An Outdoorsman's Journal

   First Winter Camping/Ice Fishing Trip

Hello friends,

   Sometimes I mess up but I learned a long time ago to make do with what I have. You will see that as you read this week's column. I hope each and every one of you has a Merry Christmas and a healthy New Year!

Tuesday, December 10th
High 30, low 23

   Last December I camped and fished on Otter Lake which is just north of Stanley for the first time. I forgot a lighter and my fish locator and so the only way I could tell depth was to drill holes and drop a line with a weight. Because I did not have a lighter, I had no lights, heat or a cookstove.
   I found 12 feet of water and my goal was to catch walleye. Over the course of the night, I did get a bit chilly but caught a 22- and 28-inch walleye.
   This year because I knew what I was doing and have been planning this first winter camping trip in my mind for about 2 months. I would haul all of my gear in 3-500 yard trips by Otter sled with the first with fishing gear and I put out 3 Beaver Dam tip ups, over 12 feet of water.
   I might add that a solid snowstorm with 40-mph winds gusts was planned to start at 3:00 in the afternoon, the storm was no problem as I had my Eskimo "Fatfish 949" portable cabin on the lake, pop up shack.
   When I am alone I prefer the Fatfish as it is light weight, you can stand in it, its insulated and I can fit a cot a small table and still have room to fish. My dog Red waits until the cot is up and then I put a sleeping bag inside of another and she then claims her turf. My heater and a propane light help to create an excellent home.
   I am living in paradise with 3 lines in the water and just got the Fatfish up when I was punched in the gut really hard, I had forgot my 20-lp cylinder and that meant it was going to be cold and dark. I did find 2, one pound propane cylinders that were both half full that I had bought along for my cook stove. With reasonable rationing, I could still cook and at times, run my light on as dim as it would go.
   At about 3:00 my daughter Selina called, just yesterday I had taken her to Madison to start her journey to New Zealand and she was calling from Auckland to tell me she had landed and all was well on day one of a 32 day, solo adventure. Selina asked me how the fishing was and I said nothing yet, but it was just a matter of time. As we were talking the snow started and I had my first flag of the year. I actually put my phone on speaker and she was able to hear what one heck of a tussle with a good fish was. I might add that Selina also advised me to go to town and get a 20 pounder but that was not happening, I needed to be punished.
   Long story short, my fish was not a walleye but a very hefty 34-inch gator. I was all smiles and excited for the walleye bite as I existed in a world of blowing snow and basically wandered the ice like an Eskimo and folks I love wandering the ice.
   Something kind of bad started by dark and that is that I was getting damp as the snow was really blowing and had a way of getting me damp from the inside out and the outside in. I had no cares as I had caught a good fish and maybe more would make the mistake of trying to steal my shiner.
   I made a point of checking my lines once an hour and they were always snowed/blown in and naturally I just kept getting wetter. I had lights on my tip-ups and in all reality was into what was happening. Because I had so many clothes on and heavy boots, I could not fit into my sleeping bag, so I would lay on my cot and cover up with it.
   Red was upset with me for forgetting the propane tank and by midnight I was realizing that it was going to be a long night, especially since the local flock of fish did not seem to be real hungry.
   At 2:30 AM I realized in a harsh way that I had made another error.
  There was now 8-inches of new snow on the ice and also on my Fatfish and folks this is no fault of the design it was simply a weight issue.
  My home and propane lantern collapsed on top of me as fast you can blink an eye and I called myself a name that I cannot write for not knocking off the snow as it accumulated, generally the heater and lantern melt it off.
   I did some work and cleared off my shack, raised it and discovered the glass lense had broken on my lantern as well as the mantles. By 3:00 AM the shack was up, I was really damp and Red gave me a look like "dude you are old" turn on the flipping heat!
   Long story short, I fished until noon, only had the flag from the lucky Selina call and I cannot describe the beauty of heating up my core temperature on the 120 mile ride home.

   Sunset