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Mink Islander · 02-18-2006, 01:28 PM

I'd hiked over to Mink on Thursday -- needed to do two portages -- one over a small corner of Bear to clear the first open water, and again across an island to clear a second span of questionable ice/open water. The walk from there was uneventful. 7-9 inches of black ice with a couple inches of slush on top. Had a nice relaxing rest of the day.

Friday, however, was another story altogether. Got up early to fish (and before the wind/rain set in), setting up only a couple hundred yards out from my place. When the initial breeze and rain came up in late morning, I returned back to the house, but the weather calmed down, so I went back out around noon-time. The wind started to pick up again fairly quickly so I went to bring in my two tip-ups. Literally, within a couple of minutes it went from a breeze to a gale. As I was gathering the last tip-up, the wind swept away my el cheapo plastic chair -- last I saw it was tumbling across the lake towards the gap between Jolly and Camp. I grabbed the rope to the sled and watched the lid to my bait bucket fly off and disappear downwind. Then the sled itself lifted like a kite and flipped -- dumping a couple dozen smelt and all my gear onto the ice. I gathered what I could, but saw gloves, a kneeling cushing, a package of worms, the bait bucket, etc., all go racing down the lake. I loaded the auger into the sled to weigh it down, and raced to catch the few items than were not already a hundred yards away. I recovered all but the bait bucket, the chair and the blade cover for the auger. Took me more than 15 minutes to drag myself parallel to the wind towards my camp. Never felt so completely exposed to the elements before. Such a violent wind. Branches of trees were blowing across the lake for hours. Chunks of the ice pack broke up all around the perimeter of Mink making exit options a bit challenging. And of course the power went out.... Don't expect to see it until Spring since the Co-op makes repairing the island lines a low priority and given the concerns about the ice this year, they may well wait for ice-out. Had enough gas to run the gererator for a couple of days, but bailed out this morning since I was "baitless" from my mis-adventure the day before and with more wind today, thought I wouldn't wait to see if more of the ice opened up. Followed my route back from Thursday but had to deal with snow squalls and and strong headwind. Now I know why I go to the gym 5 days a week. As they say in the movie Apollo 13 (wife's favorite movie) -- a successful failure. Quite an adventure.

Oh, caught a couple decent lake trout and a 2-3 pound smallie. Not much of a fishing weekend!

02-18-2006, 01:28 PM	#15
Mink Islander Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 753 Thanks: 59 Thanked 271 Times in 129 Posts	What a few days! I'd hiked over to Mink on Thursday -- needed to do two portages -- one over a small corner of Bear to clear the first open water, and again across an island to clear a second span of questionable ice/open water. The walk from there was uneventful. 7-9 inches of black ice with a couple inches of slush on top. Had a nice relaxing rest of the day. Friday, however, was another story altogether. Got up early to fish (and before the wind/rain set in), setting up only a couple hundred yards out from my place. When the initial breeze and rain came up in late morning, I returned back to the house, but the weather calmed down, so I went back out around noon-time. The wind started to pick up again fairly quickly so I went to bring in my two tip-ups. Literally, within a couple of minutes it went from a breeze to a gale. As I was gathering the last tip-up, the wind swept away my el cheapo plastic chair -- last I saw it was tumbling across the lake towards the gap between Jolly and Camp. I grabbed the rope to the sled and watched the lid to my bait bucket fly off and disappear downwind. Then the sled itself lifted like a kite and flipped -- dumping a couple dozen smelt and all my gear onto the ice. I gathered what I could, but saw gloves, a kneeling cushing, a package of worms, the bait bucket, etc., all go racing down the lake. I loaded the auger into the sled to weigh it down, and raced to catch the few items than were not already a hundred yards away. I recovered all but the bait bucket, the chair and the blade cover for the auger. Took me more than 15 minutes to drag myself parallel to the wind towards my camp. Never felt so completely exposed to the elements before. Such a violent wind. Branches of trees were blowing across the lake for hours. Chunks of the ice pack broke up all around the perimeter of Mink making exit options a bit challenging. And of course the power went out.... Don't expect to see it until Spring since the Co-op makes repairing the island lines a low priority and given the concerns about the ice this year, they may well wait for ice-out. Had enough gas to run the gererator for a couple of days, but bailed out this morning since I was "baitless" from my mis-adventure the day before and with more wind today, thought I wouldn't wait to see if more of the ice opened up. Followed my route back from Thursday but had to deal with snow squalls and and strong headwind. Now I know why I go to the gym 5 days a week. As they say in the movie Apollo 13 (wife's favorite movie) -- a successful failure. Quite an adventure. Oh, caught a couple decent lake trout and a 2-3 pound smallie. Not much of a fishing weekend!