Well I have done some crazy things over the years but attempting to ice fish during the peak of the storm has to rank right up there with the best of them!
We fished Friday and Saturday in a very wide open but safe portion of the lake. Other than the wind, Friday wasn't bad as we got off the lake at 4:00 P.M. before the storm hit really hard. Saturday however was just ridiculous! While we had tracked vehicles and GPS the conditions were just horrendous!
After getting stuck a few times in 4' snow drifts it took us over 2 hours to travel the 1 mile trek from shore to our bob house in complete white out conditions with wind gusts that would knock you over. I have never had my tracked Polaris Ranger stuck but this snow was so loose and deep it took everything it had just to get through it and even it got stuck a couple times, even the snowmobiles were getting stuck if you stopped at all!
When we finally made it to the bob house, everyone was too wiped out to even drill holes to start fishing.... or so I thought when one of my "Mensa" colleagues drilled a hole and attempted to get a line down in 40 mph gusts! We had a good chuckle as we watched him out the window from the warmth of the bob house...this was youtube material and I really wished I had brought my video camera!
When we finally got our strength back, we wrapped it up or should I say gave up and made the trek back to shore. We got stuck again numerous times and had to shovel out. All in all, it really sucked!!
We made it to the Ellacoya Barn and Grill which was surprisingly open and the looks were priceless as we walked in looking like abominable snowmen with frozen snot stuck to our face! The pizza and beer there really made a bad day a little better!!
Not fishing today!! Good luck to those that are!
Dan