Monday, January 30, 2017

Invitation

I wasn't planning on making it out this weekend because I had to work all day Saturday, but when I was on the bus ride home my dad texted me seeing if I wanted to go ice fishing on Sunday. Usually it's me asking him (and he usually can't) so I jumped at the opportunity (after checking with the wife) and we decided Atley should probably go too.

Due to the potential move coming sometime in the future (read about it here) all my ice fishing gear was in storage. That meant Atley and I had to get up a little early in order to go and gather everything up, but Grandpa was right on time so it didn't seem like a wasted effort. Fish lake is always beautiful, but especially in the morning.



After a short walk out to what looked like a good spot we drilled through the thick ice. While taking quite a bit of effort, at least the ice put Atley's fears at ease. We checked depth and I helped Atley get a rig down while grandpa and I cut more holes and set up the shack. Atley iced his first fish before we were done getting things ready.



Once we had everything set up Grandpa caught his first fish of the year, a little splake (a cross between a brook trout and a lake trout) which set off a morning of pretty consistent action. We iced quite a few, but they were all pretty small. The most entertaining part, for us, was watching Atley miss a barrage of hits, frustrating for him.



The midday sun brought the temperature inside the shack up to comfortable, which cued the boys for a little nap. It didn't take long at all before I was serenaded with a snoring duet from Atley and Grandpa in stereo. I've never been able to sleep while there was fishing to do, so I kept on catching a few and trying new things.

When the snore-fest finally came back to the land of the living we decided to try a little closer to shore in hopes of finding some perch for Atley to play with. Part of the reason he was willing to get back out on the ice was the chance for catching a tagged perch, and the fabulous prizes that go along with it (read about that here).



Once the temps began to drop again we decided to gather up and head for home. Atley seemed quite distraught by the fact that he hadn't had any 'real' lunch and was forced to eat candy (some people's kids). All in all, it was a great day with great company.


Hope you're as lucky,
Kidder


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