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" />" width="500" height="214" alt="ccb" />" />One day last weekend, Chuck and his friend Jeff M. took the kids ice fishing.
In order to go ice fishing in Alaska, for any length of time, in the winter, with little kids, you got to get yourself one of these.
This my friends, is an ice shanty. Beneath those long runners that span the underside of the shanty, is ice. Round about 3 feet of it. Now it is still difficult for me to wrap my mind around a lake that is frozen so solid that you can drive a truck on it. But people do. People do it all the time. 
This is how you keep warm in an ice house.
BYOW (Bring your own wood)
The interior of an ice shanty is missing a bit of flooring. Obviously, this is where the holes are augered. Most serious ice fisherman have a motorized auger. However, being new to the sport (and broke as convicts), Chuck only has a hand auger (manually powered by hand). Jeff too, only has a hand auger. I'm not sure what his excuse is. From what I understand, it takes a great deal of effort and time to hand auger a hole into 3 feet of ice.
Look at her reel that baby in. At first glance you might assume that rod is kid sized, but it's just a standard ice fishing rod. Imagine sitting 6 feet beyond your hole with a standard size rod and trying to eyeball your lure down into into it. The focus is the hole, so the rod is short.
If you are interested in renting an ice shanty on Donnelly Training Area's Bolio Lake, near Delta Junction, Alaska then go to http://www.fortgreelymwr.com/You'll need $20.00 a day. Less is you are military.
While I am confident enough to allow my kid to sit inside a hut on top of a frozen lake, 'cause, well, everybody else is doing it, I still have some uneasy feelings about this whole frozen large bodies of water business. I'll say this. If anything remotely similar to a frozen lake was above ground, over such a wide expanse, and folks were going to walk on it, put buildings on it, and sometimes even drive on it, somebody'd put a 2X4 under it.
11 Comments
I'm not a fisherman, although Steve tells me I need to get my license so we can catch double the fish. :P Anyway... can you believe that Steve has never been ice fishing? He does fish in early winter - on the Clearwater River - but that's as much fishing as he does in winter. I love to drive by Birch Lake and see the folks ice fishing there.
ReplyDeleteBolio Lake is one of my favorite places to stop for a photo on my way points south. I think I'll stop there on Monday, if the weather isn't too bad, and my roadtrip goes off as planned.
Enjoy those fish!
Yummy!!! what time is dinner??
ReplyDeleteI like mine blackened ;)
Being frm the south, and prefering ice in my sweet (very sweet) tea, I have never personally gone ice fishing.
ReplyDeleteJ, having grown up in ND, insists ice fishing is way more fun than "normal" fishing.
I love Bolio, though. We spend a good amount of time there in the summer. You know, when the lake is thawed!
I love the pics of W and C.
Too cute. Unfortunately, if J sees this, he will have verifiable proof that Beans is old enough to go...
SIGH
I was hoping to delay THAT for a few more years...
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ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in Fairbanks, my daughter had a 2nd grade teacher that was big on Science. They fertilized salmon and had a silver salmon tank of growing fish. By the end of the school year in late April early May we took the fish and released them in a lake near North Pole. We also went on a Field Day out at Chena Lakes. This was the best day ever. We went snow shoeing, sledding, ice fished with Fish & Game, Dog sled riding, watched how they tagged birds for research, and was showed how to spot tracks in the woods and under trees to look for animals hibernating. It was one of the best years for my daughter. She is now in the 7th grade and really misses Alaska and all the really cool things she did. She still talks about how much funshe had in 2nd grade. I was there and took pictures and I even had the time of my life. I was able to ride with the dogs and had a blast.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to move back in 2014 or sooner.
Well, as much as I wanted to revert to horrific images of movies I've seen involving ice.. and other things I cannot say, this does look relatively safe-ish and fun. I think even I may actually enjoy it. Believe or not.. heheh.. one of the things that gets me about fishing in the south is the possibility of being hooked by someone's wild cast. (Ew.) That possibility seems way lower with the ice fishing thing; although, a negative is that I would have to endure the cold for a while. I think I would maybe wanna play my really fun game called BURN OUT in that shanty. Let's see how hot we can get it in here, and let's see who is the first to bail. I can beat anyone in that game. Unfortunately I can't play with anybody I know, though, cuz they are all well aware of my trickery. So I have to do that with strangers... which is weird. And sometimes dangerous.
ReplyDelete"Kid" there caught a couple big ones, didn't she? She's had some prior 'sperience I guess. Very cute stuff.
Wow Susan. It is shocking that Steve has never been ice fishing! I thought he was hard core! Just kiddin'. By the way, I've never been either. But tomorrow, that will change. I have a guide. He will cook breakfast, and lunch in the shanty. He will provide the comfortable seating and warmth. His name is Chuck. He is good.
ReplyDeleteMiz Liz! Come on over anytime! We won't always have fish, but we'll have something.
ReplyDeleteMoose Nugget, you don't have to delay it! I've heard it gets way too hot in there. So hot you have to step outside. We'll see. Tomorrow. I'll let you know.
ReplyDeleteTammy. That sounds like an awesome 2nd grade teacher! She sounds like the kind of teacher they write lifetime movies about! I want that teacher.
ReplyDeleteSunny. WHA?? You don't have a problem with ice fishing??? Yes a hook up the nose isn't probable because there is no casting, but SUNNY! That is only a aesthetic dilemma. We are talking cracked ice, sinking, body function lost! I can't even type the horrors!! Oh great. Now I talked myself out of going tomorrow. There is just one thing I want to know. Who. are. you?
ReplyDelete