Hitting the ice

I was finally able to get out a few weekends ago and do some ice fishing.  We've been lucky...or maybe unlucky if you talk to non-ice fishing people.  It was in the extreme cold around here thanks to the inversion for what seemed like forever.  It may not have been forever, but it was long enough to put a solid 12-inches of ice on Lake Lowell down here in the treasure valley.  In fact even this week things are starting to really warm up, and I fear it will be the end of the accessibility of local ice.

We had a great time on the lake.  We went out on Saturday and then Sunday as well.  My daughter really had the jigging down and was pulling up perch like there was no tomorrow.  In those few days we ended up with enough perch to feed our family of seven for two meals...and that's saying a lot considering everyone loves it, it's one of our favorite foods.

I was actually pretty surprised at the size of the perch in this lake.  Cascade has really been getting the notoriety lately on jumbo perch, soI was beside myself when I pulled this nice 12-inch perch out of this lake.

However, I was even more astonished when I hooked into a nice kitty.  It took a little bit to get it up to the hole, but when it got there it was twitching it's whiskers at me.

This was a nice sized cat, 5-lbs, and 23-inches.  I had to reach down the hole with my hand to get it up as I had used my 6-inch hand auger it ended up being a little tricky to get it positioned right so I could grab it.  Everything worked out though and I was happy to bring in my first catfish through the ice.

Like with most of our adventures the level of success wasn't just measured in the game we got, but also in the memories and experiences we shared together.  It was a great few days, and as the last day came to a close I was sad that it had to end.  As each journey comes to an end it opens the door to a new one...I'm looking forward to it!