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Within the confines of this blog, you will find bits and pieces of the life and times of myself, my family and friend dear and near., far and wide, few and far between. You will find bits and pieces of my world, tho small to some, but huge to me. You will find everything from 'soup to nuts',; recipes, hobbies,crafts, gardenings,loves of my life, GrandLoves-a-Plenty, and even my pets... Sooo, if you can handle family life, enjoy the tour of my 'Stuffings'.

Monday, January 16, 2012

It's No Good Til It's In the Pan


Way up here in northcentral WI., ice fishing is a big sport, family fun, survival of the fittest. First, it takes desire, next warm, very warm clothes, head to toe and boots that will keep those tootsies toasty throughout your ice fishing day.

I love to eat the fish that are caught, I will gladly fry them up the way you want them, but I am not particularly excited about sitting on a bucket in the middle of a snow-covered lake, wetting a line down a little 4 to 8 inch hole in the ice, just to catch a fish. Call me crazy, but I do not care to freeze like a popsicle in a matter of minutes, in fact, I guess it really isn't fair to make an assessment since I never, not once,have ice fished.........so, I sent my son. He loves to go.

This was yesterday's minimal catch,........today, his uncle went along and they fished two different lakes and threw back the only keeper........but, as they say, it was the company, the stories, the nice day of 28 degrees and exploring a couple small lakes they could walk to the fishing hole.......of course, now they had to drill those fishing holes with a hand auger. After all, they just walked a mile to get to the lake., then to the middle it. Good thing it was only about 42 acres. That's an easy trek, normally, but factor in carrying your supplies, tip-ups, jig poles, bait, folding camp chairs, backpack of water, thermos of beef broth, survival kit, (just in case), and a snack or two for the afternoon.

Uncle took the lead, since the nephew had offspring, as he said, throwing nephew the truck keys, just in case he went through the ice. Yikes. Afterall, these were lakes with springs in them, even open water along the edges. Out in the center of the lake, the water depth was 20-some feet, but thank goodness, there was 14 inches of safe ice to hand-auger through.....exhausted from the walk and the excitement of the day, the holes drilled, let the fishing begin.

The remainder of the photos are from the 'net', internet, not fish net. The picture above and below are a pretty accurate scene of what the boys did today, walked out onto the lake, drilled a hole with the hand auger, set a tip-up, or used a jig-pole and fished.
These two fellas are just 'nuts,' idiots, but very dedicated to the end of the melt. It even looks as tho they have a pretty good tan going on yet, too. Can you believe this? And to think there actually are some die-hards out there.
In the middle of winter, in the middle of nowhere, when there is not a blade of green grass to see or a leaf on the trees, this is one of the chosen ' good times ' up north.
A Fisheree, whether for a good cause, or just for fun, is not an uncommon event waiting for spring thaw. You must understand, our winters can go as long as 6 months.......so, pull up a chair or a bucket, scoop the ice crystals out of your freshly drilled hole, and fish awhile.

Go to upnorthwithmel.blogspot.com and check out the upcoming JDWarrior Fisheree, a fisheree for a good cause, for Suicide Awareness. It will just take you a second to get to UpNorthWithMel. She's my sis, and does a great job putting this event on with the rest of her hubby's family. Then, get in the truck or your car and take a drive to the event....don't forget your snowboots, warm clothes and that jig pole.
Yessiree, this is fishin'


I love this cartoonage~~~it reminds me of the GrandLoves~~~LOL
Even the birds~
and the dog get into the act~~~~I'll git'em fer'ya
Now, put me in one of these log cabin ice shacks and maybe I won't notice I'm on a lake of ice.....
or something like this for a quick get-away~~~
But there ya have it, My Fear Factor
Are we having fun yet?
How about now?
There is a deadline, as to when ice shacks, vehicles and people, have to be off of the ice depending on the rate of spring thaw, but there is always one out there that the rule just doesn't seem to apply. Then it's their responsibility to remove the sunken obstacle out of the northern waters by another deadline, that comes along with a hefty fine for not paying attention in the first place.
I'm so glad our guys, so far, have not had to learn the hard way.

Seriously, get out there and play in the winter air. So, if you are squeamish about going on the ice, no matter how thick it is, go sledding, skiing, cross-country skiing, skating, snow-shoeing, hiking, heck, just build a snowman or build a fort or an igloo. Whatever you do, get outside. Breathe the fresh, cold air. Go fishing through the ice, I'm going to try it this year. Dad used to say the fish are no good until they're in the frypan. He was right.

Thanks for listening to me carry on and on and on.
Do check out Mel's blog about the Suicide Awareness Fisheree at www.upnorthwithmel.blogspot.com
and
BlessYourHeart

10 comments:

jack69 said...

Awwww, my mouth is watering. What a great catch, and I LOVE fresh fish. Never went Ice fishing, but my sister Kat did.

She told me how she and her husband got ready, all decked out, not knowing about the fishing houses with all the conviences that the Canadians had, when they lived up there. It was a good story.

Yep, us southerners picture the houses and our pickups sinking, cannot understand how folks can drive on lakes.

Great entry, and again the fish look great, I'd like to be filleting thsm!

Paula said...

Love this interesting entry but I could maybe muster up the ability to build a snowman. Oh and I could fry and eat the fish if someone cleaned them. It wouldn't be John, he hates to smell fish and he only eats them if they don't taste fishy. lol

Jill said...

Ice fishermen are a rare breed! Love this, Dar. :)

Fred Alton said...

Dar - My idea of ice fishing would be fishing on the Withlacoochee River in central Florida with a glass of iced tea in one hand and a fishin' pole in the other! ☻ But if I loved "way up north" with Mel or near you folks I would be out there trying to catch some thru the ice. Love the looks of those Bream.

Anonymous said...

I'll never forget the first time I rode out on the frozen lake in a truck. Terrifying.

Anonymous said...

Never been ice fishing before and the last couple of pictures are why, it scares the !@## out of me.

Joe said...

Never been icefishing and I had no idea they had to get out whatever they lost.

Cher' Shots said...

I cant believe the memories you conjured up with this post. I spent HOURS ice fishing when Jeff was still alive and the kids were young. Loved it for the most part but only if the sun was shining to warm my tail feathers. We didn't have a fancy shack, just a walk back to the truck to warm up when needed.
'love & hugs from afar'

Suburban Girl said...

The two guys on the ice island are hilarious!

Lucy said...

We had friends that went out and ice fished. It is not for the faint of heart.