Trying to beat mother nature at her own game. Knowing we had some high wind predicted for Wednesday marty and I busted butt Tuesday moving all the houses into position for the up and coming weekend. Time ,gas, and where and tare on blue thunder as I tried to make sure the plowed road into the area we are fishing was nice smooth ice with the berms all to the south. The generator box for north Dakota, florida and old Minnesota would be set up when Dave and Connie arrived Wednesday. Any object on the lake would be getting some drifting and I tried to plan for that with a nice wide trail/ice road.
I knew the wind was howling out of the south and I expected some snow to be drifting across Buddy Hillmens plowed road but most just sliding across the smooth ice heading north. With the plow down I clipped the edges of the snow drifts and let the wind take it away. Arriving at our turn and darn even with all the snow built up on the east side and nearly none on the west side the snow was still building up . Oh well so much for that plan. Every ware you disturbed the snow the rest of the day was going to catch more snow. We headed down the trail to augur out a couple holes in florida so marty could relax and fish while kellie and I were in Bemidji. We set up the generator box and extension cords and powered up all three house’s. I plowed away the major drifts around the three houses pushing all the snow to the east of the houses. I checked on dave and sarah in montana and marked th etrail with tree branches to prepare for whiteout condition. Heading to shore around 12;30 to meet Coonie and Dave from Ill. and that crazy mother nature had done a complete flip flop and was now howling out of the north west? Didn’t see that coming. Now all that snow that had been swept to the north was coming back in force across the road the other way. Plus now it started to snow and it was a wet heavey snow to boot. I again dropped the straight blade on blue thunder and clipped the edges of the drifts to let mother nature carry the snow to the south. The berm has now collected quite a bit of snow. Busting through that berm is no longer a option and any fishermen that tries will be getting towed from the same way the came from or doing a lot of digging so bring a number two shovel if you decide to save 10 dollars to access the north side. I greeted Dave and Connie at Hillmens where they got there pass for 4 days and bait. Heading back out to old minnesota and the wind and snow were starting to create white out conditions just like I expected. After checking them in and going over a few rules I stopped to check in on dave and sarah and told them I would be gone the rest of the day and marty would be fishing in florida if any thing came up while I was gone. I was a little concerned or should I say a lot as Marty would be heading back out in the worst of it after he gathered his gear and I don’t think he has experienced what mother nature had in order. I did have him call me when he arrived and just as I again expected it was a eye opener for Marty.
Arriving back home around 8 pm I headed out to check on every one and see if marty caught a couple fish. first stop was at Montana where the fishing report was not what I expected. Slow with only a couple big perch and one walleye caught. Sarah said when the wind would lighten up they would get a couple nibbles through out the day. I was excited to see how Connie and Dave were doing in old Minnesota as I expected they would have a couple fresh walleyes on the ice. To my surprise they had only landed one little scuffit walleye and lost one on a rattle wheel that broke the line. They also had caught one nice perch and had a few nibbles through out the day. Oh well I guess if we catch them all there will not be any left. I then went over to check on Marty and see how he did. He had the best action and had two nice keepers and yes. One elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie. He told me the bite was so very light that if the line moved across the hole you tried to set the hook as they were not even pulling the rattle wheel line down. Marty does not use any electronics as he is kinda old school like me. All though I do use a vexlar when the hammer is not fishing with me. Oh forgot to mention the new generator stopped running for no apparent reason again and I call will be made To acme in Bemidji and a little bithing will be in order as I again demand a new unit as that piece is a lemon as far as I’m concerned. They can not blame the cold as it was above 32 degrees. Buddy’s road was in pretty good shape but the red baron will be hitting the lake this morning to give the newly re built v-plow a good work out and a taste of what she was built for. Brett and his crew roll inn around 10am today.