NAW

Well things are looking great for a christmas morning jig! Must say I am looking forward to it!

So my GF wants to wake up early on Christmas and do something with me. So I will need to be home for noon. But she is happy that I am going to get out on the ice Christmas! Now I just need a firm up my plans for what lake I am going to hit.! PM me if you want to join.

I love fishing alone. I'm like you where my girlfriend works a schedule different than mine, She works every other weekend, and the kids are at the other parents houses. So I basically spend every other weekend alone. I really like getting out on the ice solo. But I also really love solo camping from the kayak. No radio. Cell phone turned off.

WoW! I thought I was going to be one of the crazy guys out there who would consider fishing on christmas! I'm going to have to show this post to my girlfriend so she will stop thinking im nuts! I have some pondering to do now, and a few PM's to send.

I bet it gets really quiet out there on Christmas morning! I never thought out that. True piece and quiet for a few hours.

I don't know where I will be going yet. Somewhere within a 45 minute drive from Barrie. The weather over the next 4 days will determine where I will go, or if at all... I'll PM you in the near future if my plans come together!

Just a random question because I have been pondering it myself. My girlfriend works at the Hospital in Barrie. And she has to works every other year on Christmas day. We have 3 kids between the two of us, and both have joint custody. So this year, my GF is working 12 hour night shifts Dec 24 and 25. And the kids are all at their other parents house. Anyone else here need to deal with this sort of messed up schedule? Not having your family with you on Christmas.... The only thing I can think of to do Christmas morning, is to go ice fishing!! Does anyone else here love ice fishing so much to go out on Christmas morning...alone..? I've gone out Christmas eve before (with Jer I think..) But never actually on Christmas day, I'll be going out for Crappie, if there's any other loners out there that want to join!

I was on 4.5" Saturday. 1.5" of black and 3" of fog. But when we tried to get further out, we lost the top 3", and were left with 1.5" of black. That's when I turned tail and ran... back to my 4.5". 4 groups out fishing all day. And not one single fish caught. But it was a beautiful day on the ice!

That's a solid report man! We gunna get out on the ice this year!? I have some time free over the holidays, we should set something up.

Thanks for posting that video Steve! Could you see any open water from shore?? I'm going for Crappies tomorrow assuming there some decent ice on my lake. But I am almost certain that if couch is mostly skimmed over, then my lake will have a good 3-4"....

I'll be out this weekend. -17 in Barrie right now...

That's a great first outing of the year!! This saturday will be my first day on the water. Then home to get cleaned up for the work Christmas party! Should be a fun day!

Sounds like you have some fun winter projects! I have a modular ice hut design that can be broken down in to 4 smaller (4x8) ice huts. But they can all be clamped together with a removable wall, That way you can have a few huts out at different spots early season. And when you find the honey hole, snap all the huts together and it turns in to a 8x16 sleeper cabin.. Breaks down for easy transport and I can tow the smaller huts individually with my bravo or even by hand. Snap them together in your back yard in the summer, and you have a big 8x16 shed to store your winter gear (which for me is massive between all the kids toys, and all of my toys/gear, etc.) Just working out some of the fine details on how to clamp the walls, and where to put the holes. How to make them snap together and have the hole orientations still work, door locations, heat source, etc... I have a similar one designed in Solidworks right now.. I just have no time at all to work on the design any more... If you need a hand with any design work, or manufacturing.. Let me know. I work for a large fab/machine/automation shop with an extremely wide range of capabilities.. If you need any complex machining or welding, I can hook you up!

Lets chat over some early ice crappies. Weather is looking good for our usual spot, Dec 16 might be good after the cold weather they are calling for next week! I talked to the misus last night, and she gave me the approval!!

I may have a weekend or two free this winter! If it lines up with a weekend that I don't have the kids, I would love to join you!! Never been winter camping before myself, but I've always wanted to try exactly what your talking about doing. I've got tons of back packing camping gear, and a tub sleigh.

Great day on the ice for sure Joey!! Man, I'm jealous! I couldn't see your pics at work because of our firewall, or something.. So I was just able to check them out today. Great looking fish!

I haven't logged in to OFC for ages! This is great post to get back in to it! My fishing partner where out off snake island. White shoal area. He was on his Artic Cat, and I was on the Bravo. It was -30 and storming like crazy. All the roads where closed. Well, he stops in front of me, and I knew we weren't at our spot yet. Motors running, sleds not moving. Turns out his driveshaft is broken in half. Lovely. So we park his sled, and double back to Alcona on the bravo. (short track, he's 6' - 250 and I was 230 at the time..) He has to drive all the way down to king city on closed roads to get his dads truck, trailer and quad so that we can get the sled back to his house... I didn't want his sled sitting out there alone. So I drove back out the with bravo, and actually found his sled in the white out!!! I didn't think I would.. Decided this was a waste of time, because we weren't at the "good spot". Try to fire up the bravo... Won't start. So now, I am stranded in a -30 white out, beside a sled with a broken drive shaft... It took my partner 4 hours to get down the king city and back to Alcona, and another 30 minutes to get out to the broken machines with the quad.. Then two runs back and forth to get out broken down sleds off the ice. It was nearly dark before the hole ordeal was done, and I didn't even mark a single fish... !!!! But we were back out the next day, riding double on the quad hoisting white fish!!

I'll be out Sunday! Last kick at the can. Hopefully I see you!

Good stuff man!

Good stuff Brian! I assume you where using a small vibrado?

That's amazing!

Not going to lie. I havnt read most of the previous replies. All I can say is, my best friend had his dad's suburban stolen from the mall parking lot in London, and it was found on the same reserve. A little worse condition. This was 12 years ago. The truck was repaired by the insurance company. But it was only 5 or 6 years old, and souped up a little. His dad liked it a lot, as it was néw to him only a year earlier. So he really wanted it back.

This news saddens me deeply Brian. But your a tough dude. Only met you once, but you radiate strength. And you obviously have the moral support from a pile of people!! And that never hurts. Pm me if you want to chat. My grandma is 85 and has been surviving bone cancer for 3 years. She gave away lots of her things years ago thinking she was going to die within the year. And now you talk to her on the phone and she says she's "better"!! She's got many years left, I am sure! Once she finally broke her old school "no pain meds" mentality. For the first 6 months she hardly even took a Tylenol. The pain nearly killed her. We finally convinced her to put on a patch. And that combined with treatment, she started to feel better in a hurry!! I'm not worried about you man. Your stronger than this disease. Keep your chin up!

Nice bri!! Make sure to leave a few cigar butts behind so I can find the exact spot tomorrow!!!!

Thanks guys! I'm sure it will make my background slideshow reel!