Updates

Well over a year since my last post. Is that considered binge posting? Maybe I will write again. Who knows. Lets see, in the last year we have moved twice, and bought a house. The house has a pool, and a good view of a pond. Its a nice neighborhood and we have met a few of the families and there are lots of kids our kids ages as well. Owning your house leads to a long list of projects though.

Replace kitchen appliances
Paint Kitchen, living room, hallway, 1 kids room
Paint 3 more bedrooms, washroom, master bath
Stack Stone the fireplace
Shelves in the bathroom
Outdoor bench
Washer Dryer Stands
Pool equipment hangers
Fire pit
Pergola
Wood flooring
Curtains on back porch
Retaining wall around pool
Re wire electricity to garage
Landscape the back yard (Maybe)
Build a balance beam for Gymnastics. (finished it this afternoon.)

Ali is in Gymnastics, we moved to a gym within 5 miles of our house (vs 25 miles) and Bryan just finished up Swim team. Bryan got his drivers license (Watch out world). Im on the local FD again, and volunteer to coach baseball at the HS. CJ is making Bows and nick nacks and running the kids all over for practice.

BT.

Ice fishing Antero 21 Feb 2011

Me and Ski left out at 0500 and we all met at the Donut Mill. Klummp Daddy, Legs, and Ressel showed up shortly after, and David Kirkham graced us with his presence.  For some reason Ski wanted to meet later at 0615. We tried to talk him into meeting early for a grab and go breakfast but he insiststed on sitting down. Since he did so well fishing last year, and hes caught fish for money, we decided he knew some insider information that we weren't privy too. So we left out of the DM at 0616. Arriving at Antero well past sunrise and possibly the prime fishing time. We quickly sent "legs" out witching for the fish and he found us a good spot to set up in about 8-10 feet of water. Its like witching for water but you do it for fish. It works. Really. 

Ski has this affliction with Ice holes and decided to drill everyone's for them. What a guy. He quickly set up and pulled a fish in. Though I wasn't quick enough to get him in the act, I will vouch for Ski that he did indeed catch the first fish. He then proceeded to through the first fish back with out even a kiss. Bill Dance would be mad.

 

I set up the Ice Hut again and quickly got the heater going. Weather wasnt bad, mid 20's and wind was off and on. The lake was snow covered as well. 

Ski's setting up to catch another lunker.

 Ski giving Klummp some tips on how to look good while catching fish.

 David Kirkham watching Ski trying to give Klummp tips...

 Legs, ignoring all the action and doing his own thing. I do beleive he took some fashion tips from Ski, as they dressed identical. Was hard to tell them apart, cept one was young and skinny, and the other was Ski.

This is Ski's second fish. Thought the day was going to be pretty good. Ski had landed two fish, and Klummp had gotten a few bites. 

View down my hole. Nothing. I saw a few large ones swim by, probably 20 inchers. They would swim right up and look at it then take off. I got a couple of hits, and one snapped my line. It was probably 20 lbs. Most hits came on pink jigs. 

My set up inside the tent. Had the heater going. Was warm.

Klummp Daddy is an excellent practitioner of Catch and Release. Its great to see someone not keeping everything they catch. He says the stress on the fish is very tough for them, and he tries to keep them in the hole as long as possible, often releasing them in the hole before any one can get a good chance to see them. A few weeks ago if you remember he had a gaggle of SNCOs trying to help him land a fish. Unfortunately some of them were practicing catch and release as well. Im glad to see Klummp has made all his hooks barbless also. Thats a great thing to do to help relieve the stress on the fish. He has landed a few fish, but for

Today he hooked into a very large fish and played it for a good 5 mins. Between Ski giving him advice on looking good, and his reel falling off, he was succesful in releasing it in the hole as well.

This is the second catch and release of the day. Ski was advising Klummp to not let it go as it seemed like a large fish. Klummp refused to listen saying the fish are stressed enough.

Despite releasing more than he lands, Klummp is a quick prodigy. We corrected some of his form, keep the rod tip high, get more fish out of the hole look good while landing the fish. He did land a few fish and would have had the most if he landed all of them.

Klummp, David, Legs, and Ressel stayed after me and Ski left. Ressel decided to tie his poles off with 550 cord as he has already lost 5 poles this season to huge lunkers. His wife said if he doesnt come back with ALL of his toys he wasnt going anymore. Apparently someone caught an 18 incher but no one could verify it.

Till next time.

BT

All good things must come to an end....

We all knew our good luck ice fishing would soon come to an end. 17 Jan was the annual MLK day fishing trip. Historically this date has marked the first time we can get out ice fishing. While today was not really cold, it was freakin windy. Weather was partly cloudy with a high of about 35 deg, to almost white out from a small ground blizzard. 2 days ago was a big tournament on this lake, but this morning started out promising.

5 people met up at the visitors center, and we left about 0615. Me and Ski, Mark R (not Mike R like I called him last time), Klumpp Daddy, and some new FNG. Our first objective was to stop at the new breakfast burrito/Texas BBQ stand up in divide. The food was good, we all had chopped brisket breakfast burritos.

Still think the smothered burrito at the Donut mill is better.

The next objective was catching fish. We walked out from our spot last week and set up in about 9 ft of water. Mark R hooked up with the first bite. He said the fish was huge. This within minutes of our arrival. So we were expecting some good action. 

I set up the Ice Cube to get a better view of the bottom. 9ft and weedy, which seems to be most of the lake.

  The wind started picking up around 10:30 or so. It blew so hard it was collapsing one side of the ice cube. I had my trusty Kestral 3500 weather station, so I stepped outside and measured the wind speed. 

