Ice fishing is a way of life around here and as a kid I never thought twice about venturing out on to a frozen lake where the water beneath you could easily be 20 feet deep or more. I never had the fear that the ice would break, but as I've gotten older I've acquired an irrational fear (or maybe just a healthy dose of caution) of the ice.
Hubby has been trying to get me to go ice fishing with him for as long as we've been married, but I refused to go because I wasn't going to sit outside in the cold all day with no bathroom in sight. Then he bought a fish house that is more or less a camper trailer with some of the comforts of home. There's a table that turns into a bed, an upper bunk, a furnace to keep warm, a small stove with oven and yes a bathroom. Although the bathroom is really a closet size room with a portable toilet.
The first time we took it out we had planned on staying the whole weekend on the lake, but as the temperature dropped, the ice began to creek and crack and I started to freak out. To me cracking ice meant one thing, get off and quick. Hubby tried to calm my fears by telling me the ice was expanding and it was nothing to worry about, it happens all the time. But when a loud crack came from right underneath and shook the fish house a little, that was it; I was done. I was not spending another minute, much less the rest of the weekend on the ice. That was several years ago and I refused to ice fishing again until recently.
We had gone out a few weeks ago and spend the whole day out there with out any freak out on my part, so when he mentioned fishing again I said sure. We pulled out onto the lake yesterday and as usual I waited in the truck while he drilled the holes and warmed up the fish house. Everything was fine, until I got out of the truck and noticed a crack in the snow above the ice running from right under the fish house. I tried to kick the snow away to see how deep the crack went, but I just ended up shoving snow into the crack. I figured it was just on the surface, it still bothered me but I tried not to think to much about it. While fishing, every so often I'd hear the creaking I heard years ago and stare wide eyed at Hubby asking him "What's that noise?" I don't know if he really didn't hear it or if he was pretending or if it just didn't bother him like it did me, but he'd say he didn't know what I was talking about.
We had just heated up some lunch and were getting ready to eat, when I heard the creaking again. Only this time it was louder and continuous and I could see the water in the ice hole moving and I really started to freak out. Hubby got up and looked out the window and told me it was just somebody driving across the ice. But it got louder and louder and I swear I could feel the fish house move and panic set in. "We got to go, we have to get off the ice NOW! WE GOT TO GO!" I screamed on the verge of tears, but suddenly it stopped and there was a knock at the door. It was my brother-in-law coming out to fish and just stopped by to see how it was going. I was trying very hard not to cry or let my fear show but I think he could see something was wrong. Hubby told him he made me nervous by making the ice creak when he drove out there. Brother-in-law laughed. After he left, the tears came and I was done with fishing. I put my headphones on and turned on the radio to drown out the noise from the ice and eventually fell asleep. It wasn't long after I woke up that Hubby said he was ready to go home and I was more than ready to leave. I've had enough ice fishing for the year, if he suggest going again, he'll have to go by himself. You won't catch me on the ice again any time soon.
The first time we took it out we had planned on staying the whole weekend on the lake, but as the temperature dropped, the ice began to creek and crack and I started to freak out. To me cracking ice meant one thing, get off and quick. Hubby tried to calm my fears by telling me the ice was expanding and it was nothing to worry about, it happens all the time. But when a loud crack came from right underneath and shook the fish house a little, that was it; I was done. I was not spending another minute, much less the rest of the weekend on the ice. That was several years ago and I refused to ice fishing again until recently.
We had gone out a few weeks ago and spend the whole day out there with out any freak out on my part, so when he mentioned fishing again I said sure. We pulled out onto the lake yesterday and as usual I waited in the truck while he drilled the holes and warmed up the fish house. Everything was fine, until I got out of the truck and noticed a crack in the snow above the ice running from right under the fish house. I tried to kick the snow away to see how deep the crack went, but I just ended up shoving snow into the crack. I figured it was just on the surface, it still bothered me but I tried not to think to much about it. While fishing, every so often I'd hear the creaking I heard years ago and stare wide eyed at Hubby asking him "What's that noise?" I don't know if he really didn't hear it or if he was pretending or if it just didn't bother him like it did me, but he'd say he didn't know what I was talking about.
We had just heated up some lunch and were getting ready to eat, when I heard the creaking again. Only this time it was louder and continuous and I could see the water in the ice hole moving and I really started to freak out. Hubby got up and looked out the window and told me it was just somebody driving across the ice. But it got louder and louder and I swear I could feel the fish house move and panic set in. "We got to go, we have to get off the ice NOW! WE GOT TO GO!" I screamed on the verge of tears, but suddenly it stopped and there was a knock at the door. It was my brother-in-law coming out to fish and just stopped by to see how it was going. I was trying very hard not to cry or let my fear show but I think he could see something was wrong. Hubby told him he made me nervous by making the ice creak when he drove out there. Brother-in-law laughed. After he left, the tears came and I was done with fishing. I put my headphones on and turned on the radio to drown out the noise from the ice and eventually fell asleep. It wasn't long after I woke up that Hubby said he was ready to go home and I was more than ready to leave. I've had enough ice fishing for the year, if he suggest going again, he'll have to go by himself. You won't catch me on the ice again any time soon.
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