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My son was killed 12 days before Christmas back in '04 and Christmas has never really been the same since then. The pain diminishes but never really goes away.

Hi all, Got out for a couple hours yesterday and got four nice walleye. Jack wanted to make a cooking video so we did one on how we make our fish fry, fun evening.

I woke up early this morning and had this tingling feeling in my toes. It almost felt like I had happy feet. I got up, grabbed the waders and tied bags from a month ago , and decided to go for a walk with pole in hand. I knew the water was going to be high and cold, but a walk on this day was what I must do. I sat looking at 0 degree temp on the dash. Open the window and no breeze to be felt. I make the walk from the truck ,down a fresh snow covered path. Not a single print from human or animal. Once I got close to the waters, I start to see hoof prints. Santas reindeer ? The sound of silence is through out the bush. Not a single peep from a bird,a hoot from an owl, not even a branch quiver from a squirrel. Very strange I thought. I get to my spot and the water is as expected. High, but the color is to my liking. I sit for a bit,having a sip of my java,assemble my pole and reach for my bait. In a distance I hear a faint whistling sound. Then all of a sudden,there was a flock of about 12 or so whistlers. They fly over head at such a speed. Behind them, another flock and then another. Then silence again. I start my quest to cast and to try and hook up. This went on for an hour without a single hit. As I am scanning the area down the river a bit,I see a wake coming my way along the shore line. By the looks of it,I could see it was something of great size. I paused my drifting, stood still and waited for it to approach nearer and nearer. I knew what it had to be and did not want to scare it off. As it swam nearer and nearer,I could see the large black form. It was only feet from me when it came up. Yes,mr/mrs beaver was making it,s way. He/she surfaced right in front of me. He/she, just held there in the current still like. I didn't move. The moment was so surreal. The beaver stayed in front of me for what seemed like minutes. I took in the moment we had and it was time to say farewell. Off the beaver went, further up the river. With that wonderful thing behind me, it was time to start drifting again. Trying different presentations throughout my morning, I was still not able to hook up. Not even a swing and miss. As if I was done with nature, I was greeted by a loud mouth chirpy chipmunk . You would think I was fishing his hole the way he was blasting me. After about 5 or so minutes of him running up and down a pine tree, yapping and yapping at me, he went on his way. Thank goodness, as he was disturbing my peace and quiet. Getting to the point of thinking it,s home time, I hear a snap. I'm like, ok ,whats this. I stood like a statue. Then a snap again. With the snow on the ground,it was hard to tell what was. I swivel my head very slowly in the direction of the sound and there they were. 2 young deer. These might of been the same ones I seen in October, but who knows. They came from the same direction as before. I stood still,and waited. As before, they came down,drank from the rivers edge. They looked my way, but never seemed to think I was danger. After about 5 minutes drinking and a bit of nibbling on tree limbs , they walked away from me and crossed the river. Same as they did before. They got out of the water,shock like a dog would do,and they were gone. Never once did they raise their tails as an alert sign. After a few more drifts and no hooking up still, it was time to pack up and call it a morning. I did not hook up this morning with a fish, but I did hook up with nature .Being one that enjoys the sport of hunting, it was very appreciating to have been graced with the presents of wildlife,while just being out there enjoying this fantastic morning. The word I'm looking for I think is ? APPRECIATIVE.

Well tell you what, you stick out your feet and we'll get out our spud bars and give them a poke and watch you dance like a cod jigging ______. ?

Come on you guys. Suck it up, get your spud bars out and give us an ice fishing report?

I joined the Fire Dept in '68 with a salary of $100 a week and that was considered good money and your right Brian, inflation is a killer LOL ?

You should have cooked a leg of lamb then....lol.

Theres no white fish there anyways David. Im not concerned. LOL + 7 today,then -8 Saturday. WTH

Some of the Kawarthas are OK. Just the dead end bays where there is no current. Huts out on Chemong at Rotary Park today. I was out on a different east Kawartha lake yesterday. 6 inches there.

Do you realize there's virtually no ice down here yet and you go and post a lip drooling, keyboard drowning, video. And to boot, we stuck ramming down yesterdays turkey leftovers. ? Nice video.

Nice. Thanks Wayne for pointing this out!! Just testing it out with a few pics!

Thanks for the read. The word that comes to mind is: spiritual Merry Christmas bud. Doug

Cheers David! Here's to crossing more fish off our bucketlists in the New Year. Merry Christmas wild man! Enjoy the ice, maybe catch ya again one these days out there. I do. Used to get in about 30 days a season, now it's about 10-15. Mid Feb to late March be the only ice season time available now. Love lakers and whiteys these days, used to be pike and eyes. Thanks a tonne Greg. Friend of mine sent me a pic of his dad today reading a report of mine on Arctic Circle Lodge on Great Bear Lake. His dad getting primed up for a trip there this summer. Being that I've always liked to write, it's certainly great to hear that people enjoy reading. Happy Holidays to you both.

heres a taste for ya...from 2 weeks ago! more to be done this weekend.