....yep...winter is long in the tooth around these parts...I mean, thats not to say ol Mother Nature still dosent have a few tricks up her sleeve yet...and just when we think were in the clear...she,ll give us one last kick in the ass....
...anyway...temps have been below zero in the morning all week...so we figgerd it would be a good time do a little walk about on good ol Lake Margarethe...now this particular lake is about 4 miles down the road fom us....and as far as Michigan Lakes go...I guess you could say it was on the...small side..compared to some of the lakes in this state....but to out of staters...Im sure you would still think it was a good size lake....the thing I like about this particular lake is that there is a State run camp site right off the bank of it...where you just drive on in..pick out a site and set up camp...they use "The Honor System" when it comes to paying by the night....which is a can set up under a small shelter...and 4 miles is just close enough for us, if we want to take a 10 minute drive down the road...set up a tent and have a nice fire around the campsite...and if need be...we can just hop in the truck and drive home right quick for supplies or what have you....
....anway...we drove on out there today and did us a little walk about to ...see what we could see...
...the lake was frozen over solid and the air tempature was about 35 degrees...which around these parts, this time of the year...is balmy....so we walked out onto the lake, and started heading towads some Ice shantys out towards the middle....now the ice was pretty thick...about 18 inches to 2 foot...Id say....thick enough that a couple ice fisherman had driven their trucks out onto it....the population was pretty thin this time out, and we were headed out towards a group of ice fisherman that were out in the middle...along the way I took one step which produced a....deep resounding *CRRRAAACCKKK* .....now I knew that the ice...probably.. wasnt gonna give way...and I also knew that it was a "stress crack"...most likely caused by these guys we were headed for....driving their truck out there....but I still dont like that sound...
.....as we approached their camp I shouted out a little hello...some of these Northern folks dont take kindly to strangers invading their space...even if its out in the middle of a frozen lake...but they seemed pretty friendly and shouted and waved back...so we walked on up, and into their camp...
....well...it seems the fish werent hungry at the moment...but these guys came prepared....they had a grille set up and were chowing down on some burgers and beer ! ....now...thats MY kind of fishing !
...so we chatted for a while, and it seems one of the guys worked at the same place Chili does...after a while they invited us to have a ..look see...inside their ice cabin...and being the tourist we are...we took them up on their offer...
.....never been inside one before...and was just knid of curious what kind of setup they had to catch fish....heres the slotted hole they had cut out in the ice...thats a small pitch type fork to stab the fish once its on the line...they fish for pike in this lake..and some of them are 3 feet and bigger.....now you can see just how thick that Ice is...I dont think Id be driving MY truck out on it...and sure enough every year...you hear about some guy who was out there too late in the season...and *WHUMP*...right though into the lake....and if he,s lucky enough to live through that...the DNR is just waiting to fine the heck out him for...polluting the lake..
...now looking down in that hole in the ice...you can see the size of the "bait"...they got swimming round on a line...that,ll give ya an Idea of what size fish they,re aiming to catch...
....yup...I still dont get it....sitting out on the ice...freezing yer butt off....hoping you "might" ...catch a fish or two.....made for a nice walk about this afternoon though... . .
. . ....time to head home for a nice bowl of HOT zoop and a grilled cheezzzz...
. ..... cya laterrrrr
