We'll give it our best shot ...

I was going to start this article by saying that unless you live in North Carolina or south of there, you know this winter has been pretty cold up North.  But it appears that the South is really getting pelted by snow and cold temps. I have seen pictures of several inches of snow on the beaches of the Outer Banks near the Kitty Hawk area, and my son sent pictures of the snow at their house in Raleigh.  They got over 6" of the white stuff -- which is great for the kids being able to ride sleds, saucers and cardboard box sleds in the back yard area.  But it isn't too good for the drivers of the area who have absolutely little or no experience driving is this snow and ice.  But my son also told me that the stuff is melting quickly and they are expecting temperatures in the 60s this weekend.

But all of that doesn't play too well back here in Ohio.  It's winter, and it's cold.  In fact, it has been so cold, that the pond has been pretty much frozen over for weeks -- pretty much since just before Christmas.  Soooooo, not wanting to have another fish kill this year, I figured I had better open up some holes so they could get some oxygen and sunlight.

I got the chain saw out of the basement and did some maintenance on it (my old military commanders would be proud of me pulling the maintenance first).  I mixed the gas and oil, put a new chain on it (it seems that cutting ice really wears down a chain saw) and checked the oil levels.  Everything was good to go so I went out to the pond -- hearing my wife telling me all the while to "be careful, do you really need to do that?"

Normally the first thing I do is start walking and jumping up and down in the shallow end of the beach area so if, by some chance, it is not as think as I think, I will only fall through up to my knees.  That step accomplished, I then cut my first "line" in the ice to get an idea of how thick it really is.  Seems this particular day, the ice was at 7 1/2 " thick.  Wow!

So, feeling pretty secure that this was going to go well, I moved out by the end of the dock and started to cut away.  The object here is to cut out a few 2 foot by 2 foot squares, push the ice block down under the top layer in order to expose the water to the air.  Then I turn on the air bubbler so as it pumps "warmer air" into the water, it will also cause some of the "warmer water" at the bottom of the pond to rise up and open up the holes a bit more.  That's the theory behind all of this.  And actually, it works pretty well.  Before I had the bubbler, I would cut holes with an axe, and then graduated to the chain saw. But the only trouble was the holes would freeze back over almost as fast as I could cut them. So anyhow, you get the picture.  At first the neighbors who would drive up the road and just shake their heads when they saw me out there.  Couldn't figure out why I was so determined to ruin a good cutting chain on the saw!

It was funny -- my wife posted a picture of this on Facebook and the comments she got ranged from "be careful" to "why are you worried - they're only fish!"  You can kinda tell pretty quickly who has ever wetted a line before and who has only known a fish that comes from a market and a frozen foods box or maybe a restaurant.

Sometimes doing something like this is what you have to do when you take on the responsibility of having a pond, especially one where so many of the neighborhood kids learned to fish.  Besides, it kinda reinvigorates me and brings back memories of my childhood when we did the same thing (with the axe) on farm ponds during the winter when we were growing up in Zanesville.

I kinda, sorta also think the fish appreciate it (may be a stretch, huh?).  I know when the ice melts and the spring temperatures ignite my fishing spark, I am glad there are decent sized fish here and they are not just little 6" fingerlings that I had to put in because the winter killed all the rest of them.

BTW, I plan to redo the dock this year.  The decking is getting a bit worn and splintery and I don't want to be picking them out of my feet.  Besides, I think if I lower it a bit, I can sit there with my feet in the water. Doesn't that sound like fun!!

So here is a picture of this morning's efforts at opening the hole up.  The bubbler did a pretty good job -- but then again, it's up to 33 degrees this morning here. Hmmmmmmm -- getting close to golf weather, 'er, I mean, fishing weather.

And that reminds me -- it's time to clean up all my fishing gear and check the lines to see if they need replaced.  Nothing worse than having a line snap in the middle of the fight because it was old or frayed.  This can get really expensive too when I have to replace line on my fly rods.  That stuff sin't cheap.

My Biggest worry is that when I'm dead and gone, my wife will sell my fishing gear (and golf clubs !!!) for what I said I paid for it. (Koos Brandt)

Hooah