Granite Lake, February 25th 2007

 

Set out to target Lake trout with Ryan on this cold day. It was much colder yesterday but it was supposed to warm up. The weather forecast was like a yo yo and until the actual sun was hitting our faces and the wind predictions of 20mph winds were slammed down by our steady determination to get out and fish, we almost did not go. I’m sure glad we did though and it will be another day to remember with the little man.

We got a late start. I won’t blame my wife but she definitely slowed down the early start I had going. She tried to retain us but our excitement and desire to go fishing canceled her channel completely. Sorry mom, I’m going fishing with Daddy.

Long drive but a nice one we saw some Turkeys on the way and also noticed some other neat things driving through small towns where life seems like it is so laid back. Arriving at the lake we unloaded our gear, dressed up and headed out.

Since it was supposed to be windy we were going to not venture too far out. Plus I had my sled filled to the max, the shanty, and of course Ryan if he got tired. It was not windy so I figured I would target the hump out in the middle and when it got windy or I got tired we would stop. Almost instantly Ryan wanted to ride the folded shanty because of the deep snow. Now here I was towing almost 80-90 pounds of gear in the sled and a 45 pound shanty being held down by a 47 pound kid. What was up with that? 🙂

Drilling as I went I found the hump. It was right where I left it! 🙂 Setup the house and then 3 tip-ups before taking a break in the shanty. Ryan had some hot chocolate and we hung out for a bit. However we were not in there tool long and while setting up the flasher we got a flag. It was something for sure. One of the smelt I had on the bottom in 50fow got wacked. I had out another smelt only he was just below the ice and the 3rd trap was a tip up sucker on the bottom.

Back in the house we setup the flasher and jigged for a bit. Dumped some chum down the hole then sent the camera down. At some point a fish approached but could only see him on the camera as he was about 5 feet off of the bottom. It went for my jig but then backed off. About 5 minutes later a flag was flying. The one with the tip up sucker on it too. We both snugged up and ran out to it. It had taken about 500 feet of line. Wow, it took forever to bring in. Yet Ryan and I managed to pull all of the line it and up pops this 19″ lake trout. Ryan’s 1st laker! I was excited and wanted to take a picture of him with it. However he was cold and he had his camera and took a photo of me and headed back to the house. I snapped one with my phone but just as I did Ryan was stuck in the snow and quite upset.

I picked him up and he was missing his boot. It fell off in the snow. He we cranky at this point and did not want to go in the house. I forced him into the house and put the heater on for him as I looked for his boot. As I did he was cussing at me that he was going to do things his way. As he said this I saw him tossing stuff out the door like my hat and thermos and hey man what are you doing. “I’m going to do things my way”, he said. He calmed down when I cracked open the hot chocolate and we had a little talk about how to behave.

After that we jigged for a while. Then we started seeing some big lakers on the camera. Wow, was that cool. They were eating the cut sucker I had on the bottom. They oddly did not touch the smelt and did not even consider out jigs. Still fun though to see them down there.

After a while we packed up and headed in. On the way we talked to some guys on the way in. They mentioned it was a tough day and when they asked how we did, Ryan replied, “I caught a bit trout out there”. They thought it was funny and congratulated him.

On our way home Ryan downed a whole bottle of water and a couple of cookies. He was fighting hard to stay awake but could not. Still a blessing to watch him fall asleep with a smile on his face.

Ryan was quite tired after that long day. I’m sure I’ll never hear the end of it. But we both had so much fun it was worth it to burn out like that. Once and a while won’t hurt right. 🙂

Brian

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Winnipesuakee Lake, February 17th-19th, 2007

Went up to Winni for the weekend and as usual put the cusk traps out. Next day checking them I noticed that my #6 setup was gone. We drilled and setup in the dark so I kept questioning if the snow drifted over them or if we drilled more holes than needed. Most of them were buried in up to a foot in drifts. As I was looking for the hole, I was telling a guy I was with that you have to be careful with my chisel as it is missing the lanyard at the top and I need to replace it.

