Ice Fishing

Alaska is so beautiful in the winter.  I know the pictures we post just don't show it.  This was taken on an afternoon hike.  It's important to get out an enjoy the outdoors. 

With that in mind, Eric loves to fish and this year he purchased, with a friend, ice fishing equipment.  They were so excited to take the families fishing.  I noticed this THIN ICE sign immediately upon arrival.  Eric told me every lake has this sign due to government regulations.  I didn't really feel comfortable until the ice depth was measured  at 13 inches.   We didn't catch any fish but we found plenty to entertain ourselves. 

The kids shot a BB gun, watched minnow's eating the bait, played in the snow, and complained a bit about the cold.  I used this opportunity to try out the food in our three day emergency kits which needs to be refreshed.  Turns out there wasn't much that tasted very good in our packs.  We had brought along some freeze dried meals to try as well.  Everyone enjoyed Chili Mac and a Raspberry Crumble.  Our new packs will have freeze dried meals instead.  I also enjoyed being outside until my fingers and toes froze then back to the tent to warm up.  Our men just simply enjoyed ice fishing.  Although they were not successful on this trip they were on a later trip. 

Monday they went to a lake on base were the ice was 23 inches thick and incidentally did not have a THIN ICE Sign.  I thought that was odd given there probably isn't a more government regulated place than a military base.  The guys caught six fish and Eric brought a nice lake trout for us to try.  He cooked it up when he got home and it turns out these fish are very mild.  They definitely taste better (to me) than rainbow trout.   I'm looking forward to more of the outdoors, ice skating, hiking, and yes even fishing on lakes with THIN ICE signs.