[Rockfish9]

Lake Winnipisauki is not often kind to fisherman... she can be a fickle lady and dislikes giving up her bounty..
saturday was a perfect day as ice fishing days go... I picked up two old friends ( life long) at 4:30 Am... and met up with two new friends( realativly new) in Alton...

As the day light ascened on the day.. we set our tip ups in locatiions that had, in the distant past been very good to us ( the last few years, the location has been baren)...the ice had broken up and reformed several times from the looks of the terrain... there was about 4" of snow ( and more falling) as we drilled hole in water depth from 4-8' in ice that varied greatly from 6" in some areas.. to 24" with a hollow layer of slush inbetween...

we shared omlets..pots and thermoses of coffee... venison tips wrapped in bacon....and venison back straps with a sprinkle of Franks red hot( beware if you hit a hot grill pan..it will singe your nostrils)...as well as copius war stories...

oh yea and we caught a few fish...Brian ( night shift) and I each caught tagged rainbows ( 3 weeks to early unfortunatly for the derby) which we released.. in an act of good faith for a return favor at the derby.. the tally at the end of the day was 4 rainbows and two salmon.. we could have called it a day at noon.. but even though it was cold and snowy... the combination of bieng with good friends.. having a full belly made for a good day... we left just shy of darkness..
It was a great day to be alive!