Thats 27.4 MPH windspeed, not air temp. Shortly after this I recorded a 32 mph gust. I'd guess it stayed 25-30 mph for about an hour. 

A small ground blizzard forming. Sitting on the ice for a few hours and not catching anything, we decided to move. 

Thats Mark R getting blown around with no ice cleats. You could use your body as a sail on the ice, and just go. If you did not have ice cleats you had to walk on the snow drifts. 

Here is the new location. Somewhere along the way Ski decided to take off his glove and sacrifice it to the wind gods. I guess it helped some. The wind finally slowed down to around 10 mph for about 30 mins, and then kicked back up with another small front coming through.

So now here is the real kicker. This may very well be the catch of the year, provided by yours truly. Now I always give credit where credit is due. And I spent years learning how to ice fish, from THE guy who has caught fish for money. So its about noon, and we are starting to pack up to go home. Ski is not paying attention to his pole as usual, and Klumpp was. Why Klumpp was watching Ski's pole? I dunno. I dont ask those questions. I sit in my hut and mind my own business. They are right outside the front of the ice cube, maybe 6 feet from me. I hear them hollerin about Skis pole getting tugged and then then his line breaks. Next thing I know, BAM! FISH ON I yell to them outside the tent. We had three bites up to this point. So as usual I had to show them how to catch a fish. It hit hard, and immediately went into this alligator death roll and tangled up my line. 

Now I said I give credit where credit is due. Ski comes inside the hut and sees me struggling with this monster fish. I was playing this fish ever so gently, and the fish didnt know if it was making love or being caught. Ski comes in, and grabs the fish from my hole for me and we land the only fish of the day!! 

It was on par with weight and size as the other large fish we caught the last few weeks. About 18-20 inches or so. Now Ski being the ever sharp eyed copper he was, takes a look at this fish and yells, HEY! Thats my Hook! Redonkulous I say, I caught it on my pole, in my hole. Turns out, this fish was so determined to get to my lure, it swam straight through Skis powerbait, swallowing it hole and breaking his line, and attacks my Pink Ratso like a great white shark attacking a seal. 

BT

Antero 7 Jan 2011

The second trip of the year found us going back to Antero. I think everyone will agree when I say this turned out to be PERFECT weather! It was absolutely gorgeous out by the time we left. 7 people braved the elements and the early rise time to make this trip. We added two new people to the mix, Bill K, aka Klumpp Daddy, and Mark R!

We stepped at 0430. Ski and Klumpp met me at Pete, and then we met Jody, Jeff, Mike & Mike at the Donut Mill. We reached Antero and were greated by a beautiful sunrise surrounded by snow covered mountains and no wind! 

We went to a new location further west on the lake. Led by years of razor sharp instinct, Jeff S and Jody took us from the North boat ramp west a ways, and then south. We stopped about 300 yards west of the boat ramp in 10 feet of water. 

I immediately set up  the essentials. Tent, Heater, poles. I actually got the temp to 80 deg F in the Ice cube. The rest of the guys decided to brave the elements. I found myself later in the day too hot inside the shelter. I actually tuned the heat off by 10 am, and the sun beat down on the Ice Cube the rest of the day. When we arrived, the temp guage on the truck read 1 deg F. by the time we left  at 1330, it was about 45 deg F.

 

 Everyone setting up.

 Jody pulled in the first fish of the day. Niced sized trout. I think this was his first trip out this year, and its good to see his skillz from last year are still spot on. 

Bill got off to a slow start. Here he is playing with his pole. I eventually had to bring the youngster into the Ice Cube and give him some mentoring. 

 

Action wasnt slow and it wasnt fast. Just depends on where you were. There were a ton of people on the lake to include some russian dudes just to the north of us. The game warden showed up and deported a couple about 1100. No russians in this pic, just a bunch of guys standing around, not catching fish. 

Ski started out catching some minnows. I think he caught two or three, but he looked damned good doing it. 

Lunch was a big pot of elk Chili, courtesy of my wife. It was Good.

 

After lunch part of the gang moved just outside of my tent. I saw numerous fish swimming around my holes all morning. So I told them and they decided to move over by the hot spot. We were fishing in 10 feet of water, about 7-8 feet down, jigging usually a white, green or pink lure. 

 

Mike P with a nice catch. 

 

 Soon after lunch, young padiwan Klumpp Daddy hooked into a massive fish. We all came running over to mentor and guide the young man into landing this monster. He is in very good hands. He is a former Senior NCO, and has 3 retired Senior NCOs guiding him on how to VERY carefully land this fish. My mentoring of the young man seemed to have paid off.

 

I was able to stick my camera down another hole and got this quick shot of what he had just before it broke the line. 

HOLY SNIKES! Its a Marlin Trout!

I caught two fish, one of which was this beautiful Cuthroat trout (we think it is). It measured 20 inches and is on par with the largest fish of the year and is in the running for the LFOY contest. I just made that up.

While we were able to get out and enjoy the day fishing, remember others had to work. We were "buzzed" by one of the local C 130s from Pete. Their mission is Aerial Firefighting and they stay pretty busy in the summer. 

Total count for the day was 9 trout between 7 people. Not a bad haul. The day turned out to be one of the best ever Ice fishing because of the great weather. Tomorrow calls for 4-10 inches of snow.

Not sure when the next trip is planned. MLK day is usually the next trip, but not sure at this point. Also in the works is a trip further west to twin lakes, and a trip using my 14 x 14 wall tent like we planned last year. BT