Hoping to keep the fish alive...

Last year at about this same time, our pond was frozen over just about like it is now.  That in itself wouldn't be such a big deal, but when it stays covered for over two months straight, it spells disaster for the fish.

Last year, I would go out and chop holes in the ice with my trusty axe, but it was so cold, windy and snowy that the holes would freeze over just about as fast as I could cut them.  I remember one day, in a vain attempt to fight the inevitable, I cut two large holes in the center of the pond and the first one was actually frozen shut before I could even finish the second one.  Now that's cold!  And add in the fact that we did not get our usual mid-winter thaw -- well, that was our formula for trouble.  I wrote about the aftermath in one of my articles from last year.

Well, this year was going to be different.  I had every intention to get an aeration device installed so I would not only add plenty of air to the pond water, but also to stave off some of the icing effects.  Well, that didn't happen.  I did get the thing restocked however,  And maybe the fact that all these fish were about 4-6" when they were put in will help them through this winter.  All the experts tell me that these smaller fish won't require as much oxygen so they can go through longer spells of ice covers.  OK.  But just to be safe and not to take any chances, I bought a chain saw.  There were going to be "real" holes in the ice this year.  No more axe stuff -- this year I'm going high speed!

Check out my best Freddy Krueger impersonation. I had my wife take these pictures because it is pretty near impossible to take a decent "selfie" while holding a chain saw!

In the bottom two pictures, you can see how I attacked the problem.  I went around the edges of the pond and cut 2'x4' holes.  These worked pretty well, even though they too froze over after a day or so.  But I have done this about three times during the month of January.  So we'll see.  

And just in case you are wondering -- no, I did not break out a rod and try to improve on my "bucket list" ice-fishing experiment.  Those fish got me once, but not twice.  I know -- those were the old fish that tricked me into freezing my butt off that day.  Well, I have to figure that they left notes for the new ones.  I don't know.  Maybe I will give it another shot.  We'll see.  I did read in some old fishing book that the secret to success in ice fishing is to place peas all around the hole in the ice.  Then, when the fish come up to take a pea, you hit 'em in the head!

I just hope they survive this winter.  If they do it will be worth it.  Besides, it was good exercise on my part. And it sure beats sitting inside, watching TV.  Oh, and one other thing, it really draws attention from the neighbors when they hear a chain saw whining away on a cold winter afternoon (I can hear them clear out here "What is that dang fool doing now...").  To an outdoorsman there's nothing like the sound of a whirring chainsaw on a cold winter day. Kinda reminds me of that old quote from Red Green,

"If the women don't find you handsome, they at least ought to find you handy." 

KEEP YOUR STICK ON THE ICE...
Hooah