Well my dad and I decided to hit a lake in Aitkin County that we have had luck on in the past. This time though we wanted to try some new spots. I looked at a GPS and found a 25ft hole in a bay that I thought would hold some crappies so that is where we headed, turns out my secret spot wasn't that secret and there were about 20 ice houses in the hole. We decided to pass up on the crowds and post up in a 20ft hole a little off the beaten path, we threw the truck in 4WD only to end up getting stuck next to a plowed ice road. We spent the next 2 hours digging out the truck, luckily two nice gentlemen helped us push it out. By this time im completely soaked in snow/sweat. We drag our suitcase style portable to a where I thought the 20ft hole was and just start punching holes with the auger to tired/lazy to check depths. Open the ice house up and see a bunch of mouse poo! The little
chewed holes through the canvas and soiled the shack. We decided to fish anyways, only to find out we must have missed the hole by a few yards and wound up in 16ft of water no fish other than a bunch of 4in perch. We packed the shack up early after a dissappointing day only to have a HUGE gust of wind come through and blow my shack about 100yards bending all the poles. At this point I just didn't care anymore, Gives me an excuse to buy a better ice shack.
...Long story short it was a memorable day to say the least and still better than a good day at work. If I get my new portable this week I will be going out this weekend and try to get a report up that involves a little better luck and maybe some pics too.
BTW- Temps were aproximately 34 degrees and the Ice had to have been about 2ft thick. We had a strong south wind, fishing could have been better but we just missed the right spot and I did'nt feel like moving.
~Craig
