.
Saturday night and Sunday look a little better with reduced rain chances until Sunday afternoon and Sunday night. Some forecasts have us for strong storms later Sunday, but I see them as going south again.
Fishermen like myself that are believers in the solunar tables have a lot to look forward to. The full moon is the peak of peak times on the solunar tables, and that full moon is on for Saturday night.
But wait, that’s not all.. This full moon is the perigee moon. What is that? The moon has an elliptical orbit. In the case of the perigee moon, it is the closest to the earth that it will be all year. According to NASA, “This May’s full Moon is a “super Moon,” as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full Moons of 2012. ” The moon will rise in the east, and moonrise is at about sunset. If the clouds don’t obscure it too badly it should be a huge moon.
Between the big bad moon and the unsettled weather the opening day holds a lot of promise. I can tell you for sure that the deer were very active last night. I saw a lot on the way home from work.
Beyond the opening day of fishing, Saturday is also the Kentucky Derby. The nice folks at Bear Point Yacht Club have a tradition of a derby party, and the ladies are encouraged to wear their nicest derby hats. Chris said that Slug sent a picture, and here it is. Very nice..
This week’s rain and warm weather had a lot of effect on the great outdoors. The understory in the woods is starting to get a nice green carpet as plants emerge, and I expect to see trillium soon. A lot of trees and brush are starting to fill in a little with leaves, and I can’t see as far into the woods as I could a few days or a week ago. The frogs in/around the pond have been noisy, and there were a lot of moths and bugs out last night. Spring is here, hopefully for good this time.
The rain will be good for the whitewater rafting. I am not expecting huge water levels out of it, but it will be a rising river and well into the fun zone for the weekend. Right now the Peshtigo is running about 300cfs, and is on the rise. That is about +1 for now, and we could add an inch or two by Saturday noon thanks to the Thursday rain taking a few days to reach the whitewater stretch.
The weather outlook might not be perfect this weekend, but I think that fishermen have a lot on their side with the weather and the moon phase. A fella might want to spend some of his worm money on a helmet and body armor, because the fish will be jumping into the boats on their own, tired of waiting for you to bait the hook.. Ok, maybe not, but it was funny when he said it.
Speaking of baiting hooks, I did a web site for a guy south of the flowages that makes a neat little gadget that helps you get the line through the hook eye.
I have one of these , and as the local phrase goes, it is slicker ‘n owl snot*. It is a handy item, and it is available at local bait stores in Crivitz and Townsend as well as on line at Hookholder.net. The guy that sells them is a nice guy too.
* I am curious how they established the lubricity or friction coefficient of that particular substance, or why they researched it, but that might be a different day’s topic.
Gas prices locally have been in the $3.83 range for a while now, but the market is down about a dime today. I don’t know if that will translate through to a drop in pump prices in time for the weekend, but it is moving in the right direction.
I think that is about it for today. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB