Ernie is back to his ‘world’ after having spend a few days in another. I am referring to my winter fishing trip to Lake of the Woods. This rather huge lake lays on the border of Canada and the U.S. It is the next largest body of water, after the great lakes, that is part of this country. It is roughly 70 miles from north to south and just slightly less east to west. One remarkable thing about this big water is that it contains over 14,500 islands, most of those are on the Canadian side of the border.
We enter the lake near Baudette, MN right along the side of the Rainy River. Depending on the snow conditions our travel on the lake will either be on roads that are plowed and marked by the guide or if the snow is too much to keep a road open, we will be transported in a tracked vehicle. These are often a converted cargo van that has been fitted with huge tracks like a snow machine and can ride on top of the snow and go almost anywhere as long as they don’t hit a spot of slushy water on top of the ice. For safety they are also outfitted with an emergency floatation system that by pulling a lever the guide can inflate huge air bags that is suppose to float the vehicle. I have always wondered if they would work, but fortunately have never had the experience for finding out.
Depending on where the good fishing is located, we go out from 7 to as much as 15 miles from shore to what is called a “sleeper house”. This is where we spend the weekend fishing, sleeping and living.
This year was considered a good one for us. We did not keep track of the number of fish we caught, which were Sauger (a crossbreed fish much like walleye but never get very big), walleye and a couple whitefish. Sometimes we also catch large eel pouts, that look a bit like a cross between an eel and a catfish, only uglier than either, but fun to catch. We have eaten them, but I am not fond of their fatty soft meat, although if cooked properly it can be good grub, especially if you have nothing else!
We got started fishing around 11 AM on Friday morning and by evening had enough fish to feed 4 hunger fishermen all we could eat of the crisp fried fillets. Saturday night we even ate more, plus we froze some for bringing home.
There was no really large fish caught, the longest I think was a 22 inch walleye that was caught at 1:30 AM on Sunday morning. It seemed the sauger were biting during the daylight hours and the walleye after dark or late in the night, at least this year.
Being that the wind was on a ‘roar’ the whole time we were there with the thermometer around the 0 mark or below, we did not spend anymore time outside our fish house than necessary. The wind did bring warmer air by late Saturday night, but with it came snow on Sunday morning. That made the first 100 miles or so of out trip home Sunday a bit ‘dicey’ for the road conditions, but we made it safely back, having had a grand time on the ice.
For those unfamiliar with this type of fishing, there are a few things that are remarkable on a large lake like this one is. For one, the ice was good since they too had very little snow this winter. The ice on average was around 18” thick and even on a large lake that is enough to support almost any kind of vehicle. But the lake is never ‘silent’, there is a stead sound of popping, cracking, groaning, mixed with a roaring wind outside our house.
When it is really cold and new ice is forming, the whole body of ice moves slightly, especially in a wind. This creates what is called ice heaves or pressure ridges. I have see these heaves that were over 10’ tall, made by two opposing is shelves crushing against each other at a crack in the ice. These break the ice and push up huge blocks of ice to make almost a wall of ice that can for miles on a large lake. When these are encountered on the roadways, the ice must be chopped out and a temporary bridge put in place to drive a vehicle across the broken up ice.
On Friday night it was very cold and at one point we heard one particular ice crack that went for the longest time I believe I have hear one run. It must have lasted a full 20 seconds and rumbled close enough to our house that the water was pushed up through out fishing holes slightly. It is nothing to be fearful of, but interesting to watch the water raise up, maybe as much as in inch and then settle by down to its normal level. We wondered that time if a crack would actually form on the ice under our house, but it must have went somewhere else near us.
Now that my ‘winter vacation’ is over, it will be time to get back in the swing of a full work load that I have been avoiding since my hospital visit over Christmas. But today I must first do a little snowplowing to clean up a few inches that has gradually accumulated over the last week or so and has now gotten to be a nuisance to walk around in all the time. But being past the mid-point of January, I am not going to complain about a little snowplowing, it was months past due and still not very much of it.
Showing posts with label ice fishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ice fishing. Show all posts
Monday, January 23, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Ice Fishing With Line or Spear
Soon it will be time for my annual trek up to the Lake of the Woods for a winter fishing trip. While going over my ice fishing gear this afternoon it occurred to me how important fishing has been to our wonderful state of MN, both in the past and current.
Prior to the coming of European peoples to this part of the world, the native Americans settled on the major bodies of water, for good reasons. One is obviously transportation. It was much easier to travel along the waterways of this state than ‘cross country’. I would say any time of the year. For during the short summers, the consuming insects, mosquitoes, black flies and deer flies were/are a horror to anyone caught in the woods or even on the prairie, if the wind was calm and the grasses were high.
During the wintertime, the many large lakes and rivers make for ‘super highways’ to travel on, either by snowshoe or dogsled. I have often wondered how the reality would have been to have been in this state, say around 1800, before there was much “civilized” influence to bring in roads, railroads and other modern forms of transportation. I have heard some “old timers” tell stories of their parents and grandparents who were some of the early settlers to the northern part of this state. They describe fish and fishing in terms that is hard to imagine for current day sportsmen. Naturally, the big excitement was in the spring of the year when the northern pike and walleye are moving up the small rivers from lake to lake. I have seen by spotlight some remarkable “schools of fish” at that time of year, but nothing like the old timers talk about.
The natives and settlers would harvest an mountain of fish in the spring by means of spearing fish in the streams as they migrated. Even now, the game wardens have about a month or so of busy activity during that time of year when they patrol for ‘outlaws’ who can’t seem to resist the urge to spear fish in the springtime.
Another means that was used in the past was fish traps. These were generally wire cages, just imagine a cage about 4 feet long and 2 feet all around, with a funnel of wire on each end and you have a fair ideal of a good fish trap. They would put these in steams under overhanging banks which are the fishes favorite passage way. Stories are told of traps so full it took several men to pull them from the water.
What I can’t get over is thinking about the fish feast these folks must have had! That at a time of the year when fresh food was hard to come by.
Then there is winter ice fishing. Most years from the central part of the state on north, from late November until April the lakes are covered with several feet of ice. I have wondered how the natives cut their holes for fishing, but I suppose they chipped them out with an ice chisel before the invention of augers. I am also guessing that they would have done what I would and that was to cover the hole over at night so a chopped out fishing hole could be used for many days before freezing shut.
For those who have never ice fished with a decoy and spear, it is an activity that is far different than fishing with a hook and line. I will describe the way it is still done and assume it was not a lot different from how it has been done, for who knows how long.
You start with a dark house, that means a structure build without windows of any kind and sealed against any light shining through the walls, doors or around the bottom of the shack. For the ideal is to lure the fish up close to the surface where you can run him through with a spear, about the size of a pitchfork, only the prongs are heavier with barbs to prevent the fish from getting off once you have it speared, northern pike is the legal species now, but in past history, any fish would have been ’fair game’.
The ideal spot is to go out on the ice in fairly shallow water, say 6-8 feet with some cabbage weeds showing in the water. That is a favorite place for the pike to hang out looking for an easy meal. Then you cut a hole in the ice, usually around 3 feet long by 2 feet wide, although we once used a house build for two people, that had a hole that was 2’ wide by 8’ long, that made a nice big hole to watch.
Once you have your shack over the hole and banked on the outside with snow to prevent light and cold air that will freeze your hole, you are ready to fish. It is best to have heat in the house, not only for comfort but also to keep you hole open and free of ice. Then the most common practice is to use a artificial decoy carved from wood with a lead weight sunk into it to hold it under the water. These come or are made in almost any size and form to be imagined. It is common for them to be from 4-6 inches long and of a bright color, red and white being the most common. You put this decoy on a string tied to the roof of you shack and drop it into the water anywhere from 2 to 4 feet below the ice. The decoys are made with metal fins that can be adjusted so that they will swim in a circle when you work the string, this swimming action is what will attract the predator fish. Then you wait. Sitting there in a darkened shack while the cold wind roars, with the water clear and bright enough to sometimes reflect light back into your shack and watching and waiting for a great northern pike to come in to attack your decoy is exciting to fisherman, all the more if you are hungry for some fish!
