We’re coming back for you Dailey Lake, and today I’m bringing my secret weapon – my girlfriend, Whitney. Along for the expedition are our two dogs, Boh and Aster, as well. Alex is coming with his dogs Doc and Cooper. And I think Evan and Darla might be coming too. We have quite the pack when they are all together. At least if the fishing sucks like it normally does here, I bet the dogs will offer some good entertainment.
The ice looks a lot different out here today. With some help from high winds, a patch of open water has cut a strip across almost the entire lake directly through the middle. A couple huts are camped a few yards from the open water. Crazy fuckers. Whitney and I decide to play it safe and fish close to the bank in about eight feet of water, where we know the ice is still safe.
God damn power augers are amazing, and you never realize it until you don’t have one anymore. Brewer is home for the holidays so he left me with an old hand crank with dull blades. He warned me about the blades but I didn’t think it would be this hard to cut through the ice. Yup, Whitney, ice is definitely safe here. Plenty of it…Why don’t you come help me drill this hole…
Whitney is jigging a little spoon near the bottom when I see a blip appear on the fish finder. The mark is showing up a few feet above her lure. But without knowing how to read the screen, she just sort of gets confused by my sudden noises and failure to produce words. Ooh, Ohh! Mark! Mark!… “A whaat?”
I grab the rod from her- Sorry! And reel up to the fish. Couple little twitches and I can feel the weight of the trout eating the jig. All this is happening as Alex pulls up to the lake. Great timing! He is unloading his gear as I hold up a little Dailey Lake rainbow trout. My secret weapon worked!
Evan eventually shows up and we have a pretty good spread of tip ups goin on. Hope is in the air. But it’s still been a few hours since we got that first fish. Dailey’s seemingly gone cold. The dogs, however, are having the time of their lives. Slipping and sliding all over the place. It must be nice to be one of our dogs, they never have to worry about good fishing.
She’s staying cold tonight I guess. The sun just set, it’s 5 o’clock, and everyone’s in their trucks except for me. Even Whitney and the dogs are all packed up. I’m still sitting on this bucket, hoping for one last fish. It’s coming though, any minute now…
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