As we figured it, you really didn’t need too much in the way of gear, and in all honestly, you don’t. We already had fishing poles, some small jigs, and plenty of layers to keep us warm. We added a couple lawn chairs, my camp stove to heat water for Ramen noodle and hot coco, and some chips and pop to quench our thirst for when we got tired from catching all those fish. Most of all you need some way to get through the ice and that’s where the friends came in for us.
We needed an auger, and for us any auger would do, but I had no idea where to get one. I didn’t really want to buy one because this might be our only ice fishing trip ever – you never know with kids. I looked online and found three main kinds; a hand held version, a version that fits to your electric drill, and then the awesomeness that was a 3-horsepower gas driven ice screw. The ice would melt in the presence of one of those for sure. To buy them outright the cost started at $50 and ran into the hundreds, yikes. We really needed a better plan than to spend that much cash for 4-hours on the ice. I called around town trying to find one to rent but had no luck. Without an auger we could have all the grubs in the world but we weren’t going to get any fish, so I had to “cast a wider net.”
I put the word out on Facebook that I was looking to rent or barrow an auger and the magic of social media delivered, again. Thankfully a friend stepped in and let us barrow not only their sweet gas auger but also their sled, cool little ice-specific fishing poles, straps for your feet to keep from losing your step on the ice, and most importantly, as it turned out, they had fresh left over mealworms. We were completely set.
We settled on an open area, in probably 20-feet of water, which sat just off those rocks and between two other groups of guys. I pulled out the chairs and gear while Lucas explored the area a bit. With the two other groups of guys looking on, I fiddled with the motor a bit trying to look like I knew what I was doing. Brandon, the augers rightful owner, had told me something about a screw on the gas cap I had to loosen (check), then the choke, I thought I found it (check), then just pull the cord until it fires. Well (check) on the cord pulling part, (no check) on the firing up part. I asked Lucas if he thought maybe it had an on/off switch – he just stared at me. I flipped the motor over and sure enough I found a switch. One more pull on the cord and that thing fired up. As I yanked it vertical it tried to die but I pulled hard on the throttle and the screw began to spin. “Holy shit!” I thought to myself, this thing is sweet. I held on to it pretty tight, I assumed that as soon as I got digging it was going to catch the ice hard and throw me around like some kind of dangerous playground toy. I pushed the point into the ice and let that thing rip. In no time at all we had one hole and then two, and aside from wet boots, we had two perfectly fishable holes. By 10:00 we were actually fishing – this was clearly going to be a good day.
We got our hooks baited with fake worms and dropped our jigs down the dark holes and into the freezing water. We proceeded to chat about the auger and how cool it was. Lucas wondered when we could make some more holes and I secretly wondered how many I could drill before it ran out of gas…I said in my best dad voice ”Lucas, focus on fishing, we only need more holes if we need them.” I was really hoping we’d need them. So we sat, and sat, and fidgeted, and sat, and frequently discussing what we’d do with the fish we were sure to catch. Lucas wanted me to save them but he had no intention of eating them, he apparently doesn’t like fish. Which at this moment seemed odd to me, then I remembered fishing is less about the fish and more about not having to clean your room. We sat around lazily drinking coco and coffee in the warm sun until we both wanted a snack and to find a bathroom. So we made the 300-yard walk back to shore and grabbed the pretzel bag we had forgotten on the first trip and made a quick stop at the potty. On that third hike back out onto the ice we both decided we were going to make new holes, the old ones were boring.
I walked across the 8-feet of ice that separated me from Lucas asked him to pull up his line. I took the fattest mealworm I could find in the package out of the warm shavings and stuck him on the hook. Lucas liked that he had pink guts, I had never noticed that oddity before, and agreed it was pretty cool. He dropped him down the hole and I reiterated my lesson about the jigging motion he was to use to catch the trout. Small up and down pulls that would surely make the fish so hungry and pissed off that they’d swallow our hook for sure.
Lucas and I walked off the ice for the last time that day talking about other trips we’d make to the mountains in the coming year. He told me he wants to come back to chase deer, and maybe even shoot a bear. I asked him if he’d ever been close enough to a bear to smell it and he just looked at me. When I explained that bears smell pretty bad he decided we’d just look at them from a distance because mom wouldn’t want my car to smell any worse than it already does. I love these kids.
Very thankful for friends! A special thank you goes out to Brandon and Shelby Montross who lent us the fishing gear to make the day possible. You guys are great! They are the owners of Hop Acres (http://www.facebook.com/hopacres) and Meadowlark Creative Letterpress Design and Printing (http://www.meadowlarkcreative.com/). |
Getting to Dowdy LakeTake Highway 287 north out of Fort Collins for 20-miles, turn West at Livermore on County Rd 74 E (Red Feather Lakes Road). Drive 24 miles to Dowdy Road and make a right hand turn going north. Dowdy lake is about a mile further and there is no day fee to get out on the ice during the winter. |