Ice Fishing is the easiest way to walk on water. When Alex called and asked if I wanted to go, I said, “yes.”

“We can catch Kokanee! The tastiest salmon on the planet.” Of course I wanted to go. Even if I had to walk on ice, drink Cup of Soup to keep warm and trying to keep dry as we stood on a 8 inch think sheet of ice. There’s a lot I’ll go through for the pleasure of eating.

What I wasn’t prepared for and left the biggest impression on me was the sound. Kind of like shaking a piece of sheet metal or like a laser pistol in a movie, the ice squeaks out a scientific whistle as it expands and extracts. The air 44 degrees, the water at varying degrees also above freezing (there’s a hot springs on the west side of the lake. some times it’s under water), the ice floats in the middle. The flexing causes a sonic wave. It’s like listening to the earth’s magnetic fields. I didn’t know what it was.

Then it cracked right under me. I jumped and screamed, “that was right next to me!”

Unfazed, Randy just kept drilling holes in the ice with a big gas powered cork screw. When he’s finally got 20 holes done. He says “The cracking is a good thing. It means the ice is solid. What you don’t want is flaky ice that breaks.” This is why Randy is my redneck connection and not because he’s the only one on the ice with an Argo wearing tank tracks. “That sound is the ice expanding and retracting.” Later, he also tells us not to get to close to the bank of the reservoir. “The ice is pretty thin over there.” He often warns as Alex and I wonder off to pee.

I get used to the noise and keep looking at the fish finder trying to wrap my head around the idea that the air tempotur maintains a steady 45 degrees all day, but people could drive snowmobiles, small tanks, ice skate, boil water and set the boiling tea pot right on the ice, with out fear of falling in. CRACK!

Also interesting, each angler is allowed five poles in the water. This fishing trip was by far the most successful I’ve had. Alex had baited me. No Kokanee at Magic Reservoir. I’m hooked, I’m going to have to go again, Rainbow Trout’s damn good too!

–Farmer Marty