Dave Keith displays a nice Allegheny River smallmouth bass caught and released during a day that included horizontal snow.  Jeff Knapp/Special to the Eagle

During a guide trip on the Allegheny River recently, my longtime guests Josh, Linda and I got on the subject of weather and how it relates to fishing. Josh commented on how at times the fishing can be best during the worst weather.

On that day the fishing was great, but so was the weather.

It hit 70 degrees, and we put over two dozen nice smallmouth bass in the boat, along with two incidental muskies and a couple walleyes. Only three days prior, fishing the same section of river, my friend Dave Keith and I endured snow squalls and 20 mph winds. The action wasn’t great, but we did put several bass in the boat along with a half dozen non-targeted walleyes.

As long as folks have been fishing, I suspect they’ve discussed how weather affects the results.

We control what we can. Maintain our equipment, use good line, keep our hooks sharp, make sure our boots don’t leak, but there are many things we can’t control. And the weather is one of them.

One weather related factor we can control is whether we even attempt to fish.

I recall taking pro-walleye angler Keith Kavajecz out of the lower Allegheny in Kittanning over 30 years ago. Kavajecz was in Pittsburgh for an outdoors show. We’d arranged to fish for a few hours before Keith’s evening seminars. When asked if he still wanted to go, given the frigid temperatures, he replied yes, he “did not let the weather dictate fishing activities.”

Fished we did. I don’t believe the temperature reached double digits. But we caught walleyes, something not possible if he had stayed in his cozy hotel room.

Which adds another thought. Having fished on a serious basis for over four decades, I’ve seen anglers lose some spark as age creeps in. Seems like the weather is often used as an “out” for not going. Comments along the lines of, “we were going to go, but the weather forecast called for …”

Granted, it’s wise to use common sense before committing to the time, energy and financial layout fishing activities require. But I’ve seen where such sound decisions are dominated by rationalizing the worst weather outcome even if the forecast doesn’t warrant it. It becomes an excuse not to go.

The other night I watched an In-Fisherman YouTube video where Al Lindner, former owner, was interviewed regarding his early days and how things have changed.

Since a lot of the tales of old involved associates who, like Al, are now in their 80s, he commented on how he and many others still have the “fire in the belly” for fishing. How just that day he and longtime friend Gary Roach had had lunch to make plans for their annual Canadian ice fishing trip that takes place when lake trout season opens in early April.

After a long day on the water, mild aches and pains remind me I’m within a couple years of the seven-decade mark. But I tend to ignore the message, relying rather on the visions of fish yet uncaught, “weather” or not.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle