Hard Water

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. That's exactly what the game plan has been here over the last few cold weeks.  Ice fishing has sparked my interest as some new opportunities for some unique fisheries has provided some good times in the cold weather.

The U.P. is littered with countless lakes as well as ice fishing on the big water of Lake Michigan & Lake Superior.  The big water ice scene is pretty damn cool, sketchy ice conditions & the chance at hooking some damn nice fish through the ice is interesting.

Playing the winds is key when venturing out on the big water ice, watching for offshore winds can save your life.  Not a wise decision to head out when a south wind is kicking up for example on Lake Superior ice, the ice can blow out in a matter of minutes.  Not a pleasant ride!!

The ice fishing scene is kinda more about relaxing and being outside verses slaying fish.  Sure, you are going to have some good days on the ice occasionally-but most of the time on the ice is going to be spent catching up with friends!

Super Bowl-after a season plagued with injures to key players, the Pack has made it to the big show!

http://www.riversnorth.net

Road Tripping

Biblical proportions of snowfall & hurricane force winds.  Yepper, an old school ass kicker of a yooper style storm has pummeled the crap out of the Upper Peninsula. I heard that just west of Central Marquette county  27 inches of snow already has been received from this storm.  Storm reports out of Gitchee Gummee where reporting waves up to 20 feet & coastal flood warnings.  No end is really in sight in the form of a warm up, temps look to be in the low 20's for at least the 10 day.

This snow isn't going to make the ice fishing crowd to happy, i have to imagine that the cold weather we have been receiving had some solid ice around.  Whenever we get a big dumb of snow it compromises the ice conditions big time, the snow acts as insulation & melts away the good ice below it.  20 inches of snow on top of 5 inches of good ice will deteriorate conditions quite quickly.  I heard a report last week of somebody breaking through in Iron Mountain while venturing out, this always puzzles me.  Of all ways to die, I think breaking through a frozen body of water & drowning would most likely be the most miserable way to go. Is the possibility of maybe catching a fish worth swimming in ice cold water worth it? I highly doubt it. Hell, id rather drive myself to Thills Fish Market in Marquette & purchase some fresh whitefish verses freeze my ass off!  People always use ice fishing as an excuse to go drink beer, why the hell would I wanna sit outside in subzero weather to drink a beer?  Really, I enjoy consuming booze as much as anyone-but this is just stupid.  A warm pub or my couch for that matter makes much more sense to guzzle down some ales.

On another note, I was lucky enuff to make my way down to Detroit this past weekend to attend the "Big Chill" game at the Big House & the Red Wings vs Canadians game.  It was a damn fun weekend away from the U.P. to watch some hockey.  It's nice to get to the big cities every so often to keep in touch with reality!