Ice Fishing

I recently decided to join the ranks of ice fishermen despite the fact that I have ridiculed them for years. I have decided that they are onto something.

It started last weekend when Luis and I fished Lake Lowell. We did some research, put some gear together and gave it a try. We caught some perch and ended up fishing both days over the weekend. I caught 12-14 perch each time. You can ask Luis how many fish he caught. I'm pretty sure it was zero. Anyway, I decided that it was time to take Elena this weekend. Here we are ready to head to the lake.

We drilled some holes and got set up. Every time I drilled a hole, she would shout "Water" once the hole was finished. I set up 5 rods and she learned to work the set, jigging each of them on occasion.

Luis and Katie showed up a bit later. E and K were messing around and E stepped into a hole and spilled her lunch onto the ice. She screamed "OW, it HURTS!" for a while. We had only been there for 20 minutes. Ten minutes of that time was spent taking her to the bathroom once we were finally set up. I managed to salvage the situation with a spare mitten and a hot pack. She walked around in this mitten for over 2 hours.

 I was really impressed with Elena's interest in fishing. She learned to clear the slush from the holes and jigged the rods as needed. The sun came out for a while, so E and K took off their coats and ran around in t-shirts.

 

Fishing was really slow. The girls caught a fish apiece.* Here is a picture of E posing with Katie's fish. E's fish is visible in the background; I failed to get a picture of her when she caught it.When E caught her fish we debated releasing it. She opted for taking it home. She and Katie named it Jack. I'm pretty sure Jack is a girl.

 
*Luis managed to hook a fish which was actually landed (by Katie). Note that is was caught on a lure I gave him. I think we should give him credit for getting the skunk out of the bag.