The Deep Freeze might be over!

The days are getting longer but the cold is still present in the North! The weatherman says we are past the bitter cold. We have had quite a bit of snow so far and we have not gotten to the snowy part of winter. The water was fairly low last fall, I expect the water levels in the spring will be normal to high depending on how quick the snow melts.

I have been working out on Lake Manitoba chasing the Perch around. Fishing has not been as good as last year and it has been cloudy and stormy a lot recently. After days on end of not seeing the horizon, shoreline or anything further than a quarter mile from you, you feel like you are in a bubble all day. Operating with a Bombardier built in 1954 out on the lake 13 miles or more there are many dangers. Breaking down in the cold really sucks, especially since there are less and less commercial fishermen out there. We have GPS and good cell service but in a storm it can be hard for someone to find you, and you are not walking home thats for sure! Crossing the ice crack, a normal part of being out on the ice was just too dangerous this year. We pulled out our nets that were on the other side of the crack. The last crossing we made, the crack broke off on both sides and looked like it was 15 to 16 feet wide! Luckily the momentum and the long track spread out our weight enough to carry the 5000 pound machine across. Nothing but blackness below. Too much even for us. There is just as much fish to be caught closer to home.

Here are a few pictures from my time out on the ice so far.