I wanted to know firsthand what the ice condition is at Fish Lake after I called the lodge and was told that the edges are opening up. Since it was birthday yesterday, I took my oldest and one of his buddies and decided to make a trip out of it. After several stops to get food and a one-day fishing license for my son’s friend, we finally made it to Fish Lake by 9:00.
Since I was ready for the worst anyway, I wasn’t exactly disappointed when I pulled to the second parking lot and found open water along the edges. Mulled around for a couple of minutes and was ready to turn around and head home. Oh, did I mention the wind? Not only were the edges opened up but the wind was blowing hard, enough to cause snowdevils on the ice. What the heck, we’re not hard-core ice anglers for nothing, opened the car doors and a cold blast hit us almost slamming the doors on our faces. We walked towards the marina entrance with a spud bar in hand and started pokingand hallelujah! Walkable ice! So we went back to the car and packed our sleds and headed out to the ice, still poking the ice with the spud bar until we were able to drill a hole and confirmed the safe ice. This is where the adventure began.
After setting up the Quickfish and securing it to the ice with the six factory-issued ice screws, we were good to go and started catching fish right away, all the while ignoring the conditions outside. The perch and the splake were happy to oblige what we offered them. We were finally reminded that blizzard-like winds are coming. One big gust came through and unpopped one of the unanchored side of the tent. We pushed out that side, and the other unsecured side got pushed in. Desperate times calls for desperate measures. Found a 12-inch wooden dowel that I use to knock ice off my auger, tied a rope in the middle, dropped it straight down till it caught the bottom of the hole, snugged it up and anchored one more side. I ended up using the auger, drilled halfway down, as my last anchor, which worked really well. I also ended up tethering my sleds to the auger, which worked for the most part.
Did you know that given sufficient wind velocity, these sleds can fly like kites. Throughout all the excitement, I ended up losing a pole bag with an ice rod in it. I thought that that pole bag was in the covered sled, but amid all the excitement, it ended up in the open sled. I guess it happened when that sled went airborne, dumped all its contents, and the pole bag just sailed towards the other side of the lake. The gusts pretty much continued all morning, with the occassional holy ??? remarks from inside the tent when a strong gust would rattle the tent.
We caught fish all morning, switching between perch eyes and mealworms when the fishing slowed (no bites in 3 mins and 30 seconds). Around 2:00 pm was when real excitement began, the gusts went away and was replaced by stronger and persistent wind. This time, we felt that the shelter would just get picked up and join Dorothy and Toto. So around 2:30, we packed up amidst this blizzard condition, struggling constantly to stay upright while gathering gear and enduring the constant peppering of snow on your face, but we did it anyway. To call trying to un-anchor and fold the Quickfish in 40-mph winds (just an estimate) an adventure is an understatement.
Sorry for the novel and looking outside and seeing all the sunshine, I should have gone TODAY!!! but all in all, it was a memorable experience.
Way to end the season with a memory!