1. Go Fishing more.
(that's as far as I got, what else do you need to do)
In keeping with my New's Years resolution, we (the whole family) went ice fishing today. Dad and my nephews Landon and Dawson came too. We slept at my parents last night and left from their home at about 6:15am. We headed up Hwy 6 to Scofield and got there about 7:15am. We had only one snowmobile, so Dad and I left everyone at the parking spot and we started out to find a spot and drop the gear. We unloaded everything and I started drilling holes with Dad's Power Auger. I got 5 holes drilled and on the 6th hole (my final hole) the screw that held the bottom of the auger broke. The bottom part of the auger is the drill bit part that actually cuts through the ice. Dad hadn't gone back yet to pick up the others and found another screw and screwed it in for me. I went back to what I thought was the 6th partially drilled hole, and started the auger and gave it the gas. I was actually in the 5th drilled hole and unfortunately the screw didn't hold. So as soon as I gave it the gas, the bottom part of the auger came loose and as I stood there holding the top (or engine) in my hand, I watched the bottom part fall through the ice hole and sink off into the dark abyss. It felt like it was in slow motion, although I couldn't move fast enough to catch it. I felt dumb. If I would have been in the right hole, I wouldn't have lost it, as the hole was only 5 inches deep and I had another 7 or 8 inches to go to finish it.
5 holes and 6 fishers. Not good numbers. I stopped bringing my hand auger many, many ice fishing trips ago. No need to hand drill a hole when you can use a power auger and be fishing within 45 seconds (instead of 5 - 10 minutes later.) Luckily someone had been fishing in the same place the day before and I was able to kick a frozen over hole in. 6 holes 6 fishers.
After a few trips back and forth, we had shuttled everyone over to the fishing spot.
Deni and Syd
This fishing spot and time was chosen after consulting a few web pages on the best time to fish given the location and type of moon. I also calculated the best time to fish today (according to the Sun and Moon rise) 7:07am - 8:37am for sunrise and 9:55am to 11:25am for moonrise, it but didn't help me one bit today.
My Dad caught one fish and my nephew Landon also landed one. I say landed one, as he used the "tribe method" of fishing.
- Dad provided all the gear (and the transportation)
- I drilled the hole - Hole #4
- Dawson, his younger brother, choose the hole and put his fishing pole by the hole
- Deni baited Dawson's pole and put the fishing line in the hole at the perfect spot for the fish to swim by
- Finally Landon saw Dawon's pole get a hit and happened to be the one to reel in the fish
So I caught 1/5 of a fish and lost 1/2 of an auger. Not a great way to start out the year.
Sydney and I after a quick ride on the lake.
Since we weren't catching anything, I gave the kids a ride around on the snowmobile.
