Coldest Outbreak of your life: Hunting and Fishing Story

Mine was December 20-22nd, 1989. It was the day I got my acceptance letter (Early Decision) to the college of my choice. We were duck hunting in the MS Delta. We walked out of Lusco's in Greenwood at 10 pm and the bank clock outside said -2.

That next morning we found a hole the ducks had kept open on the south side of some timber on a rice field. We would work groups of 500 to 1000 at a time.

My lab would come sit beside me on 5 inches of ice. His balls would freeze to the ice. Then we would shoot and he would go make a retrieve and it ripped the skin off his balls.

That following morning even the catfish ponds and the rivers were frozen solid. We found them dry feeding in a bean field and went to work on them. Ducks, Geese. Everything.

Some highlights of that winter blast:

-- Minus 4 in Lake Charles, LA
-- 29 degrees in Miami
-- 14 inches of snow on the beach in Myrtle Beach, SC
-- Down on the bayou they were riding around picking up thousands of dead specks and reds in S LA. It took 4-5 years for the fish populations to really recover.

But the GOAT all time winter blast was in the first two weeks of Feb, 1899. Most of the records have never been broken:

-- Minus 2 in Tallahassee
-- Minus 14 in Minden, LA
-- Three inches of snow in New Orleans
-- Snow in Tampa and Ft Myers
-- The Brooklyn bridge contracted 14 feet
-- The ground froze to a depth of 5 feet in Chicago and wind chill was 100 below zero

What are your best cold weather, hunting and fishing memories?