Winter 2008

March 21, 2021: Father Son Ice Fishing Day (21 Photos)

Well mother nature turned out not to be a crazy ol' lady after all and granted us an extension to our ice fishing season here on the east coast, albeit a brief one. The rain Friday wasn't near as bad as forecast, and the mild spell short lived as temperatures dropped well below freezing Friday evening. By Sunday morning the ponds in our area were well frozen with no evidence of standing water or slush.

With conditions favorable French, Bassan and I headed back to #Dogpond this time with our fathers Don, Peter and Randy in tow for another crack at a few trout and some quality father son time.

Thankfully the pond is huge so it was no problem to social distance as we are now under Covid alert level 4.

We fished under bright sunny skies, cold temperatures and yet another bout of unrelenting wind.

French started the day off with a nice pan sized mud trout.

My cheap Chinese CS2500 top handle chainsaw continues to work very well and runs like a top. My Georgecraft axe made it's debut appearance on an adventure, it was my first real good chance using it to gather sticks and make a few splits. Not only gorgeous, it works fantastically as well.

Bassan and I tag teamed lunch which consisted of Bassan's homemade Moose Chili and my homemade hand crafted moose sausages, one pack of spicy Italian which has red wine in the mix, and a pack of Okto'beer'fest which features a little IPA.

Lunch was outstanding and enjoyed by all hands.

After lunch, French's lucky automatic hook setter triggered and captured another beautiful Rainbow trout, this one about 1.5lb. In the name of conservation with rainbow's being spring spawners we released this trout to populate the pond for future adventures.

After lunch I took project 6x6 for a quick rip before re-positioning it as a wind break for this afternoon's fishing.

Sometimes the embedded video doesn't play well so here is a YouTube link to the video: https://youtu.be/GzCjO_ZMNLA

Again, the power of the March sun can melt a light colour board into the ice over the course of a day even during freezing conditions. This power is what will soon break up the ice covering ponds here on the East Coast.

Later in the afternoon one of Don's lines attracted the attention of a dandy pan size mud trout putting another fisherman on the scoreboard!

Dad had to head back to Bay Roberts around 3pm ending his day a little early but not skunked as he caught himself a dandy smaller pan size rainbow as well.

Don, Mark, Peter and I left around 4:30pm while Bassan's wife and niece dropped down to keep him company for a couple more hours of trouting. Although it was a pretty last minute plan that came together with favourable conditions and Covid restrictions, I think our fist father son day trip was a great success as every one had a great time!

Cheers, MIKE