FLYING ACROSS THE SNOW
By: Ray Hansen
We have had a run of brutally cold weather here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The ambient temperature was seventeen below zero last Sunday night when I returned from an ice fishing trip here on Little Bay de Noc. This is the kind of weather that firms up the snow base and makes the local snowmobile trails a lot of fun to play on. I don’t do too much trail riding on these machines, but occasionally have the opportunity.
A friend and I had trouble starting his two snowmobiles in the extreme cold temperatures we encountered in Rhinelander, Wisconsin on a recent ice fishing trip. Once the machines warmed enough to idle without us having the keep our thumbs on the throttles, they proved ready to respond and would restart easily if we shut them off.
This trip was to be one in which he and I roamed relatively shallow lakes in search of mid-winter pike and panfish. We did it two years ago with good results, and hoped to enjoy a replay of the excitement from the previous excursion.
To be able to zip from place to place, we used the two Polaris snowmobiles he keeps stored in Wisconsin. These machines are nothing short of amazing. I quickly found that they would go a lot faster than I cared to attempt.
While I am not an experienced snowmobiler, I’ve spent a fair amount of time astride a Harley-Davidson. I have also enjoyed some dirt-biking, and I ride a Honda all terrain vehicle each year while deer hunting. The snow machines however, are really suited to the conditions and a type of terrain no other vehicle can conquer.
At twenty miles an hour, I slowly cruised the frozen lakes and woodland trails connecting various bodies of water. The pace allowed me to see lots of detail, and feel that I was in control of my ride. I saw interesting homes, great looking patches of woods, and other sights that made me appreciate this northwoods experience.
At thirty m.p.h., I felt the jarring of snow clumps, old snowmobile tracks, and old ice fishing holes I blasted across. I could not spend much time sightseeing. Anything I wanted to study closer required that I back off the throttle at least momentarily.
At forty m.p.h., I had to concentrate on strictly on steering the machine, and to watch that no stumps, bumps, or humps launched me airborne. Turns were made gradually, and I had the constant feeling that I was going just about as fast as I could safely travel – as long as I focused solely on controlling the machine and did not steal a glance at any of the surroundings.
Of course, experienced snowmobilers cite times and places where they had reached speeds much higher than I dared to try at my level of competence. Tales of triple-digit speeds left me wondering how it was possible to keep the machine in even occasional contact with the snow at that pace.
I saw just enough of the “snowmobile culture” in Rhinelander to begin to understand its appeal. Some great trail food, magnificent scenery, the opportunity to jump from lake to lake with a little fishing at each, and shutting off the machines at a hill far from town to listen to a coyote chorus from a nearby swamp at night made using the machines unforgettable. I’ll be back.
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2009
Showing posts with label Honda ATV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Honda ATV. Show all posts
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
ICE FISHING THIS MORNING 1-1-09
Happy New Year:
I'm not sure how you spent the first day of January, but I went out ice fishing with a friend before sunrise this morning. I was dressed like an Eskimo with multiple layers of clothes, insulated bib overalls and a long-tail, hooded parka, knit hat, knee-high felt-lined pac boots and more. We worked depths of 28 to 30 feet along a drop-off on the west side of Little Bay de Noc with three inch shiners we bought Friday evening and stored overnight. This is near my home in Delta County, Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
We took a chance, heading to a part of the bay that is usually not safe to fish until late January. It seemed that the cold weather we have had would have firmed up the ice down that way enough to make it safe. There were others out ahead of us, so we were not exactly riding into the unknown. We found the ice 8 to 10 inches thick, but a large coal boat had come through from open water farther south and broke a channel to the docks about a mile south of us. We rode on a Honda all terrain vehicle to cover some territory in our search for fish.
