Excellent day ice fishing in ... L300

[Firesong]

Another day of ice fishing,
another day with the Delica pulling through.
Hard pack snow, huge drifts and some hilarious fun
cruising through the snow on the ice.
Favorite quote : " hold on!!"
Had to cross previous drifts and track ridges to
get where I needed to be :)
Here's a 20lb'r at the site, L300 behind.

J

[EnviroImports.com]

Great pict, I used to fish the Fresh water Cuda for years, nasty teeth on them. but a decent fight for ice fishing.

[phunka]

dang man thats a nice catch!
it's been years, but I used to ice fish in northern saskatchewan as a kid

[Golf Cart]

Awesome catch Firesong !!!

Great to see you involving the kids and passing down the fun. I especially like the "Catch & Release" idea. Toss them back to catch another day. Besides, the bigguns are good for breeding and not eating.

Post more pics of the trip if you have them.

[Todd64]

Wow very nice. Ice auger I haver you wouldn't get that fishes tail up through it.

How thick was the ice? I wouldn't have the nerve around here to drive anything on the ice.

[Firesong]

It was a beautiful day.
We were using 2 ice augers and drilled about 30 holes during the day.
The augers had extensions on them since there was that much ice.
Looking at 3.5 to 4 foot thick ice.

Fish that big go back in the water. Not that great for eating.
We keep fish from around 1.5lb to 6-7lb for eating.
Im betting that one was a female, full of eggs.

This was one of the reasons I wanted what the Delica
could provide. 4x4 access and lots of clearance while
not giving up space and decent fuel mileage.

James

[phunka]

Haha! a fellow delica lover from saskatchewan! I didn't notice that when I first posted, but my name is James too, and I was living in Saskatoon before i moved out here to the west coast.

I bet your one of the few delicas in stoon?

[Firesong]

Hi James
I think I am the only one here in Saskatoon at the moment.
There is a nice one in Prince Albert that I know about too.
:)
A step up in power from my 1974 VW Westy
James

[BCDelica]

Nice Fish.

That's a monster, thanks for posting the picture. What did you caught her with?

One of our favourites to eat, discovered last June that they are like candy broiled fresh with a honey/chilli glaze. Never have had the pleasure of seeing anything that size in person.

And 4 different Thai people, I showed your post to, are more amazed at that incredible fact that you can drive on the ice.

Best Regards,
Kevin

[FalcoColumbarius]

I love the digital cammo trousers ~ you blend right into the background. And I gotta say ~ that fish has a pretty cool colour scheme, reminds me of a jaguar.

[Firesong]

My Miltary (German) 'Gortex' pants are my favorite thing :)
At the surplus the 3x ply gortex is cheap -> $70 and tough.
Take them fishing in the winter (need waterproof for kneeling
in the snow/ice and for drilling holes -always have water coming
at ya.) In the summer they work for everything too :)

And I do blend in with the fish :)
This winter I have seen some amazing colors on pike fish from
a golden yellow tinge, to such a distinct almost translucent
undertone to their normal colors. We even saw one with a birthmark.

All yummy if you know how to fillet them and take out the
dreaded 'Y' bones. Then you have great boneless fillets.

James

[marsgal42]

The "digital camouflage" reminded me of the episode of James May's 20th Century on military stuff, including how not to be seen, i.e. camouflage. The most striking was his investigation of dazzle camouflage with model ships in a pool. You really couldn't tell which way they were pointed, where they were headed, or even exactly what sort of ship they were...

There are excerpts kicking around on youtube. The complete series is on DVD.

...laura

[FalcoColumbarius]

Cool Firesong!
I when camping with a few Delioids in December (08) and I had a traditional cotton sleeping bag, you know ~ the one with the printed hunting scenes on the lining ~ I woke up at 01:22hrs with my knees & elbows in pain in a -15* freezer, my water container was a solid block of ice. I thought this was not good, I started the engine, blasted the cabin with heat and resolved to get a better sleeping bag.

I went to Mountain Equipment Co-operative (MEC) and made some enquiries. $400.00 for a minus seven bag. I argued that this was rather expensive for a bag that went to only -7*. The guy told me that they could get me a -25* bag for $650.00, but I would have to wait as they had to ship them from back east and that might take a couple of months. I smiled and suggested that they feed their dogs some raw meat instead of Alpo and they might pull the sled a little faster.

And then I remembered....

I went to this place in New Westminster on Front Street called "Wesley's Army Surplus". Found a -50* NATO bag for $100.00 and they threw the duffel in with the deal (laced). Having a budget of $400, as set by the MEC price, I now had $300 extra to play with..... I thought I was in some game show and wondered how fast I could spend this money; so I got a NATO Combat Sava (parka/ two in one) for $160; gloves; 100% wool socks ( some with holes because I forgot to check them, but they were $3 a pair anyway); neoprene undergarments (those I did check) and walked out of the store with still $100 in my wallet! Although I must say that the colour selection was somewhat limited but I am okay with that, besides ~ green goes with my van's interior .

Falco.