Snow-mageddon inbound or just a dusting? I’m hoping for that insane 20-plus inch prediction. I remember the blizzard of ‘78, and man oh man was that a lot of fun for a 10-year-old kid. Probably not so fun for our parents but we really didn’t care. We had 10-foot snow drifts in our back yard on the farm. The neighbors had snow over the second-story windows in a three-story farmhouse. When you are 9 and weigh 70 pounds wet, it is easy to walk on top of the frozen snow and jump out of three-story windows into drifts on snow. This was back in the day when farmers put out snow fence — nothing was stopping that blizzard. One area of the yard had six feet of snow inside a grid of snow fence, so we made tunnels. It was like Star Wars before we knew what Star Wars was. That would be fun again. As an adult it would be absolutely terrible, but bring it on.

Fishing is in winter mode — hard to catch no matter the species. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. Perch won’t be on the spawn for a while, until the end of February, so you have to look for action. It is so cold out most days right now anyway and that wind, to the bone. In two weeks, winter flounder season opens but not many even bother trying to target that species.

Tautog will be the charter and head boat targets. Many are hanging it up for the season. Inlet fishing for tautog is OK but chilly. Bait shops are more likely to have fresh bait on weekends.

Seasonal clamming is open again in the Rehoboth Bay after the closure from an accidental sewage spill. The oyster farmers are pulling a lot of great-tasting oysters. Hit them up, they took a huge loss during the closure.

Despite the rough weather, wildlife still has to eat. With some of the waters freezing over, the food competition can be fierce. I watched two eagles fight over a fish on the ice of Millsboro Pond the other day. The ice will just cover more waterways as the week passes. Don’t bother trying to ice fish. That is a rare activity in Delaware, though I have a buddy that has done it before on Wagamons Pond. Do not go try this — just putting it out there.

Listening to the ASMFC winter meeting online has been boring but necessary. It’s always good to see what is being proposed and what will or won’t be protected. The big deal this year is — drum roll — striped bass. Are you surprised? As if they aren’t the concern every year.

We are making rigs, cleaning our gear, and planning for the coming season.

Surf tags go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m. in park offices and online. I highly recommend just getting it online. There is no need to camp out or get in long lines. Unless you are a diehard skate and dogfish angler, there really isn’t much point.

This time of year, it is good to mention the importance of having a portable air pump in your beach vehicle. You never know when a station will be down or you need it on the beach. There is little to no one out there all day. You might see a ranger once. This is not the time of year to get stuck or jammed up on a drive on beach.

The last ghost crab pot removal day occurred on Monday. A total of 99 crab pots were removed from an 850-acre area that is still holding roughly 600 or more possible crab pots. Of those 600 possibles, 400 are definites, thanks to high-tech scanning gear.

That is a ridiculous amount of crab pots left behind over the years in only a small section or cove area of the Indian River. One pot contained 12 dead diamondback terrapins, trapped while hibernating. Ghost crab pots kill even in the winter.