Another "Red Neck" desire.......

Ice fishing in Strathmore

Saturday morning around 8:30am Brandon, Kaden, Brody and I decided to go ice fishing. We went back to the private lake where I was having huge success catching massive rainbow trout with my nephews. This time we had 3-lines down. Two in the hut and one outside, all centered around the deepest portion of the lake. Four hours of fishing and not a single sighting of a live fish or even a bite. We did however notice a fish laying on it's back at the bootom of the lake.

Overall we decided that winter kill had set in (not enough food or oxygen) and the time when we were catching them like crazy was probably their last straw before they killed over.

Brandon and Kaden early on during fishing activities with all the confidence in the world that I was not a liar and they were actually going to catch something.

We were so desperate after the first two hours that Brandon tried his luck with chips as bait.

Even though the fishing was terrible I compensated by pulling them behind the Jeep in the calf sled through the field. Brody was especially good at catching the best air time.

Strathmore Storm's Win against Indus!!!

Last night in Indus a few of us (Kaden, Johann, Brody) had the opportunity to attend Michael's hockey game. They have been doing well and are in the top 8 of their tournament. Today they are playing in Okotoks. Over all I thought it was a great game. The goalie for Strathmore is really good. He made some awesome saves and glove catches. Michael (No. 8) was very strong on defence and managed to make it into the pennalty box (that one was for me).

Here is Michael on defence. Strathmore was leading 3 to 0 for the first 2 periods. Indus tied it up in the 3rd and in the last few minutes Strathmore made a comback and won the game.

Michael on the far side next to the boards on one of his break away's during the game.

I wish I could say this was Michael stepping off the ice into the penalty box, but he is trading off another player.

Another shot of his defensive skills. Next time I will have to bring along an extra set of batteries for my camera as we missed some other great shots.

Back to work......

Normally it wouldn't have been hard to go back to work, but we were having a really good time with great company. Besides I happened to be the only one going back to work. I have a feeling it is going to be a rough week because I don't really want to be here at the moment.

Winter Activities

Finallyafter several weeks of -20 to -30 degree weather things started to warm up. We had been waiting for the weather to change so that we could pull sleds behind the ATV's and go ice fishing with all the kids.

While everyone else took turns sledding and riding on the ATV's Reid and I were ice fishing. The fishing was so good that neither of us left the lake. Here is Reid sitting next to the first catch of the day (Rainbow Trout). We were catching fish of equal or greater size every 10 min. In the end we managed to land 3 fish. We lost 3 in the hole, 2 broke the line, and 5 managed to get loose. Our secret bait was pink marshmallows.

Reid was a great fishing companion. We had two lines down through the 16 inches of ice. Here Reid is coming back from checking the second line and ensuring the pink marshmallows are still visible. I had attached bobbers to both lines, making it easy to tell if we were getting any bites. After the first hour I set up the ice hut. Reid really liked this as he could see the fish swimming around and taking the bait.

Here is Reid getting a good whiff of today's catch.

Prior to dressing the fish they needed to be cleaned. Reid was more than willing to complete this task while Jarom kept a close eye on the other two fish.

While dressing the fish Reid appeared to be quite grossed out with the whole procedure. Jarom on the other hand was always smileing and laughing.

Bonfire!!!

One of the highlights following a white Christmas is the abundance of Live Christmas trees. Why on earth would you take them to a recycle facility when you can totally relive your Pyro Maniac days. Here we burned 33 Christmas trees in less than 10 min. Next time we will have to collect at least 100 trees.

Ice Fishing at Eagle Lake

Tuesday afternoon we headed out to Eagle Lake to try our luck a second time. I received a tip from another fisherman that 100 yards off the North Eastern point was a good location. It didn't take Michael, Daniel, and I long to set things up and start fishing for Northern Pike. Michael and Daniel were in the hut most of the time while I fished two outer holes. Above Michael is auguring one of my holes where I was jigging various lures etc.

Michael and Daniel taking it easy in the warm ice hut. The four person ice hut fits two people comfortably with extra room for the heater and gear. I did however discover something annoying about using a ice hut especially with a heater and that is the condensation which accumulates on the walls and ceiling. Basically it is like sleeping in a tent during a rain storm. You have to dry it out so it doesn't rot or freeze before storing it away for long periods of time. It seems to me that it will be in my living room drying while we sleep fairly often.

Daniel auguring another 8" hole in the ice. The ice was approximately 13" thick. Two days before Christmas it was only 5".

Before the small ice fishing rods were available I would use an "X" for fishing. I like them allot more than stick-ups mainly because they are durable and can take abuse. The key to them is the Bobber. If it bobbs or becomes submersed you have a fish. The disadvantage is that you have no drag and are at the mercy of the fish.

The ice fishing rods are nice in that they have drag, are quick and easy to set up and take down. Disadvantage is that you can't leave them unattended or you might find your rod at the bottom of the lake. I have also found that you get what you pay for. If you buy the $9 and 12 dollar rods from WALMART like I initially did you will end up throwing them in the garbage. Unfortunately your better off to spend $18 dollars and up. I personally like the "Ugly Stick" style at $24 dollars each. I have 8 ice fishing sets 4- X's or crosses and 4- Ugly Stick rods. Two are set up for pike specifically and the rest trout. By the way we didn't catch anything.

Lets be honest.........I couldn't wait!

As many of you know I was not able to go hunting this year as I came down with H1N1 during the week I took off to shoot the biggest white tail ever! Santa however felt that I needed to make up for the extreme loss and so I will be doing alot of ice fishing, witch I totally love. I have never been much of an ice hut type of guy, but two days before Christmas on Eagle Lake changed my mind pretty quickly.

This is a 4-person ice hut and yes it is in my living room. Couldn't wait!!! Also who wants to look like a dork trying to set up his ice hut on the lake for the first time. I have to say I like this style alot. It literally springs into postition with 5 pulls and folds up just as quick. The best part about it is that it actually fits in the bag with room to spare. I belive Santa was shopping at Wholesale Sports for me this year.

Here is the carrying case and size when stored away.

Another cool feature are the backpack straps on the carrying case for easy mobility.