Punching Holes

I was first introduced to ice fishing as a youngster at my dad's place in Shell Lake Wisconsin. Since then, I have always had a passion for punching holes through the ice. When I was 12ish, my dad bought me a small two-man portable icehouse where I spent hours and hours trying to catch the ever-elusive walleyes and northerns that lurked the depths of the ice-covered lake. 

When I first started, I did not have an auger, so I had to seek out holes that had been abandoned by other fisherman. I remember always looking for the ones that had blood around them, as blood meant the other fisherman was successful or something went horribly wrong. With luck, the holes would only be lightly frozen over and I could usually punch back through with the heel of my foot, other times some fisherman would drill holes for me.  At some point I acquired a hand auger and began punch my own holes!

My fondest memories of that era was fishing with my brother Bob, or my friend Tom, up at my dad's place. We would go out and set up our tip ups and head back to the cabin to watch them. When a flag went up we would run to the tip up a couple hundred yards away. The first one to the tip up got to pull up the fish. We would do whatever it took to be the first one to the hole, there was pushing, tripping and wrestling involved along the way and often times the fish was long gone by the time we got there. Later, the actually running part was replaced by snowmobiles but still the first one there got to pull up the fish. We would race up to the holes, dive off our snowmobiles trying to time our slide so we would stop right at the hole. Our sleds would finally come to a stop hundreds of feet later. 

Memories that will last a lifetime for sure. It is because of these years that I have such a hard time with the cold now. I frostbit my fingers and toes so many times that even the slightest cold causes pain now. But that did not stop me from loving the ice. In fact, Barb and I spent our honeymoon in an ice house on Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota. I know ladies, still your hearts, when Barb hooked me, she hooked a keeper!

So, when I got a call from my friend Doug asking me if I wanted to ice fish a couple of lakes within Custer State Park I could not say yes quick enough! I have not been ice fishing since.... 2013 before we hit the road. I had brought back all my equipment from Forrest's on our last trip so I was ready to go!

Fishing here in the hills is a lot different than "back east". Here, the predominant target species is trout and the ice is only a foot or so thick instead of the 2-4' ice in Wisconsin. As such, you have to walk out to your fishing spot rather than driving your truck and the ice is a lot easier to punch holes in. 

The temps were well into the 50's when we hit the ice. There was a good 12-14" of ice so even with these temps it would last another week or so. We fished two lakes over the next 6 hours catching a variety of fish. 

The scenery was incredible!

Doug and I decided early on that there would be no running or wrestling to get to the fish. One of us would break a hip for sure! It was not long until I felt that familiar tap, tap on the end of my line. I set the hook and reeled in.... a bullhead?!?! My first fish through the ice in nearly 10 years is a bullhead? Back down the hole he went and soon BAM! I set the hook again, this time it was fighting like a big fish. Could it be the elusive rainbow trout we were after? Nope, a snake northern. Next up was Doug, or should I say Doug's rod, as a fish hit it and pulled it right down the hole! Well, this trip just got a little more expensive! We stared down the hole in disbelief, shrugged our shoulders and continued on fishing.

Doug with a monster bullhead and my small northern

It was not long before Doug pulls a nice rainbow through the hole so we had one in the bucket! We switched lakes a couple hours later and did much better. Landing about a dozen trout, 6 of which went into the bucket. 

At the end of the day, we loaded up, got back in the truck and looked into the mirror, we were both sunburned! It was a great day on the ice and I now have the itch to get out some more!

Back at home, Barb and I have been working on a couple of things. 

Barb has been working on a clothes drying rack in the laundry room. Why would one need a drying rack in their laundry room when you have a perfectly functioning dryer? Well, I asked that same question. Apparently the fabric used in women's jeans does something weird when in the dryer. So it is against the laws of laundry to put ladies jeans into the dryer. Thankfully this same phenomenon does not affect men's jeans. Who knew?!?

So Barb set out to make a drying rack with some left over wood from Dan and Bonnie's. She looked at dozens of designs on the internet and could not find one she liked so she used ideas from several and came up with her own design. 

She did a great job, and she now has her drying rack for less than $10!

With the weather so nice, I got the itch to work on something outside so I went and bought some angle iron and worked on refurbishing the bent crossmembers on the windmill. I would like to see if we can get it up before we leave but that might just be a pipe dream. 

I had to replace a total of 10 or so crossmembers but now she is ready to be raised! We constructed the base and brought it down to where we think we want it. We will leave it there for a few days and see how we like it there. 

The red circle is the third location we have tried. I think it is the final one. First one was too close, we want it to be part of the landscape not the main feature. 

View from the windmill looking back up towards the house.

A couple days later Kevin came over with his skidsteer and we punched more holes. This time in the ground for the windmill anchors. Next step will be concrete and angle iron in the concrete to attach it to. 

The following two days were spent at Dan and Bonnies installing their flooring. But first I needed to bring Renaldo over to their house. Since bringing home and hanging Forrest's elk, Renaldo needed a new home, Dan and Bonnie volunteered to adopt him! So Renaldo took a little ride in the back of the truck and found a new home!

The flooring project went well. We started out in the hallway and worked our way into the kitchen and living room. Between the 4 of us we each had a role. Kevin was putting the planks into place. I was the cutter, Barb and Bonnie went through each of the pieces of wood and picked the perfect plank for each spot (Dan was working). The first picture below is Kevin starting the first row. The second picture is my favorite. Barb and Bonnie would lay out a row and step back and look at it deciding if they liked the layout of each row, moving pieces around until they were happy. The picture was totally unstaged but they both had their hands on their foreheads as they examined the layout!

By the end of the first day we had about 1/2 of the house done. The following day, we got the rest done!

End of day 1 on the left, Kevin putting in the last piece in the middle and a view back on the right!

I was told by not just one, but two people that we needed to feature Dakota more in the blog. Not everything can be about that little annoying dog (LAD for short). However, it is nearly impossible to get a picture of Dakota without the LAD getting in the picture because the LAD is always on or near Dakota. So, here are a few pictures of Dakota (and that LAD) that I took throughout the week. 

The first picture is how the girls spend most of their day, laying on their beds in the living room. Always together. They get out for walks a couple times a day but they are always running when outside and it is too hard to take pictures of them out there. The second picture is Dakota looking excited about to get a treat!

This is my view when I look down anytime I am eating. This was at lunch today as a matter of fact. 

This next picture is of the LAD all by herself when she decided that she should crawl into the toy basket and sit on top of all their toys. 

The last two pictures are at bedtime. Zoey (I mean the LAD) jumps up on the bed as soon as she sees us walk into the bedroom. Dakota will sit at the side of the bed and wait for permission to jump up. The LAD will crouch down like a tiger waiting to attack. As soon as Dakota jumps up Zoey will latch onto Dakota's lips like a pit viper. The picture beside that is the attention I get when eating popcorn as they both know I cannot resist giving them each a piece. Dog life is good!

Although our departure date for our big summer adventure is still weeks away, we have a lot to do. We have made a list of "Must Do's" and "Want to Do's" that we are going to attack in the next few weeks. If the weather cooperates and our energy levels remain high we just might get it all done!