Ice Fishing

I got off work on Friday and on my drive home made sure to have in my mind all that I wanted/needed to pack for the big outing ice fishing. It is something that I have never done and was definitely looking forward to going. When I got home I was utterly surprised. Eli was completely packed and ready to go. And not just his stuff, mine as well. I was a little nervous leaving the house and not being able to see and know for sure what he packed for me, but he assured me that I would be plenty warm. I knew that the whole trip could be ruined if I were to be cold, but I trust Eli, so we walked out the house not even five minutes after I got there. We stopped and picked up his friend and his little boy and were on the road.

The trip there was nice...a little long but bearable. It is about a three hour drive and the stretch of highway we were on is really the loneliest ever! But the little boy was a chatter box and kept us laughing. Once there, we checked into our beauty of a motel and then hit the road to go out by the ranch where we went spot lighting a few months back. We drove and drove around, but didn't see any bunnies. We were just talking about turning around and heading back to the motel since we weren't seeing anything when all of a sudden a HUGE mountain lion ran across the road. And I am not even lying when I am saying this thing was HUGE!!! It was the craziest thing ever. I feel very fortunate seeing one because I know that seeing one is a rare thing. I had the spot light on him for awhile, but he was long gone. We definitely scared the shit out of him. On our way back out the road we were on, we saw one lonely bunny. Eli got a shot off and dropped it right in its tracks.

Back to the room we went. I am not much of a girly girl at all and don't have to stay in a 5 star hotel to be happy. I can stay in pretty much anything, but this motel that we stayed at was pushing my standards to the limit. I was scared to lay in the bed, walk on the floor without shoes on, definitely couldn't even form an opinion about the bathroom. I truly couldn't even believe that we were actually staying there and really think that we might have been better staying in the truck, but I was drunk when we got back and found the bed to be rather nice for my little ass to pass out in. Morning came and I was able to capture a couple pictures of our lovely little room. Let me just tell you that the heater didn't work and the light that you see is the only one that worked out of 3-4.

That is the bed that we decided to sleep in. It was a little smaller than the other one in the room, but it was away from the window.

The best shot of the whole room that I could get.

Just across the street was the Cafe/Bar in town. The food was...not so great. I even found a piece of plastic on my toast while eating it. The guy that was working in the cafe that morning was telling us that he has 13 dogs and 8 kids. If I ever wondered what people in that town did, I don't anymore. It is obvious they just drink and have sex. When leaving, I had to take a picture of the little dive that we stayed at. Ugh, I don't think that I will stay there again, but I don't think that either of the other two would be a better bet.

Ah, the lovely little dive motel in Austin, NV.

This right here was the office for that lovely motel. When you walk in, it is so tight and stuffy. There is only like four feet of room to move around in.

Here is the Cafe/Bar. The cafe is on the left and bar on the right. The outside looks a lot better than the inside!

Here is a shot of the beginning of where the little town starts.

And here is the end! It really is one of the smallest towns I have ever seen!

After we were done with breakfast, we were back in the truck and driving to this pond. Along the way we ran into some deer crossing the road. No, we didn't literally hit them. We slowed down to let them cross. There was at least 20 of them.

A bit further down the road, we saw a lonely crow perched. And dating the guy that I am, we were stopped and the gun was out and shooting.

There were black feathers everywhere after he shot...

A random turn off the road and we were headed up into the mountains that we completely covered with snow. It really was gorgeous. I never would have imagined in a million years that the road we were on would have led us to a pond.

The road up to one of the most peaceful spots ever! It was a little bit of a hike down to the pond, but so very worth it. When you got down on it and saw the whole thing completely iced over and the view all the way around it, it mesmerized me.

The boys getting on the pond and about to get the poles ready. They were definitely more brave than me. I really had to convince myself that I wasn't going to fall through into freezing ass cold water!

Pure beauty I tell you. This is one end of the pond.

And this is on the other side.

This is what one ice hole looks like. It looks smaller than what it really is. I believe that our holes were 8 inches.

Harold with the auger making our holes.

It is crazy. Once you break through the ice, water just comes spilling up. It was a good thing for him to have on water proof boots because he would have been soaked to the bone otherwise.

Eli getting the poles ready.

And here is the first fish of the day...caught by me! I was so very excited. I normally don't like fishing because it is so boring, but ice fishing is definitely a different story than normal. It is crazy to see the fish curl its body to come out of the hole.

The first four fish of the day...again, all caught by me. I was on fire the beginning of the day and then, it got very slow for me. But I was still having such a wonderful time!

I was across the pond from where Eli was and I couldn't help but pulling out my camera. He was so engrossed in watching his pole, just hoping that he would get a bite.

Just another shot of the pond.

He is so freaking cute!!!!!

This is the array of fish after being out for a couple hours. It really was one of the funnest experiences ever.

Still waiting for that fish to bite!

Oh how he hates pictures, but look how stinkin' cute he is!!!! This was the part of the day that you wanted all your layers on. The beginning part was super warm, like warm enough that you wanted to peel layers off. Then the cloud cover got thicker and the temperature started dropping. Not too much later, maybe ten minutes, and we started seeing little snow flurries.

I couldn't believe how clear it was and then how within minutes, the visibility was so much worse than what it had been. I didn't care though. I was having fun and didn't want to leave.

This is that same mountain range ten minutes later. Freaking crazy huh??? And it was starting to snow even more. We were warm though and didn't mind, so we stuck it out some more.

See, still sitting in the snow fishing. I never thought I would enjoy being out in the snow, ice fishing of all things. Let's all keep in mind, I HATE COLD!

Harold's little boy had fun putting all our fish in order from littlest to biggest. We caught 16 for the day. Not too bad. We would have had more too if it weren't for the weather.

The weather turned shitty and it was time to get out of there. It wasn't that it was cold, it was that it was snowing so hard and covering things so much that we didn't want to take any chance of not being able to get down the mountain. Could you imagine four people spending the night in a truck!? Ha, that would probably make for a good story.

Ah, he is me all bundled up. From the looks of this, it should be no wonder why I was so warm all day. The boy packed great for me. This is exactly what I was wearing: thermal pants, jeans, sweats, hunting pants, two thermal shirts, long sleeve shirt, t-shirt, two sweatshirts and then the coveralls over, two pair of socks, and my nice snow boots. Oh and I had on a neck warmer thing that also covered my head and ears. I felt like I was a 200 pound person with all those layers on. But I was warm and that is all that mattered.

Finally a picture of the two of us. He fought me all day and then finally gave in. My smile looks huge, but really it is just a snow flake!

It got even worse as we were taking pictures and packing up.


By the time we were ready to make the hike up the hill to the truck, you couldn't see any of the mountain that surrounded the lake. Not a single one. It felt like we were stuck in this snowing hole. It was so cool.

The adventure was amazing. Something that I definitely want to do again. I am no longer nervous about being warm enough. With enough layers, I know that I would be fine. Shit, if I wasn't at all cold with it snowing, there is no reason for me not to be going again. It is so fun that Eli and I are able to experience this stuff together. It is just so much fun and memories keep being made.