February 2009 Almanac
This Month: It’s More of January … Just Better!
February offers outdoors folks more of January, but the second month includes two decided improvements — warmer temperatures and longer days. The thermometer averages 2 to 3 degrees warmer overall, but some days near the end of the month easily get 20 and 30 degrees warmer than January, particularly in a February thaw. Also, by month’s end, daylight has increased by approximately two hours. This longer sunlight and warming air start snow melting in good shape.
This month, anglers know they will have ample ice for their sport, but veterans check the ice thickness for fear of wandering over thin spots. No one questions, though, that ponds and lakes will have safe ice somewhere on them in the second month.
Snow sledders know that Maine will have snow from Kittery to Fort Kent and from Wilson’s Mills to Eastport — maybe! It’s a pretty safe bet, though, that snow will have fallen to provide snowmobilers with enough to run a machine.
Rabbit hunters live for light dustings of fluffy snow on a base that can hold their merry beagles. This month, fir thickets and swamp bottoms become tunneled wonderlands for their sport. ‘Cat hunters, coyote and fox callers and folks after crows also relish the lovely winter settings that often look like a calendar photo.
Smelters gather on coastal rivers and streams now, a sport that has spawned businesses that have catered to folks for decades. These entrepreneurs know how to make their clients happy, and cheerful sounds describe nighttime smelting camps as folks work for a mess of smelts while sitting in a warm shack, telling stories and ribbing one another.
The unofficial fly-tying season is going full blast as folks replenish boxes and develop new patterns. Leisurely meals with spoils from the woods and waters describe a February evening, and then, a good book by a fire makes the night ever so pleasant. Who needs to complain about a Maine winter? It offers good times for every taste.