Great White North
After many, many, many days of sub zero temperatures here in Minnesota it finally warmed up to 10 degrees fahrenheit which means ice fishing time! I'm not cool enough to have an ice house. I like to do it old school with a five gallon bucket, a boat cushion and a tub of wax worms which is really just a fancy name for oversized maggots. Ahh, a little slice of heaven. This was pretty much my view for several hours Sunday afternoon.
Connies brother Ken gave me a hand crank auger last year for Christmas but with temps so cold for so long we measured over 21 inches of solid ice base on the lake so we were fortunate enough to borrow his cousins power model. We moved around the lake looking for fish so having to drill a dozen holes by hand would've taken all the fun out of the freezing, sitting, fish guts frozen to your hands, maggot piercing, sun burn but only on the tiny exposed part around your snout, eating jerky and drinking beer experience.
Just how cold is -15 below, the daily hi temp for a day or two last week ( not including wind chill )? Well, it's 47 degrees below freezing. If you took that difference of temprature in the other direction it would be the change between living in an ice cube ( 32 degrees ) and 79 degrees, a nice warm day. It's so cold that I had bought some flavored, carbonated water at the grocery store, opened it up walking out the door, it squirted all over my jacket and by the time I reached my truck in the parking lot maybe 20 - 30 seconds later the drops had frozen solid.
So I'm a big pussy and don't go out to sit on a bucket when it's below zero. Ken ( shown above in the lovely brown Carhart ensamble ) dressed for the occasion and brought his own portable oral heaters. I was so excited about the temp rising I just wore long underwear with jeans and had my gloves off half the time. Here's a picture of the 147 pound walleye I had on the line but got away. Mmmmm, walleye.
Oh Yea, and I turn 39 in about ten minutes.
wes
posted by wes @ 9:46 PM
12 Comments:
Happy Birthday, Wes! Ah, 39 - I remember it well. About two months ago.
Oh Man! I missed your birthday Drewbie!
I'm so sorry... I suck at stuff like that. So break my heart and tell me what the weather is like in Brisbane. ( In farenheight for us yankees. ) You've already seen what going to the beach looks like here at the moment.
You have the same birthday as Minda? That is toooo weird.
Minda... REALLY?! Well happy birthday to us. :0)
Weird seems to be the common denominator in that equation.
39 going on 21. Live it up man, and by that I do NOT mean sit on a bucket on a frozen lake. Minnesotans are WEIRD!
Wes, perhaps you could post more pictures of California instead of the frozen lake. I get to see that everyday across the street. Really, palm trees for the frozen hearted little Minnesotans?? Please??
Happy Happy Bday Wes!!!!
I'm with Heather. More california, please.
The weather in Brisbane, well, let's have a look out the window. Blue sky with a few whispy clouds, some water on the ground from showers through the night, and today should give us a max of 84.
But the downside is that we're seven years or so into a drought, so it's not all beer and skittles. :)
No sweat on the birthday, Wester! Hope yours was fun.
Stay warm and enjoy those fish. It has been in the 40's and 50's here and we are all saying it is soooo cold. Better be happy with our cold before we get some of this really bad cold like you all.
Wes,
Happy belated Birthday...
I am very sorry! I read your post about the ice-fishing and missed the the last sentence...
Hope you had a good one!
Up to the big 4-0...
BubbaH!
So sorry I missed your birthday! Hope you had a good one!
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