We have a new fishing nut in the family. This kid is
addicted to fishing!! It’s a lot of pressure on a guy when a toddler doesn’t
understand the difference between fishing and catching. Ashton thinks catching
is the norm and when I can’t find the fish or they aren’t biting good… he is
not happy!
Ashton reeling them in with his buddy Tundra keeping a close watch.
Ashton and Tundra at it again.
Dinner anyone? Such a provider.
Here's our home away from home... Tundra is keeping close watch of everything outside the hut.
It's as tall as Ashton!! Not really, its a good angle.
It wasn't small though :)
We decided to book a cabin at Byers lake this January for a
long weekend of ice fishing and remote cabin life. We were hoping there was
enough snow to snowmachine into the lake and we didn’t have a repeat of the
snow conditions four years earlier (the trails were closed to machines and we
had to pull our stuff in = COMPLETE NIGHTMARE). We invited our friends Brittany
and Kevin, and their pups.
Cabin 2 was ours for the weekend. I highly recommend this
cabin for families with kids because it has a loft where they can sleep and do
their own kiddo things. The loft also has a window that faces north with a
spectacular view of Denali when she is out in full force. The loft isn’t really
realistic with a one year old tho… but that didn’t keep Ashton from trying to
climb the ladder and play up there.
I have been fairly forgetful lately, and of course, the one
thing I forgot, it impacted Danielle and not me. Danielle was looking forward
to a weekend of cross-country skiing, but that’s a little difficult to do
without the poles. Oops L
She improvised with Brittany and they each shared one ski pole when they went
together. Meanwhile, I felt really bad but I blame my dad, AKA Forgetful Fred, for
the short term lapses.
Fishing was the goal for the weekend, but unfortunately, the
fish (at least big fish) didn’t cooperate. I know there are large rainbow trout
on the lake, but I can’t seem to dial them in. The other frustrating thing is
that the burbot and lake trout there are super easy to catch, but it seems like
adult fish don’t exist for some reason. And that pretty much was the story of
the weekend… catching tiny fish. Putting tip-ups out is difficult as well,
because these darn baby burbot somehow find a way to swallow the bait and hook
that are two times bigger than their mouth. Regardless, Kevin found a way to
catch older, baby fish and kept a bunch to take home. Turns out there was
enough meat on five small ones to make a couple meals worth.
The wind was probably the biggest issue while on Byers this
trip… but that also explains the warm weather. It was difficult fishing in the
wind, but to get out of it meant putting up the ice hut without it turning into
a kite. This wasn’t too easy doing it solo… and not knowing where the fish are.
The second biggest issue was Ashton’s
sleep schedule. Both of us were just getting over a nasty cough and cold so his
sleep patterns were already off. That combined with him not being in his normal
crib meant he wouldn’t sleep the best. When he doesn’t sleep, dad doesn’t
sleep, but who needs sleep anyway?
The last morning of weekend we woke up and saw 5 grouse
hanging out outside the cabin. It’s illegal to shoot a gun within a mile of the
lake, but it isn’t illegal to hunt. That means hunting with rocks! We were able
to drop one grouse, but almost threw our arms out trying to get the others. It’s
always fun trying to bring home meat with a rock as the weapon!
Overall it was a good weekend. We got away from Anchorage,
enjoyed the hard water, relaxed in the cabin, and didn’t have much we needed to
do. We will likely do this trip every so often as the kid(s) get older.
The view around the lake.
The angle was a little off, but here's the crew in front of the cabin.
The pup gang.
Look at this little stinker... he's in the loft looking out the window and making faces at us.
Here is a view inside the front door.
Catching more fish.
Ashton loves to grab the fish, so we just let him. It's not easy getting the stink out of them.
We love it when it's warm enough to take the gloves off = no stinky mittens!
Pulling up the tip up... This was the first tip up Ashton has brought up. He got the hang of it quickly.
Got it! Burbot on the ice!
Nap time means sleeping on my lap while I jig and fish. It's tough being a little dude needing rest when the fishing is hot!