We landed just two walleyes, one 28" and another 21". Both hit Swedish Pimple spoons (Bay de Noc Tackle Company) tipped with the minnows in 28' to 30' of water. We took my portable shanty because we intended to move around and a portable makes this easier. We had trouble with the wind blowing the thin walls like sails and moving the shack a little. When both of us sat inside on overturned buckets, there was enough weight to keep it anchored, but when one stepped out it could shift position. Honestly, the bite was slow even though we managed a couple nice fish. The wind chill was bad and after shooting just six photos my fingers were stiff and the camera flashed a "low battey" signal. The strong south winds apparently blew water up under the ice and caused several heaves. The first major jolt we felt (and heard) was an extended rumbling boom that shook the shanty fairly hard. Later, another sharp jolt ran a six inch open water crack running right between the wheels of our ATV parked alongside the shanty. When we went out to investigate, we found that we were on a piece of ice about twenty feet by thirty feet or so that had broken free from the surroundings. Several other pieces were around us. Picture a jigsaw puzzle. We were on one of the pieces and surrounded by other pieces. There was no danger of drifting away, but if one of the pieces broke into smaller fragments, there could have been real trouble. We gathered our gear immediately and rode back to shore, crossing several open water cracks along the way. Obviously none of them were wide enough to prevent crossing, but they all allowed water to spout up onto the surface ice and all we could do was open the throttle a bit and fly through them spraying water all the way. We actually did not get wet, because the water froze on our gear fast enough to keep it from soaking through anything.
This area has the potential to be a real "big fish zone", but I guess we are going to have to wait a little longer before going out there again. I have fished there many times in the past, but never this early in the year. One of the fascinating aspects of this part of the bay is that there are several wooden shipwrecks on the bottom (I've seen underwater camera pictures of them) and the resulting bottom structure holds fish there in the jumbled stacks of wood and iron. Drifting through the area in a boat on a spring day is a lot more comfortable, but I wouldn't trade these winter fishing adventures for anything else!
Ray
I'm not sure how you spent the first day of January, but I went out ice fishing with a friend before sunrise this morning. I was dressed like an Eskimo with multiple layers of clothes, insulated bib overalls and a long-tail, hooded parka, knit hat, knee-high felt-lined pac boots and more. We worked depths of 28 to 30 feet along a drop-off on the west side of Little Bay de Noc with three inch shiners we bought Friday evening and stored overnight. This is near my home in Delta County, Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
We took a chance, heading to a part of the bay that is usually not safe to fish until late January. It seemed that the cold weather we have had would have firmed up the ice down that way enough to make it safe. There were others out ahead of us, so we were not exactly riding into the unknown. We found the ice 8 to 10 inches thick, but a large coal boat had come through from open water farther south and broke a channel to the docks about a mile south of us. We rode on a Honda all terrain vehicle to cover some territory in our search for fish.
We landed just two walleyes, one 28" and another 21". Both hit Swedish Pimple spoons (Bay de Noc Tackle Company) tipped with the minnows in 28' to 30' of water. We took my portable shanty because we intended to move around and a portable makes this easier. We had trouble with the wind blowing the thin walls like sails and moving the shack a little. When both of us sat inside on overturned buckets, there was enough weight to keep it anchored, but when one stepped out it could shift position. Honestly, the bite was slow even though we managed a couple nice fish. The wind chill was bad and after shooting just six photos my fingers were stiff and the camera flashed a "low battey" signal. The strong south winds apparently blew water up under the ice and caused several heaves. The first major jolt we felt (and heard) was an extended rumbling boom that shook the shanty fairly hard. Later, another sharp jolt ran a six inch open water crack running right between the wheels of our ATV parked alongside the shanty. When we went out to investigate, we found that we were on a piece of ice about twenty feet by thirty feet or so that had broken free from the surroundings. Several other pieces were around us. Picture a jigsaw puzzle. We were on one of the pieces and surrounded by other pieces. There was no danger of drifting away, but if one of the pieces broke into smaller fragments, there could have been real trouble. We gathered our gear immediately and rode back to shore, crossing several open water cracks along the way. Obviously none of them were wide enough to prevent crossing, but they all allowed water to spout up onto the surface ice and all we could do was open the throttle a bit and fly through them spraying water all the way. We actually did not get wet, because the water froze on our gear fast enough to keep it from soaking through anything.
This area has the potential to be a real "big fish zone", but I guess we are going to have to wait a little longer before going out there again. I have fished there many times in the past, but never this early in the year. One of the fascinating aspects of this part of the bay is that there are several wooden shipwrecks on the bottom (I've seen underwater camera pictures of them) and the resulting bottom structure holds fish there in the jumbled stacks of wood and iron. Drifting through the area in a boat on a spring day is a lot more comfortable, but I wouldn't trade these winter fishing adventures for anything else!
Ray
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