Ice Fishing

I loaded Isaac and Boyd up this morning and headed to Green Mountain Reservoir. Olivia had a ski lesson with her 2nd grade class at Vail, so her and Heather's day was already planned. I was running behind as usual and it was dumping snow from Leadville to Climax Mine on 91, so we didn't make it to Silverthorne to meet Eric and Ashton until around 7:45. He piled all their stuff in the Tacoma and off we went. We were packed in the truck like sardines (two adults, three kids, and one lab).

I think we drilled the first hole some time around 8:30 (maybe a little later). We started off in 42 ft of water and Isaac had his first laker on in about 15 minutes. I don't think I had even started fishing. I've gotten used to the fact that when I take the kids fishing the whole day is about keeping their lines in the water. Ice fishing adds additional challenges because I also have to drill quite a few holes with the hand auger.

Ashton had one on soon after and a few fish were missed in the next half hour. It seemed like the bite was gone, so after 3 (I think) fish were landed we drilled some more holes a little farther out. Water was 62 ft in the new location.

We got a few bites pretty quick. Actually I didn't. I was trying to get the kids all set up, move all the gear, and keep Remi under control. Remi had never been on the ice and he wanted to get one of those things flopping on the ice so bad that he was about to go crazy. A dog dragging an ice auger that I thought had him staked down into the midst of 5 people with ice rods out can make quite the comotion.

I finally managed to get my tube jig w/ sucker meat in the water after at least one or two fish had already been landed. It slowed for a little while then a lot of fish moved in and we spent around a half hour with someone always trying to set the hook on a fish. A lot of fish were missed, but we managed to land quite a few.

By around 1pm all three boys had their limits, I had landed 2 and realeased one, and Eric had landed two of his own fish. None of the fish were very big, but the kids had a great time and Boyd went on and on about every fish he pulled through the ice being "huge". The snow had came and went several times and wouldn't have been too bad had it not been for the last hour of heavy wet flakes that soaked all of us. Good thing it was so warm.

These were the first lakers any of us had caught. I did not get to land too many fish myself, but the gear packing, hole drilling, dog chasing, cooking lunch, and non stop assistance to Boyd took it's toll on my time. I had to help him set the hook on his fish, so the rod handling with both of us having our hands on the rod made for a quite a few missed fish. DOW was also on the ice today and checked us and the other fisherman we could see. Boyd wanted to make sure he saw all three fish he had landed at that time. Boyd handled those fish so much that I don't know if the smell will ever come out of his gloves and coat.

I did not pack my camera out into the weather, so Eric got a few pics that I don't have and I took a couple in the back yard and one before the fillet knife came out after the kids had taken their shower and I got all the fish smell off of them. The day turned out great since all three kids had such a good day.