Valentine Celebration!

Wow, what a busy weekend!  I am still so sore from drilling and tromping through the snow.  Good exercise though.  Plus, us goofy goober girls had a real good time.  Nothing like a good shanty explosion to solidify fond memories. :)

Well, even though Valentine's Day is past, Glenn and I made it out for a date.  Glenn's buddy, Bobby aka Shorty, took him out to Cheeseburger in Paradise a few years ago and ever since he has wanted to take me out there to try it. 

Immediately, I liked the relaxed tropical decor.  What a nice change from the extra snowy winter we are experiencing here in Pendleton!   Even though we were just in Indy, the restaurant aviance was like being in the tropics.

The food was delicious.  I had the Aloha Burger, a cheeseburger with a sweet and savory kick of pineapple and teriyaki sauce.   Glenn had a bacon cheeseburger with a fried egg on it.

Afterwards, we went and did a little window shopping at Gander Mountain, a golf store, and the mall.

Later that day, the kids helped me photograph Dustball and Sophie.

Have you ever noticed how perfectly poised the cute animals are on calendars?  I attempted to take a few calendar worthy photos and was reassured that my photography skills still need lots of work.

Oh, also, for Valentine's Day Mom made homemade candles.  She made the two pretty & glittery candles pictured below:

After a short intermission, it was Sophie's turn for a photo shoot.

Sophie and Dustball are little hams in front of the camera. 

 

Hope ya'all had a good Valentine's Day!

Wawasee Ice Fishing Tourney

Saturday, February 15, 2014, Jean and Gladys participated in an ice fishing tournament on Lake Wawasee.  I got to go with to keep them company.  This was our view of the sunrise as we entered the lake:

 

Our fishing spot was a considerable distance out, and even though we travel light, the snow made pulling a shanty difficult.

 

Lucky for us, a fellow competitor, Jon, gave us a ride.  Jon hitched up the shanty, plus, all our equipment, and we got a ride out to our spot.

The girls were in charge of making all the decisions, such as where to fish, since they were the competitors.  However, before we left the house, I made sure to show them how to interpret a zoomed in aerial view of  Lake Wawasee on Google Earth. 

Mainly, what I wanted them to see was the change in water depth.  Now they know how to detect underwater structure from looking at a satellite view.

Snow was falling during the ride out.  The ride out was very bumpy due to the ice-crusted, wind streaked, blanket of snow on the lake.

Jean and I drilled the holes.  I was really missing my buddy Garrett, after about the tenth hole!  The ice was thick, and solid-- very thick.

Gladys and I set up the shanty.  It's good to know that it is somewhat flame resistant!  (Otherwise, the fire/explosion from last night would have took it up in flames.)

The weather out was gorgeous!  The newly fallen snow sparkled in the sunshine and there was very little wind.  I believe the high was 23 degrees F. 

The girls set out three tip ups, two homemade and one plastic kind.  Small perch is what they had as tip up bait.

We changed locations chasing after the fish.  That statement is not as easy as it sounds.  The ice was very thick and solid.  Jean and I drilled several holes at each location we went to.  The big truck in the picture below is driving on the lake!  Did I mention the ice was very thick?  :)

Mark, AKA High Flags, (appropriate alias), had flags going off every time we turned around.  He admired our tip ups, but apparently the pike didn't think much of them because they never ate the minnows from them.  Perhaps, it was because Mark was used a different bait fish.

For lunch, Jean went to an All-You-Can-Eat snow buffet.  :)
JK-- I brought some goodies for em.

The girls found perch and stayed on em the best they could.

Suddenly, out of the blue, the bite would shut off and we were off to find more fish.

Ice fishing Wawasee; well-- imagine ice fishing lake Michigan-- it just feels massive when there is so much surface area.

The good news is, as the day went on, people would abandoned holes, so as the girls chased the fish, and occasionally they were able to use already drilled holes.

No drones flew overhead this time, that we were aware of anyways.  However, we did spot a classic antique flying overhead.

 

I should have took photos of Gladys fishing.  She was so into catching fish.

As Mark ran to tend to another flag, the girls checked and relocated there tip ups.




Jean and Gladys tried their best to locate the fish and get em to bite.





I got to experience what it would be like to float on Wawasee in mid-February.  Actually, I was just that tired.  Hehe.

After fishing, it was time to head to the weigh-in on the heated patio of the Oakwood.




Perch was the first to be weighed-in.  Also, I believe it was the most common fish caught during the tourney.  Here are a couple of the biggest tourney perch:



Here are the prize winning crappie:



This was Mark's biggest pike:



The girls proudly took the perch they caught up to be weighed-in.



