The buzzing of the alarm jolted me from my sleep, but today I would have no trouble leaving my comfortable warm bed. A fishing trip was planned, an ice fishing trip; a time honored tradition here in the winter months of Wisconsin.
I fired up the coffee pot and while it was brewing let the dog out. As usual she took her time, sniffing the entire yard until she found the perfect spot, so by the time she came in coffee was ready. I sat with my coffee, dog at my feet, and watched the world wake up. As the sun, a glowing red ball, rose in the east, its rays sparkled like diamonds on the frost covered trees. It’s times like this that I feel like I have been given a special gift from God, and as I take in the beauty set out in front of me I forget all the cares and concerns of life. Yes, it was going to be an absolutely beautiful day, even for February.
Too soon I had to start getting ready, I had an hour drive to meet my father and brother and another 45 minute drive to get to the lake. Waking hubby up just long enough to say goodbye I headed out. On the drive I passed a local ice fishing hot spot. The shanty village that had sprung up out on the ice was already a beehive of activity, and the roadway out to it clogged with a steady stream of vehicles.
I arrived at my parent’s home where my dad and brother waited for me. The ribbing and joking between my brother and I started almost immediately, with my father playing the instigator and my mother the referee. You see both my brother and I are avid hunters and fisherpersons and it goes without saying that there is a certain degree of friendly competition between us. My father absolutely loves it, but I think it makes my mother a little crazy.
We headed out to the lake, keeping in touch between the two vehicles with the walkie talkies and of course the bantering between my brother and I continued. When we arrived the entrance to the lake didn’t look good. Earlier in the week we had rain followed by heavy wet snow. Due to the heavy vehicle use the sand based entryway was covered with water. We watched a couple of cars head out in front of us, the water was only about a foot deep and only for a few yards, so out we went. From there on the ice was good and someone had plowed a roadway out to and meandering through the shanty village. We were going out about a mile and it wasn’t bad traveling until we had to leave the main roadway to get to the area we wanted to fish. After that we only made it about thirty yards before we hit a snowdrift and stopped dead in our tracks. No problem, out came the shovels and soon a path was cleared, just enough for the vehicle to get some momentum and break through the drift. You see, when you fish the ice this is expected and you plan for it. A few more yards, a little more shoveling, we were almost there, just one more drift to get through.
Finally we were at “the spot”, or so my brother said. His insistence on this particular spot was because he had fished it the previous week and caught his limit of fish. But that was last week I said. Still it was as good an anywhere else so we unloaded the gear and set up. First up was the portable shanty, and for those of you not familiar with ice fishing the portable shanty resembles a pop-up hunting blind. Once set up and the small propane heater lit it provides a very comfortable place to either fish or just warm up for a few moments. My brother fired up the ice auger and started drilling holes in the ice while dad and I started setting up our lines. Placing a mealy worm on a small jig we dropped our hooks down into the water.
My brother was the first to pull up a fish; which he made sure I was aware of. 
Next my dad pulled up a couple of small ones, which were released back down the hole. They each pulled up a couple more fish before I saw my spring bobber drop down. I pulled up a nice blue gill, a keeper for sure. My brother expressed his happiness for me, not wanting me to “get skunked” he said. I thanked him, it was nice that he didn’t want me to get skunked like he did last deer season, and we both laughed. This continued throughout the day. The fish were biting, but most were small and released. We did catch our share of nice sized blue gills and pumpkinseeds (a/k/a sunfish). By mid-afternoon the snow had started to fall and we decided to head out.
When I arrived home my hubby was waiting to hear about my day, and I had a nice catch of fish to clean. But best of all I had shared a beautiful day with the people who mean so much to me and created memories that will last a life time.
