Polar Bear Plunge

The President's Day holiday brings out the fools once a year to raise money for our local charity Reach Inc and the Montana Special Olympics. Reach Inc. is a wonderful program in Bozeman that helps people with disabilities get through life a little easier. They have great programs such as equine therapy, swimming and adult education programs. Groups throughout town such as the Bozeman Ice Dogs Hockey Team, MSU Athletics, Bozeman Police department and many others raise pledges from locals in return for their stupidity and jumping into a frozen pond.

This year there were probably over a 100 participants who took the plunge into the 30 degree water. Fortunately for the swimmers there is a hot tub located about 50 yards from the hole that is cut in the pond. The highlights of this year were characters such as Wayne and Garth look-a-likes, Sea Shell clad bikini's, Bill and Hillary Clinton costumes and plenty of capes and bikini's. The team that raised the most money for the event was the Bozeman Ice Dog hockey team which raised over a thousand smackers for the organization. All of the teams combined raised over twenty thousand dollars for the Special Olympics and Reach. Congratulations to all the participants and thanks for taking the plunge for a worthy cause.

The weather cooperated very nicely with air temps around 35 degrees and the sun shinning down bright and warm. I should have gone fishing today but commercial fly orders were calling and I probably would have just taken a nap on the bank anyways. Tomorrow they are calling for some cloud cover to move in, which will increase the chances of my getting my obsession of the first fish of the year on a dry fly over and done with.