Annual Ice Fishing Trip-2011

Kevin, Tom, Ryan and I joined the other ice fishermen on Mirror Lake around 10am on a Saturday...

It was a COLD day complete with wind advisory and gusts up to 60mph, but despite the warm weather in NY the few days before, there were still around 12 inches of ice, 3 times the safe depth required for walking on ice...

We worked hard to set up in the horrible winds

It took us forever to set up the shanty, only to have one of the corners knocked out not too long after...

We had to keep all of our belongings in a pile so they wouldn't blow away every time there was a wind gust

The guys decided to try their hand at wind sledding across the frozen lake with a sleigh and tarp

It actually worked pretty well!

The pictures are kind of out of order... but the first step in ice fishing is drilling a hole using an auger... there are motorized ones, but we used hand held ones that required good old fashioned muscles!

The leftover slush from drilling the hole is then removed from the hole with a skimmer which looks like a large metal spoon... this was usually my job!

After the holes were drilled, tip ups made of wood were inserted...

And then we waited...

And posed for a few pictures...

And waited some more...

And enjoyed some yummy snacks and warm beverages...

Then we chased a chair and my beloved brand new cake pan across the ice into the swamp (Patrick actually, not Kevin, thanks again!)

We built a fire on the ice in an attempt to keep warm...

Did a little more wind powered sledding across the lake...

Johnny modeled his crazy squirrel hat for us...

And then, after a fun day on the ice, we all packed up (after not catching a single fish!) and happily headed home to warm up!