Sometimes a northern will cautiously swim up to have a look at your decoy from several feet away, usually under the edge of your shack where you can’t get a jab at him. At other times they will cruise in like a torpedo and attack the decoy like lightening and be gone before you know what is happening! It is for that reason that we sometimes use a live sucker. These baitfish are around 7 or 8 inches long and are rigged up with a harness around their middle and tied to the string just like the artificial decoy is. Under this circumstance you have to be on close watch or a northern will come in and kill your live decoy with one good bite and sometimes make his escape when he discovers his food is anchored to a cord. Then you are left with a piece of dead meat that is not likely to attract anything. No matter how you do it spear fishing for northern is great fun and can be very exciting. Regrettably, I had to give up the sport several years ago due to arthritis in my neck. One can be amazed at how stiff your neck will get while staring down into a hole of water all day. All the more reason for us to not put off the things we wish to do while we are young, there will come a day when we can’t do some of the things we would like too, due to the great enemy “time and age”.
All ice fishing is not so demanding. When we arrive at the Lake of the Woods, we will be met by our guide who we rent the ice house from. He will escort us out however many miles it is to where the fish are located this season (sometimes as far as 15 miles from land) and see that we are settled into a large sleeper house. These houses are completely outfitted with bunks, tables, gas lights, a gas cook stove and all along one wall will be our fish holes cleanly cut and ready for fishing. Such services come at a “cost”, but once a year me and three friends ‘bite the bullet’ and make the trip. If all goes well we will have a couple good feasts of fresh walleye cooked right in our ice house and good memories.
Sometimes I think God gave us fishing, more for the joy and memories than for the meat. I will enjoy both.
Prior to the coming of European peoples to this part of the world, the native Americans settled on the major bodies of water, for good reasons. One is obviously transportation. It was much easier to travel along the waterways of this state than ‘cross country’. I would say any time of the year. For during the short summers, the consuming insects, mosquitoes, black flies and deer flies were/are a horror to anyone caught in the woods or even on the prairie, if the wind was calm and the grasses were high.
During the wintertime, the many large lakes and rivers make for ‘super highways’ to travel on, either by snowshoe or dogsled. I have often wondered how the reality would have been to have been in this state, say around 1800, before there was much “civilized” influence to bring in roads, railroads and other modern forms of transportation. I have heard some “old timers” tell stories of their parents and grandparents who were some of the early settlers to the northern part of this state. They describe fish and fishing in terms that is hard to imagine for current day sportsmen. Naturally, the big excitement was in the spring of the year when the northern pike and walleye are moving up the small rivers from lake to lake. I have seen by spotlight some remarkable “schools of fish” at that time of year, but nothing like the old timers talk about.
The natives and settlers would harvest an mountain of fish in the spring by means of spearing fish in the streams as they migrated. Even now, the game wardens have about a month or so of busy activity during that time of year when they patrol for ‘outlaws’ who can’t seem to resist the urge to spear fish in the springtime.
Another means that was used in the past was fish traps. These were generally wire cages, just imagine a cage about 4 feet long and 2 feet all around, with a funnel of wire on each end and you have a fair ideal of a good fish trap. They would put these in steams under overhanging banks which are the fishes favorite passage way. Stories are told of traps so full it took several men to pull them from the water.
What I can’t get over is thinking about the fish feast these folks must have had! That at a time of the year when fresh food was hard to come by.
Then there is winter ice fishing. Most years from the central part of the state on north, from late November until April the lakes are covered with several feet of ice. I have wondered how the natives cut their holes for fishing, but I suppose they chipped them out with an ice chisel before the invention of augers. I am also guessing that they would have done what I would and that was to cover the hole over at night so a chopped out fishing hole could be used for many days before freezing shut.
