Ice Fishing with Style

Beautiful site: snow cat, ice house, and miles of snow
and ice.

I pulled my first fish through the ice last Tuesday and went on to reel in 9 more.  My buddy Chris from work in the summer invited me out to catch some salmon on Bitterroot Lake and I gladly accepted the invitation, knowing that he was set up enough to make the jaunt extremely enjoyable.  And my expectations were exceeded.  We left his house around 5 am, made it to the ice, and flew on a ski-doo out to Chris's spot where we dragged his ice house out onto the lake.  6 inches of ice is no match for a 3 horsepower motor attached to the sharp blade of an auger, so we had two hole punched through in a jiffy.

Super-stoked to be catching fish! Although any more
excited and they'd put a straight jacket on me in my
padded room...

The ice house is custom made from an old 18-wheeler sleeper cabin, complete with a plush leather interior. Throw in a propane heater, some speakers, and a thermos of hot coffee and you're living the high-life.  If you ever need an excuse to zone-out for a couple of hours, go ice fishing.  It was so relaxing to sit there watching the tip of my pole until it started to bob and weave from a fish nibble.  Strangely enough I was more than content to have my existence wrapped up in a half inch diameter little orange loop of wire on the end of my pole and I was catching fish (or Chris was) often enough to make it exciting enough to sit there all morning.  If you're not really the "zone-out" type, which I'm usually not, I can see where conversations with a good friend in an ice house could border on life-changing.  Seriously.  You could solve all the world's problems and still have time to exchange some good recipes and contemplate the meaning of life.

My view for several hours Tuesday morning.

Last night, my family and I sat down to a delicious meal of fried salmon.  Living off the bounty of God's pantry is sweet.

My contribution to the mess of fish we caught
 that morning.  Beautiful looking fish with really shiny scales.