1st Ice Event on Fish Lake Sat Dec. 8th

[BD110]

Skippers kid,

I'm not sure if I read your post correctly. You plan on driving your plow truck on Fish lake? If that's the case I want to be there. If only for one reason only... I know C.P.R.!!!!

It's been a very long day and I just made it back from fishing on Winnie with bmc. Maybe I misread something

Anyhow make sure I'm there

P.S. I just reread your post and I now see that you will be plowing in the morning (and) then you'll be off to Fish lake. I told you it's been a long day. My bad

[UMDSportsman]

papa woodie- i think your house would travel better than mine would, that would be great if i could borrow it.

I have a little 1 man suitcase style house, but it is too small for any kind of heater in there. Last year i used a couple cans of sterno in there to cut the chill. I also used a sunflower outside pointing in with the door half way open. But i didn't bring the sunflower to duluth because i thought it would be too much stuff to haul out in my toboggan. Man i wish i would have brought everything up. I will make a call to a friend that might have a heater i could borrow, but otherwise if someone had an extra i could borrow/rent that would be awsome.

I feel like i am going on a fishing trip and i forgot half my stuff at home.

[SKIPPERS KID]

Yes Tom you did, I am taking my sled to fish lake. But I have to plow snow in the am. Then off to fish lake and by the way I would hope you would not give me CPR just let me go thank you for my wish. But let's get some fish hope you can go .

[Jeremy airjer W]

I thought for sure this would be the year I would finally make the first ice event. Then the wife springs the Office holiday party the evening of the 8th. Now I have a really tough decision. Do I head up Saturday morning and fish till noon and head back or do I hope that there is enough ice for next years event?

If I don't make it have a good time!

[Papa Woodie]

UMDSportsMan -

The one i have is a suitcase style house....not huge...but not small. Frabill brand. I'm 5'11" and 210lbs and i fit in there comfortably last year with 20# tank, LX5, and poles. I'm sure it will suffice for you!

I'll have it with. Email me your cell, and i will text you back. You can give me a call when you get there in the morning, and i'll come get ya. I'm sure we'll have the house setup, and holes drilled for you by the time you get out there!

[Xplorer]

Well, with the forecast temps/windchill it looks like I am going to have to miss my first "1st-Ice Fish lake event" I just can't justify taking Junior out on the ice in those temps. He still has a short attention span when it comes to fishing, and it'd be just toooo darn cold to pull him around on the sled, or have him running around much.

You guys have a good time, catch some fish, and hopefully maybe we can get a gathering on the Louis for 'pout sometime later this month if the ice sets up. I'll tilt one to you all tomorrow evening

[UMDSportsman]

email sent

Early is not usually a problem for me. when are you going out? I wouldn't want to have to wake you with my phone call.

[SKIPPERS KID]

Well we will see you there It will be cold so bundle up and we will see ya at Tim's in the am.

[Surface Tension]

I'm ready to roll out of here early.

For those that need a ride out, if you could be at Hi-Banks around 7ish that'll get you there in time to be accounted for before we all hit the ice. Those that need a ride out and want to sleep in we'll be checking back in at Hi-Banks around 10 AM.

[ripstick]

Well not to many people came out to the cold air. Turned out to be an interesting morning. nothing wanted to start but oncewe got going it turned fun. Only about 10 or 12 showed up.

[Northlander]

So who caught the biggest walleye?

Not a lot of fish but with 20 below temps and everything refusing to start in the morning I think we did ok.

TONS of water and slush out on the lake. Sleds are the way to go. Wheelers were ok but a lot of work pushing them out of slush holes and snow banks. I think my wheeler will take until opener to thaw out.

Thanks to Woodie and UMDguy for helping me get my wheeler out of the snow several times.

I actually had 2 heaters going in my house a few times. Everything was frozen pretty good on the old Otter Sat morning.

S.T., S.K., R.S., B.D. and Woodie it was a blast. Next time remember the Cat Nip.

Instead of "Muskrat Love" we should name this event "Cat Scratch Fever".

A HUGE thanks to Tim at Highbanks Resort for all he did to help make this event so much fun.

Skipperskid next year Im bringin a Polaris 1000 with 6" paddles and 7" studs.

[Nate McVey]

Glad to hear you guys had fun and were safe!....sorry I missed it, but couldn't get out of work....looking forward to the bash...

[Steve Foss]

Nate, I'm starting to wonder if any of these guys will actually be thawed by Bash time.

[Northlander]

I know the wheeler I used had about 200# of ice frozen to it. Mine Im glad I had my Arctic Armor its the real deal.

[Papa Woodie]

I got word today my ice house is thawed out now!

Story of my life....my wonderful luck.

Ok. Late saturday night, probably sunday morning...

Coming off the ice on Fish lake with UMDGuy, got the wheeler stuck in slush on the lake pulling the house behind it. Made a few trips on the wheeler after shoveling slush to get it unstuck (Thanks Surface Tension and Skippers Kid for the help) we got all our gear back to the cabin. I load my wheeler up because its caked with slush(frozen solid by now with -20 temps). Got in the cabin...had a few Bacardi Limons and eventually crashed for the night. Went home in the morning (after listening to Northlander ask the cats that made it into the cabin... how do you like it on your head little pu$$&.....Sure brought bad dreams!

