Well, Josh, Abram, Stella, and Dad decided they were coming up hell or high water. With a little equipment support from Adam and Paul, we were set to give this arctic fishing thing a try. By the time everyone arrived and had eaten on Saturday, our daylight hours were dwindling quickly. We decided that Indian Springs was close and had a chance at something. We ended up fishing not 50 yards from the bait shop. With great ice, but terrible temps, we had the kids sit in the van until we got the tent set up and the heater running. With Paul's giant thermal tent, and a nice heater, it was past the point of warm in the tent, and we had to cut the heat back. That was livin' right!
The greatest omen of all is when we got the holes drilled and found out the water was a little cloudy this year, at least where we were. Last year it was so clear, we struggled with the fish, but the year before we slammed them with cloudy water.
In all honesty, I did not expect to catch a fish. We didn't have time to scout a spot, it was -14 outside, and I am generally pessimistic.
Well, Dad came through and saved the day on a nice pike! When he set the hook I knew it was a good fish, and that's when the fun started. This fish proceeded to tangle itself up with Abram's two lines, as well as Josh's. At this point we have three lines attached to the fish. With open bails, Dad was able to bring the fish, and a giant tangle mess to the hole. With some snipping and clipping, I was able to get the fish to Dad for pics.
We ended up keeping the fish, as it was a perfect cleaner size pike at 32".
Once dusk set in, we took the kids to the van, packed up and headed home.
On New Year's Eve, we tried Cottonwood. We did the same thing with the kids in the car while we set up close to shore, and again tried our best. I managed to hook a good walleye midway through our outing and lost it at the hole, and that was only fish of the day. Most of this adventure was the cold. I have only fishing in this kind of cold a few times, and it makes so many parts of the outings difficult. The cars don't want to work, the gear doesn't want to start, fingers remain perpetually frozen. Despite all of that, again, it was cozy in that giant tent. The kids enjoyed snacks and decaf coffee. It was less about the fish and more about the adventure.
As time ran out on the outing we took one last pic outside of the tent before rushing the kids back up to the van. It was cold to say the least and the trudge back with the tent was brisk to say the least.
Stay Tuned
No comments:
Post a Comment