almost zero

It was almost zero *C today... The excuses for leaving our Fly shop in Coleman and driving a short distance east , were new tires on the suburban, dog walking, and a few chores to be done in Pincher Creek..Mid afternoon, downstream on the Crowsnest River I was searching for some open water...I found a lot more openwater than expected after this 4 week deepfreeze. Caution on the ice was excercised by myself and Winston the dog , as the fishing situation was iffy , all the frog water was frozen. Multi coloured frozen goose poop on the ice, covered by a skiff of snow, looked like tops of rocks on the streams shallow inside bend.. The creaking of the ice made me look a little closer at what I was standing on.. After a change of position and only 2 casts a nice 17 inch rainbow was hooked and landed on my olive offering. The takes were subtle , more like a pull and a few trout were missed while I was thinking about that increasing tension on the line..( those trout were cold !) Frozen goose poop on the shore ice created other technical problems,the line hooked on those cheeze shaped ones while roll casting and line mending...but good drifts happened and more trout were caught than missed . The Stanleys Ice Off Paste worked again but this time the goose poo was the big technical problem..Seems there is always need for a new fly fishing product , but what would we call it ??? As I drove east towards Pincher Creek there were thousands of geese and ducks flying onto the grain fields . Thousands more birds than on my last frigid days of goose hunting season... they will stay if there is food and open water. It's too bad the migratory bird season is over, they are wrecking my drift and my ice.. Al B.