For those who have never ice fished with a decoy and spear, it is an activity that is far different than fishing with a hook and line. I will describe the way it is still done and assume it was not a lot different from how it has been done, for who knows how long.
You start with a dark house, that means a structure build without windows of any kind and sealed against any light shining through the walls, doors or around the bottom of the shack. For the ideal is to lure the fish up close to the surface where you can run him through with a spear, about the size of a pitchfork, only the prongs are heavier with barbs to prevent the fish from getting off once you have it speared, northern pike is the legal species now, but in past history, any fish would have been ’fair game’.
The ideal spot is to go out on the ice in fairly shallow water, say 6-8 feet with some cabbage weeds showing in the water. That is a favorite place for the pike to hang out looking for an easy meal. Then you cut a hole in the ice, usually around 3 feet long by 2 feet wide, although we once used a house build for two people, that had a hole that was 2’ wide by 8’ long, that made a nice big hole to watch.
Once you have your shack over the hole and banked on the outside with snow to prevent light and cold air that will freeze your hole, you are ready to fish. It is best to have heat in the house, not only for comfort but also to keep you hole open and free of ice. Then the most common practice is to use a artificial decoy carved from wood with a lead weight sunk into it to hold it under the water. These come or are made in almost any size and form to be imagined. It is common for them to be from 4-6 inches long and of a bright color, red and white being the most common. You put this decoy on a string tied to the roof of you shack and drop it into the water anywhere from 2 to 4 feet below the ice. The decoys are made with metal fins that can be adjusted so that they will swim in a circle when you work the string, this swimming action is what will attract the predator fish. Then you wait. Sitting there in a darkened shack while the cold wind roars, with the water clear and bright enough to sometimes reflect light back into your shack and watching and waiting for a great northern pike to come in to attack your decoy is exciting to fisherman, all the more if you are hungry for some fish!
Sometimes a northern will cautiously swim up to have a look at your decoy from several feet away, usually under the edge of your shack where you can’t get a jab at him. At other times they will cruise in like a torpedo and attack the decoy like lightening and be gone before you know what is happening! It is for that reason that we sometimes use a live sucker. These baitfish are around 7 or 8 inches long and are rigged up with a harness around their middle and tied to the string just like the artificial decoy is. Under this circumstance you have to be on close watch or a northern will come in and kill your live decoy with one good bite and sometimes make his escape when he discovers his food is anchored to a cord. Then you are left with a piece of dead meat that is not likely to attract anything. No matter how you do it spear fishing for northern is great fun and can be very exciting. Regrettably, I had to give up the sport several years ago due to arthritis in my neck. One can be amazed at how stiff your neck will get while staring down into a hole of water all day. All the more reason for us to not put off the things we wish to do while we are young, there will come a day when we can’t do some of the things we would like too, due to the great enemy “time and age”.
All ice fishing is not so demanding. When we arrive at the Lake of the Woods, we will be met by our guide who we rent the ice house from. He will escort us out however many miles it is to where the fish are located this season (sometimes as far as 15 miles from land) and see that we are settled into a large sleeper house. These houses are completely outfitted with bunks, tables, gas lights, a gas cook stove and all along one wall will be our fish holes cleanly cut and ready for fishing. Such services come at a “cost”, but once a year me and three friends ‘bite the bullet’ and make the trip. If all goes well we will have a couple good feasts of fresh walleye cooked right in our ice house and good memories.
Sometimes I think God gave us fishing, more for the joy and memories than for the meat. I will enjoy both.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Sunshine and Beagles
Second day of the New Year and I am wondering where the last week went. The pain medication they give out these days may work good for ‘pain’, but they sure don’t do anything for the memory.
I was sleepless late last night and while I sat reading, it occurred to me that a friend had visited me in the hospital on the day of my surgery, that I had not remembered. I ask my wife and she knew nothing about it. So I had to check the facts and sure enough, said person was there and it had not occurred to me for almost a week! Right then I pulled the plug on the medication.
