[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwmvOrwLPbo[/youtube]We’ve been watching the forecast for the past week to try to make it onto the ice. Unlike the majority of the winter, warm weather and horrendous winds were what kept us home. Last week, the gauge in Choteau clocked a 114 mph gust before failing. That would’ve sent our ice house into the next county, and probably blown the boys across the lake. It’s pretty sad when a “Winter Storm Watch” is the best we could get, and we decided to grab it.
The morning was absolutely still and mostly sunny. Of course, we had eye appointments scheduled so couldn’t make it on the road until after noon. We had nearly everything ready to go, but it takes much longer than you think when you have to coax two high energy youngsters to calm down long enough to eat something and go potty. There were at least 3 fights in 10 minutes, the stripping of clothes, plus significant whining. The amount of stuff you have to bring is also impressive. Besides all of the fishing gear, we had an entire cooler of sandwiches and snacks, a change of clothes for each of the boys (including underwear for Sam – you never know), diapers and wipes, boots, bibbies, coats, vests, hats and gloves. Oh, and you can’t forget the railroad. We had to bring a few trains. We looked like we were going to be on the road for weeks. But, as far as preparation goes, I’ll go head to head with any Boy Scout any day. If we ever were stranded, we wouldn’t be cold and we certainly wouldn’t be hungry.
Both boys fell asleep for most of the drive to Pishkun, a reservoir outside of Choteau. I was sweating it when we drove up because I saw a whole lot of open water. When Grant and my brother-in-law, Marc, were up the prior week there was 19 inches of ice, but after a week of temperatures well into the 40s and 50s a lot of it melted off. Some of the smaller bays were mostly frozen, including Grant’s favorite spot. The first hole he drilled went a little quicker than I would’ve preferred, but there was still 14 inches of ice. He drilled 5 holes, and set them with tip-ups and a smelt (which looks yummy enough for a snack with mustard and crackers). He did a couple for perch and set up the ice house over the holes.
For anyone who’s never fished inside an ice house, it brings a whole new perspective to the sport. The ice illuminates the inside of the house, and on days when the water is clear you can see to the bottom of the lake. Plus, it’s a bonus to be able to watch perch come up to your hook so you can see what’s working (or not). We couldn’t see much this time because it was murky from the recent runoff, but Sam patiently jigged for a long, long time. Grant fished in the opposite hole for a bit while the boys and I had lunch. He might be able to go all day without eating, but the rest of us can’t. After feeding, I took over one hole while Grant kept an eye on the tip-up flags and John continued begging for potato chips like a bear in Yellowstone Park when the dumps were still open.
With the first flag up we spilled out of the ice house eager to check the catch. It was a small pike, but as they always do, it put on a pretty good show flopping around on the ice. The boys jumped back yelling, “It’s gonna get me!” We headed back into the house to continue the perch watch, and was tremendously surprised when my pole was active. I fumbled around at first, but managed to reel the trout into the hole and almost to the top… when the hook let loose. I thought for certain it was gone forgetting that it was basically in a 14 inchdeep tunnel of ice. Grant dove down and grabbed it! It was a very nice rainbow, Sam’s favorite, although John obviously likes them, too, since he kissed this one!
After a slow period, except for our own little UFC demonstration when both boys tried to look down the hole at the same time, I spotted a flag up. We sledded the boys out, and pulled up a nice 3 lbs. pike. By the time Grant grabbed that one, another flag went up and we had another nice pike. It was a productive venture even though we were only on the ice a couple of hours. So when the boys started fussing more than they were fishing we called it good and packed up pike camp. We left just in time. On the drive out a few snowflakes started; by the time we neared Great Falls it was a full fledged blizzard. All in all it’s a great day of memories and the start of a long relationship with sacking up the pike!
Tags: ice fishing, ice house, kids in outdoors, pike, rainbow trout
I kiss my big fish too!
Ok, I really dont like the cold, but your story has almost persuaded me to give ice fishing a try!!
I truly hate winter, so if I can do it I’m sure you can! BTW, I need to send you a copy of Hobby Farms. I picked one up yesterday, and will pop it in the mail to you tomorrow!