Checking holes I was poking around, hands freezing, big giant mittens on with slime from the bait now being reactivated by the wet snow and splashing opening these holes back up, I shoved it down into the snow and zing, there it went. Then I hear, hey can you bring that over here I think I found that last one. DOH!

After a little depression I grabbed the aqua vu and pointed the camera on down the hole. It was starting to get late and we had been all over center harbor with the camera on all day. Never the less I end up seeing my spud standing up into the floor of winni in 45 feet of water. All kinds of ideas fly around on how to jig it up and we come up with a ring of 12 gauge wire with a narrow crease at one end. Drilling a few holes we tried to see where we were positioned but the camera could not keep up. The battery died out.

Recharged it and went out the next morning. Drilled about an honest to goodness 20+ holes all within a 50 sq ft area and eventually using the camera and two holes connected I was able to swing and attach on to the handle. Fortunately it is a T-handle at the end and I was able to slide it up and catch the T. Slowly bringing it up we sifted the hole, brother roles up his sleeves like he’s landing a fish, another guy behind me managing the excess line as to not tangle, and as it came into view in the hole my brother grabbed it and tossed it onto the ice like it was a 4 foot pike. I shouted aloud with joy.

For the 20 bucks or whatever it was worth I was not bothered by actually losing it. But after trying and trying to get it back, it became like an ebay auction I had to win. I won.

As for the fishing we bought way too much bait. My brother Jay did catch a HUGE salmon. It measured in at 23″. Went back of course but what a fish. On a jig no less. More of that story to come. Hopefully he comments on it in here.

Brian

Gorham Pond – February 10th, 2007

Went fishing today with my best friend. Guess who? My son Ryan. It was truly an awesome day with him. We talked a lot, ice skated, and finally caught some fish through the ice.

Originally I was planning on going to do the Winni Rotary derby. I wanted to but I also have been promising Ryan that we would go again together. Somewhere around Tuesday I decided that this weekend would be me and him. Derby or wherever it would be – it would be us.

Opting to not do the derby we headed to Gorham pond. Hopefully I could put the little guy on some fish. We had breakfast and then packed up the truck with all the gear. On the way to the pond we talked about what we would fish for and came to an agreement that Ryan would catch a big fish and I would also catch a big fish. Boy this kid loves to plan it all out ahead of time. 🙂

We walked out to our spot near a point that we do well on during the spring and summer. I drilled about 10 holes and then setup about half of the traps. We then setup the shanty and turned on the heat. After warming up a little we put out the rest of the traps. Before we were done, we  had a flag. Ryan pulled in a nice pickerel through the ice. Wow, what a nice fish.

Heading in for some  hot chocolate we went back into the shanty and each had a cup. By the time we were done the hot chocolate we had another flag up. Ran out to check it and this time it was another pickerel. After pulling in the fish and snapping a quick picture we released the fish and looked up to see another flag up. Wow, two in a row. Ran over and checked it out. Another pickerel. What a good bite today.

On the way back to the hole we stopped and ice skated on this small patch of glare ice. Ryan loved that. He laughed and giggled as we would take long runs and would stop on the ice sliding across. Weeee.

In the shanty we had more hot chocolate, shared a twinkie (his mom don’t like us eating those), had some good conversation and even a bunch of good laughs together just joking around. What an absolute hoot this little guy can be. After a few more cycles of chasing flags and warm-ups in the shanty we eventually packed it up and headed back.

On the way back we met some fellas that just got into ice fishing. We answered a few of their questions and even lent them my pliers so they could unhook a fish they just caught. Ryan of course told them of all the fish he just caught and they complimented him. Then Ryan found a giant patch of ice and wanted to skate for a while. We did and had some more fun. Headed home to tell mom all about it of course.

These are the best days of my life with this person. He is the world to me and I cherish every moment of it.

-Brian