Anyways, wake up, leave in the AM. Get home (to work anywyas, where there is a heated garage to take 200 lbs off my wheeler) i put the ramps on the tail game, hook up the straps...jump start the battery (that was the theme for the weekend) and let it run a few minutes. I took of the brake, and gave 'er juice to ride it down the ramps so it could sit to thaw out. I got about a half foot onto the ramp (about 2/3 a tire rotation from where i started) and the front tires locked up. The momentem from me going down the ramp forced the ramps to push out away from the truck when the tires locked up....needless to say, both ramps fell to the ground, my front end fell down (somehow landed on the front tires...about an inch off the front bumper) and my wheeler was stuck with the front on the ground, and my rear tires on the tailgate. Wonderful i think....how the heck am I going to get out of this Solo...

I pondered for a few minutes with a few choice words...and saw the owners left their four wheeler in the garage. I parked theirs nose to nose with mine, and took their winch, and hooked it up to my rear rack. I winched it up (so the wheeler was doing a nose stand directly into the ground) and got it up off the tail gate. Moved the truck out of the way...and slowly released the winch to lower my wheeler down to the ground.

Minor damage on the tailgate...that was fixable right away.

I blame this whole incident on BD110, Skippers Kid, Northlander, Ripstick, and Surface Tension. They ALL kept telling me something bad was going to happen to me and how much bad luck I am. Thanks guys....Love the support

After i got 'er to the ground, i cranked the wheels and looked to see if i broke a caliper bracket or why the heck it hung up. The inside of my wheels were so caked in slush, there was no way the tires were going to go around without thawing first.

I hope by morning i can get the thing to move! Thats what any of you fishing Fish Lake have to look forward to with all the slush and freezing temperatures. I'm sure some of you will notice the road i plowed with the wheeler right through the slush! It was the only way i could get my ice house (2 of them actually) and gear through the slush without getting stuck!

Any other good stories from you folks besides jumping our wheelers many times, Skippers Kid taking his spark plug out to get fluid in there to start the darn thing....

Someone else must have a harsh ice story to tell....

[UMDSportsman]

I don't know why anybody would pay money for rides at the fair. All you got to do is hook up a sled behind Papa Woodie's wheeler and hold on for the ride of your life. What a blast!!

A little bit more about the ride in. We packed up around dark and tried to get going. We were struggling to get going just on the snow, then when we got to the first slush were were toast. Woodie plowed a trail to try to get his house out. We tried and eventually pulled out one of the eyes the rope was attached to on his house. We loaded up everything we could on the wheeler and headed back to highbanks. In the last slush hole before highbanks so much slush stuck to the bottom of his wheeler it was dragging on the ice. With a little help from ST and SK we cleaned if off and got back. made it back to highbanks where we unloaded and regrouped. We went back out after the houses. After getting them loose i hopped on the house so the little one would not fall off. After getting off and walking through the first two slush holes i decided just to ride the rest of them out. Like i said before who needs roller coasters when you got woodie behind the wheel. It was a fun ride in.

Then there was pushing Northlander and Skippers Kid out of the snow. These guys like to just sit there and spin on the ice.

We cant forget about the auger that would not start. There were four or five guys trying to get an auger started, they even started taking it apart trying to get it started when all it was was a gas shut off switch.

Thanks goes to Papa Woodie for letting me use his house, the ride out there, and the adventure of a ride back in. From what it sounds if it wasn't for bad luck you wouldn't have any at all.

It was nice meeting all you guys.

[Wade Joseph]

You guys must have all caught fish. See, I never caught a single fish, and my ride is was uneventful. (Except for the jerk who blocked my trailer in with his van). I got back with a good amount of slush on the wheeler and sled, but got it all loaded. Got home, brought it all into the garage and turned the heat up to 70 from 55. My wheeler was 80% thawed out by Sunday morning.

It was fun, although I won't be using the ground blind as and Ice house too many more times.

Tom (BD110) Thanks for the propane tank, where do I drop the replacement I owe you off at?

[Surface Tension]

Cold and slush wasn't going to stop the Fish Lake 1st Ice Event. Hardships like that just make these events more memorable and strengthens friendships.

The thermometer said -20 Sat. morning as the group assembled. Wheelers needed jump starts and one sled needed an extra prime to get life into them. Slowly, one at a time the sound of combustion engines filled the cold morning air as they idle waiting for the pack to assemble and join ranks.

Like the start of the Great Land Grab, we head off into expanse of Fish Lake. Rising steam from slush pockets mark the water hazards as to say " Warning Turn Around and Go Home". We scoff to their warning, its full speed ahead blasting through and sending slush flying.

We arrive at the predetermined HQ and setup. Augers come to life and cut through 8" of ice. Water starts to rise and floods the area. Cold and slush are the new theme for the 1st Ice Event and we make plenty of it.

The fishing part.

Within minutes an 11" crappie is liberated from the lake and into my Otter. Good sign? By the time a walleye joins him in the corner of the Otter the crappie if frozen. Fishing is slow but a gill and another crappies share the Otter. I release 4 pike and a smaller eye throughout the day. Lot of lookers that on the MarCum, could be gills.

The ride back for this guy was uneventful as the sled handled the slush without a problem. That wasn't the case for a couple wheelers whose under carriage became heavily laden with frozen slush, nothing a steel shovel couldn't fix. Eventually everyone and their gear made it back to Hi-Banks.

Once in the warmth the story telling began, the days events were told and old stories retold. Without the slush and cold it wouldn't have been as much fun. Next years 1st Ice Event will have more stories to rekindle.

[BD110]

Wade,

Don't worry about the 1lb cylinder. If I pump into you later and you have a spare we can take care of things. Or if you are able to pass it to someone else in need at the moment feel free to do so and that will be just as good.

I had better fishing the day before and I picked what I would call a bad spot for this event. You would think that one of these years I will quit trying to wait out the fish and get up and move. Well I have the whole ice season to practice this.