There is not much that can lift ‘downed spirits’ as a bright, cold, sunny MN day (7° at daylight). Just a few inches of snow with the gale wind laying down, made a most agreeable time to break out for some fresh air and locomotion. Walking back and forth across the house just does not cut it, when you are an outdoor person at heart, I don’t care how big the house is!
Have some friends that have been ice fishing and the reports are good. They are kind enough to send me pictures of great northern pike laying on the ice and walleye, fresh out of the water. It is enough to make the mouth water and start eyeballing the portable fish house hanging in the rafters!
In a few weeks me and some fishing buddies will be up on the Lake of the Woods trying our hand. Usually we get good eating and sometimes we hit it just right and catch hundreds of fish. Either way it will be nice to continue a ‘tradition’ that four friends have kept up for over 20 years.
There are some benefits to being ‘laid up’ for a few weeks in January, not many. One is that I can relax a little and enjoy the beauty of some fresh fallen snow that was not enough to require my attention with the tractor and snowplow, that would have been inconvenient in my weakened condition.
This morning I had the treat of watching our beagle “Trigger”, pull our daughter around the driveway on a sled. Beagles are not known as sled dogs! But this little fellow is ‘game’, all she has to do is throw a treat about 30 feet in front of them and away they go. It is good, though, that I did not witness the cat chase, I don’t think my incision is up to that much of a belly laugh, especially when the cat went under a low building, too low for the child on the sled! J
No one knows what this new year holds, except God, and He ain’t telling, that I know of. But one thing is certain, I made it through December, even though my wife adds, “barely”, when I make the statement. Either way December of 2011 is history. We might have deep cold yet in January and February and piles of snow in March and April, but the days already are getting longer hours of daylight and by February the pace picks up and before one is aware of it, another year will be well on its way.
I was sleepless late last night and while I sat reading, it occurred to me that a friend had visited me in the hospital on the day of my surgery, that I had not remembered. I ask my wife and she knew nothing about it. So I had to check the facts and sure enough, said person was there and it had not occurred to me for almost a week! Right then I pulled the plug on the medication.
There is not much that can lift ‘downed spirits’ as a bright, cold, sunny MN day (7° at daylight). Just a few inches of snow with the gale wind laying down, made a most agreeable time to break out for some fresh air and locomotion. Walking back and forth across the house just does not cut it, when you are an outdoor person at heart, I don’t care how big the house is!
Have some friends that have been ice fishing and the reports are good. They are kind enough to send me pictures of great northern pike laying on the ice and walleye, fresh out of the water. It is enough to make the mouth water and start eyeballing the portable fish house hanging in the rafters!
In a few weeks me and some fishing buddies will be up on the Lake of the Woods trying our hand. Usually we get good eating and sometimes we hit it just right and catch hundreds of fish. Either way it will be nice to continue a ‘tradition’ that four friends have kept up for over 20 years.
There are some benefits to being ‘laid up’ for a few weeks in January, not many. One is that I can relax a little and enjoy the beauty of some fresh fallen snow that was not enough to require my attention with the tractor and snowplow, that would have been inconvenient in my weakened condition.
This morning I had the treat of watching our beagle “Trigger”, pull our daughter around the driveway on a sled. Beagles are not known as sled dogs! But this little fellow is ‘game’, all she has to do is throw a treat about 30 feet in front of them and away they go. It is good, though, that I did not witness the cat chase, I don’t think my incision is up to that much of a belly laugh, especially when the cat went under a low building, too low for the child on the sled! J
No one knows what this new year holds, except God, and He ain’t telling, that I know of. But one thing is certain, I made it through December, even though my wife adds, “barely”, when I make the statement. Either way December of 2011 is history. We might have deep cold yet in January and February and piles of snow in March and April, but the days already are getting longer hours of daylight and by February the pace picks up and before one is aware of it, another year will be well on its way.
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