Yesterday was such a fun day.  We got up early and headed up to Strawberry to do some ice fishing.

I was going to just put on a bunch of layers, but then I remembered the awesome body suit i picked up at the yw yard sale last summer.  I dug it out of the basement and threw it in the truck.  It really saved the day!  I was warm and toasty all day... and it was reeeealy cold up there...like 10???

But Oh so beautiful!  We have been having a terrible inversion with no end in sight.  It's gotten so bad, you can just see it in the air. and wow, when you get above it, it's like looking down on a big brown cloud sitting over the valley. 

So to spend a few hours sitting out on the sparkling snow under the bright blue sky with the sun  beating down on me did my soul good.  It's amazing what a sunny day can do to lift your spirit.

 (big gloves I couldn't control)

We got out on the ice and Kelley got to work making some holes in the ice.  KC and Kelley had gone out to test our auger to make sure it was running the night before and said it wouldn't even start.  So Kelley asked Jerry if he could borrow his.  He had a hard time getting his going too, but it finally fired up and Kelley got two holes made in the ice.  Then it died and they couldn't get it started again.  Took off the gas cap and found it was completely out of gas!  Ha!  Kelley said he usually has a can of gas in the back of his truck, but he had  taken it out before we left.  Dang. 

So we were going to just fish out of those two holes, but I could see Kelley was dying to have his own hole so we suggested he go borrow the auger of some people that were fishing by us.    He finally went and got it from them.  It was a hand auger but it worked like a charm...Kelley said it was really sharp so it cut right through the ice. 

 He made it look so easy...just a couple twists and he was through the ice.  He made several holes (just in case there wasn't any action in one...you could switch to another)  Kelley was joking around and said something about how a self respecting fisherman would make his own hole so I thought 'Of course I can make my own hole!'  So I got the auger and found a good spot for a new hole. 

Soooo, you hold the red handle on the top and turn the  middle twisty thing...easy peasy.  Well it wasn't that easy.  It was kind of like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time.  I was probably quite a spectacle trying to wrangle that thing.  Kelley came over and asked if I wanted some help.  NO Way!  I was on a mission now.  I would make a hole if it took me all day!  So Kelley said "let me just show you how to hold it better."  So he got me going and I was doing pretty good.  The auger was about half way under the ice.  Then my arms got tired ...it really was pretty hard! But I didn't want to give up so I tried a new method where the auger stays still and I go around in circles.  I was beyond ridiculous looking at this point but I didn't care.  I was going to make a hole!  I could hear Kelley and KC over there snickering at me, but I was almost there!  A few more circles around the auger (getting dizzy) and the water came gushing out of the hole!  Ha! 

We got our lines all fixed up and when I say we, I mean Kelley and KC hooked up my lure and got a worm on there for me...now before you go judging, the gloves I was wearing were Kelley's (he was so sweet to give me his good gloves) and they were huge.  I had another pair of gloves on under them, and my fingers didn't even go down into the fingers of his gloves so they were just  for keeping warm....not for functioning. 

Anyway, we all got our lines in the holes and waited.  I got a bite right away but he stole my worm and got away.  Then it went completely dead.  After about an hour, we were getting pretty discouraged and were about ready to load up and go home.  Kelley said "Let's give it five more minutes"  He had no sooner said that than he got a good bite.  He caught a real big one.  Then KC got one right after that.  Then Kelley had one on both poles.  Him and KC were catching one after another..  Me, not so much.  I don't know what the deal was but they didn't like what I had  going on there. It was OK though...it was fun to see them catch so many!

Then as Kelley pulled in another one,  I looked over there and he was wrangling this huge fish!  I mean it was really big!  He was trying to get the hook out of its mouth but it was flopping all over the place.  Kelley said it was the biggest one he ever caught.

He finally got the hook out of it's mouth but then he couldn't get it to go back in the hole.  It kept flipping and jumped right out of his hands.  He pushed it into the hole, but it was facing the wrong direction so it couldn't swim down.  Kelley pushed it down in the hole to the bottom of the ice and it was on it's way

 It calmed down a bit after that but Kelley and KC were still catching.  Kelley changed my lure out for one like they had on their poles, but I still didn't get any more bites.  Oh well, I was fine with it...I had such a nice time just being there with those two.

 Thanks for letting me tag along!