These were Gladdy's five biggest perch:



Only the five biggest fish were to be weighed.




The guys calculated the winners and got the prizes ready.

Everyone patiently waited for the winners to be announced.



My good friend Rich stopped in to say hello.  He frequently fishes Wawawsee and offered us plenty of advise beforehand.

Gladys nor Jean did not have the biggest perch.  However, they did get each get a prize of ice jigs for being the youngest competitors.  Also, Gladys won a custom made ice rod from the raffle.

Afterward, Jean and I both had a mug of hot chocolate, as we waited for supper at Maria's Pancake House.

 

Gladys order herself a root beer and a waffle. 

Us girls ice fished, and meanwhile, back in Pendleton, Glenn and Troy went to see The Lego Movie.
We all had a fun Valentine weekend.  :)

Wawasee Ice Fishing Up in Flames

Yesss, more ice fishing!  Friday, Valentine's Day, Jean, Gladys and I, went to Lake Wawasee to ice fish.  We accessed the lake at the Oakwood resort.

The lake had a thick crusty snow cover all over it, with 18+ inches of solid ice underneath.

The girls set up house, (the shanty), as I drilled a few holes and set out tip ups.

The new tip ups worked out well, but we still had the minnow at the end of the day.  We also had an explosion in our shanty, and ended our fishing a bit earlier than expected.  The temperature was dropping as the sun was going down.  The three of us were fishing inside the shanty, in rather close quarters, nice and cozy with our Mr. Heater.  Then it quit working and shut itself off.  I thought perhaps it was tipped, (and has an auto shut off), because as we shuffled around, it's possible someone may have bumped it.  Anyways, as I turned the knob to low, it went---- VoooOOSH-- up in FLAMES!  I screamed and threw the ball of flames heater out of the shanty.  It continued to burn until we suffocated it with enough snow.  I decided to take that as a sign to head in for the evening.  We were all very lucky to still have eyebrows. 

We drove to Warsaw where we stayed the night at the Wyndham hotel.

Right away, we changed into our swimsuits to thaw out in the hot tub and swimming pool.

Homemade Tip ups

Burr, the weather here has been bitterly cold lately.  The coldness combined with the slush cover on the lakes makes ice fishing resemble work rather than recreation these days.  In order to help with this predicament, I made a couple tip ups.  My thinking is that if I can put out some strategically placed tip ups, I'll feel better about staying cooped up in the shanty.  After all, it's tough getting around when there's a foot of slush, not to mention drilling a bunch of holes through a zillion inches of ice.  My usual tactics of HUNTING down the fish via drilling several holes till I get a nibble, is a bit too extreme even for me in these conditions.  My new approach is to drill a minimal amount of holes to set out tip ups and do my best to attract some fish. 

This first tip up I made is my own rendition of one I studied in A Boy's Life magazine.  It's nothing more than a couple sticks with a doorstop between em, and a wire coat hanger for a stand.  Gladys donated a portion of her pant leg to be used as the flag.  I know it's hard to see, but I have fishing line spooled around two nails on the side of the bigger stick.

 

Troy was into helping; he sanded the rough cut end of the dowel rod.  A somewhat straight stick would work just as well.  I happened to have most of the stuff needed to make both of these tip ups hanging around in the basement.

The stand (coat hanger) is attached by drilling a hole completely though, and then a couple shallow holes to tuck in the ends.

We painted it up all nice and pretty, then made it DNR approved. 

 

My concern with the first tip I made is that it WILL SET THE HOOK and possibly rip it right out of some poor fishes mouth.  When the line is tugged, the flag releases and pulls up line, thus, setting the hook. I can make some adjustments if need be.  Can hardly wait to try em out!  

The second tip up, (also pictured), is the old fashioned balanced type.

Jean has had the crafting bug lately too.  Her and Dustball are working on making an Ironman mask.

 

The idea for this tip up was from an old copy of the Farmers Almanac.  The idea here is, when a fish tugs on the line, the weight (nut), will shift, altering the position of the stick to indicate a fish.

This contraption was made from scrap wood, 2 wire paperclips, a nut, screws and a mostly gone reel of fishing line.

It's important to decorate these tip ups in a fishy fashion.  This way the fish will WANT to come out out of the water and check things out.  (Note-- the first tip up was painted worm pink, to resemble a worm.)

This tip up features a neon indicator instead of a flag.  When this indicator is up-- it means FISH ON!

Nothing like having a few practical Valentine decorations around the house, er... lakes.  :)

The beauty of these tip ups is that they can both be used on the shore, as well as on the ice. 

I'm ready to try them out!!