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THE LAND, APRIL 11, 2014
12 A
Exorcising winter’s demons ... finally spring is here Given my druthers, by the first week of in on the late-season panfish bite. April, I’d druther be fishing from my There had been little danger of sunburn, boat. Unfortunately, it didn’t appear that to be sure. there was much likelihood of that hapBut while the weather hardly had been pening by that time this year on area balmy, at least it was comfortable enough lakes. to sit out in the open on a pail while So like the rest of you, any fishing I had catching a meal or two of bluegills and been doing was through a hole in the ice. crappies. But at that late date, at least we can Unlike those wintery days when we’re call it ice-fishing lite. With sub-zero temall isolated within the confines of shelters, THE OUTDOORS peratures (hopefully) behind us, there no huddled next to hissing heaters, being out longer is a real need to haul along shelBy John Cross in the wide-open spaces brings a social ters, heaters, propane tanks to the lake. aspect to the sport. After months of loading and unloading all of that The dozens of other anglers kibitzing with one equipment, gearing up for late-season ice-fishing another, moving from hole to hole seeking active fish, was refreshingly simple. it becomes a collective celebration of spring. A pail, limited tackle, bait, a couple of rods and, To top it off, the fishing was pretty good, too. depending on where you’re fishing, perhaps a I’m sure someone has an explanation for it, but flasher, and you were in business. unlike those mid-winter bites that tend to happen at In most instances, on lakes where there was lots inconvenient hours — in darkness and frequently, in of fishing activity and overnight temperatures near the wee hours of the morning — the bite just before or above freezing, even the gas auger could be left ice-out tends to be at more convenient and civilized behind since the holes from the previous day would times. remain open. I don’t claim to be smart enough to know why this Ice fishing at this time of the year was to enjoy the is. best of what the sport had to offer, yet a way to exorIt’s just nice to be able to catch a mess of fish on a cise those demons brought on by all of those frigid weekend afternoon and still arrive home in daylight temperatures and piles of snow over the previous and early enough to fillet, fry and serve them for several months. supper. I made a few fishing forays to area lakes to cash
There really is nothing that compares with sitting down to a meal of fish that only hours earlier still swam in cold water. The shelter, the heater, all of the other coldweather ice-fishing gear have been stashed. I am done with them. A specter of this winter past, the snow blower, still haunts my garage, silent, poised for more action. I’ll admit that these past months would have been even more trying without the machine that faithfully chewed through the all-too-frequent snowfalls. Nevertheless, like someone whistling past a graveyard, I’ve tried not to look at it as the garage door rumbles up and I walk past the machine every morning. Instead, I see the boat awaiting preparation for the ice-out crappie bite, a lawnmower to tune, a motorcycle that needs a new rear tire. In keeping with a vow made several weeks ago that I was done moving any more snow, I resisted the urge to fire the snow blower up following early April’s blizzard. Several weeks into spring, I let Mother Nature, unkind as she has been, clean up this most recent mess she left in my driveway. Thank goodness for four-wheel-drive. John Cross is a Mankato (Minn.) Free Press staff writer. Contact him at (507) 344-6376 or jcross@mankatofreepress.com or follow him on Twitter @jcross_photo. ❖
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