Today was the first day I was able to get on the ice this year. I have been trying to get out but it seems like there has been something going on every nice weekend. The weekends nothing was going on the weather was so cold I didn’t want to leave the house. I don’t mind ice fishing when its zero or less outside as long as I am already on fish. I don’t want to be scouting in that weather.
Today I had to sign my son up for baseball at 11 so I figured I would get out for the afternoon. I stopped by the tackle shop for a couple new jigs and some bait. The lady behind the counter told me good luck I hear they got a foot of snow up that way. This was not encouraging but I was going ice fishing so off I went.
I pulled into the parking lot at the Elm’s golf course where I planned to walk out from. However, when I got there I realized I couldn’t even see the ice from the parking lot. The wind was ripping and blowing snow all over. After a few minutes of contemplating braving it I decided to go check Green Point. I pulled there and it was better but still not very good so it was off the Lake View. I arrived at Lake View at the same time as a couple other guys that were heading out and there was once shanty out there already. Again the wind was ripping but I had made up my mind I was going to give it a try. I unloaded the 2 man shanty from the truck bed and filled it with gear. I have a single man as well but the plan is to fish with my oldest son and wife tomorrow so I figured I would just deal with dragging it so I was ready for tomorrow. This tuned out to be a mistake.
As I drug the shanty to the ice I realized I never put my ice cleats in the truck. The ice was snow covered so I didn’t think it was going to be too bad. As I started out onto the ice I realized I was wrong. The ice was smooth as silk underneath 3 to 4 inches of snow making dragging the shanty very difficult. With no other choice, well besides going home, I pressed on. I tried multiple techniques to move myself and the shanty with out falling. No of which worked all that well. The third time I fell I decided that was where I was going to fish. I cut two holes and set up the shanty.
Anyone who has set up a shanty in high winds by themselves know what kind of shit show that quickly turns into. After a brief fight I was inside somewhat out of the wind. I cleaned out the hole and dropped in the Vexilar. I saw I was in six feet of water and there were fish down there. It took a couple tries to figure out what they wanted but then I had my first blue gill hooked. It was a decent one around 8 inches. I say around because it fell off the hook and managed to land right back in the 6 inch hole which it more than covered before it flipped and swam away. I wasn’t happy about that but hey at least there were fish there and they were what I wanted. The next few minutes when well as I landed a few nice gills and placed them in my bucket.
Then a gust of wind came up that almost flipped the shanty. I fought to keep it held down as a few things fell off the seat next to me. Luckily not landing in the other hole I had cut that I was now realizing would not be used. As it settled down I moved my seat position further back as to keep more weight on the back of the sled. I caught a couple more gills all keeper except one. The wind was blowing snow under the sides of the shanty but I was on fish and that was all that mattered. Then it happened, a wind gust so hard it flipped the shanty up on it’s side with me in it. I struggled and managed to hold it from flying away on me. As I got it back onto its bottom I realized it was time to pack up the shanty. Why didn’t I bring that single man shanty again?
After It was packed up I decided I would fish with out it as long as I could. This was interesting as the snow was being blow into the hole and the Vexilar screen. I lasted about 15 minutes landing a couple more gills and losing a really nice one that got caught on the transducer. If I was using a heavier jig I could have lasted longer but the snow in the hole and ice on the line got to be too much of a pain. When it was all over I had 11 gills in the bucket. Considering this was a complete shit show that only lasted about an hour or so I didn’t think that was too bad. I am hoping for lighter winds tomorrow.
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