Cold winter
So, it wasn't just these old bones and battered joints reminding me of my advancing age. And it wasn't just a bunch of grumpy anglers whining because they couldn't find a fish.
No, it's now official: We are coming to the end of one of the coldest, most blustery Louisiana winters on record, a three-month stretch during which fishing conditions - especially for speckled trout - were as bad as they can get without a serious fish kill.
"Measured from December through February, this is the sixth coldest winter since records were started in 1895," said Barry Keim, the LSU professor who is also the Louisiana State climatologist.
The average temperatures state-wide during that period were 46.3 degrees, almost five degrees cooler than the long-term average of 51.2 degrees.
The five coldest Louisiana winters on record:
1. 1977-78, 44.4 degrees.
2. 2004-05, 45.6
3. 1963-64, 45.8
4. 1898-99, 46.2
5. 1976-77, 46.3
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