Post by Jeep Man on Mar 29, 2007 12:51:42 GMT -7
First Ice Fishing Trip of 2007
Around the middle of December my friend Chris Carter and I decided we were going to head to Eleven Mile Reservoir on the 5th of January for a weekend of ice fishing and camping after the holidays were over. Well the Colorado weather decided it had other plans for us. A rather nice snow storm came through on the 4th of January and dropped a pretty nice amount of snow on Colorado Springs. Thursday night we decided that we would wait until Saturday, the 6th of January, to head out so we could see what the road conditions were like. Since we would be taking Chris’ 29 foot RV up into the mountains we needed to make sure we had road conditions that would not leave us stranded. Friday night we decided to go for it Saturday so we set a departure time of 7:00 in the morning from Chris’ house. We left 3 minutes ahead of schedule and that was amazing. Possibly even a first for me. Of all the times I have ever planned on going camping we have never left on time or even within two hours of our set departure time! Usually some last minute packing, a couple of trips to the store for forgotten items and a fuel stop delay us by at LEAST two hours!! Not this time. We were packed up and on the road with hot coffee at precisely 6:57 in the morning. Our destination was Eleven Mile Reservoir which is about an hour and a half from Chris’ house.
The drive up was beautiful. We left just before sunrise so on the way towards the mountains we were able to see the sun light up the snow capped Pikes Peak and then gradually illuminate the snow tipped pines that covered the mountain side. As we drove up highway 24 it was the most beautiful and perfect start to a great weekend. All the little towns along the way had snow piled up on all the corners from driveways and parking lots being plowed. Most of the traffic we saw was snowboarders and skiers on their way to the slopes. There probably was not many fisherman and campers heading out for a camping trip given that the low temperature was going to be in the negative teens and the high would only be around the positive teens. The curvy mountain road from highway 24 to Eleven Mile Canyon was narrowed by the snow so it made the journey with the RV a little nerve racking at times. We finally reached our destination around 8:30 AM. It was a beautiful sunny morning with no evidence of wind on the ice when we arrived at the ranger station. The lady at the front desk said it just hit 0 degrees when we pulled. Once we checked in and paid for a campsite we drove up loop A, the only loop open this time of year, and found the site we wanted. There were only three other campers in the campground at this time. We marked out site and headed to the edge of the ice so we could start fishing. Once there we unloaded all the gear we needed and strapped it to the top of the ice hut which doubles as a sled. We drug our gear out about two hundred yards off shore or so. Now if you have never walked in 4 to 6 inches of snow and pulled a sled full of gear you can’t quite appreciate the difficulty of this task. Two hundred yards was far enough and I think the effort to pull the sled determined our spot more so than us actually choosing where we wanted to fish! We cleared a spot on the ice for the hut and to drill the holes. Seasoned fishermen probably would have thought to bring a shovel to clear a spot on the ice but let me remind you that we are not seasoned fishermen. We had to use our feet to kick the snow off of the ice where we wanted to fish. Once that was done I drilled the first hole and it went well. Then we realized we had forgotten the chairs and the bait in the RV so I went back for that while Chris drilled the remaining three holes. When I got back we set up the ice hut and situated everything where we wanted it. We have a nice little heater, beer and chairs to keep us comfortable while we try to entice fish into what we have to offer them so we can hook them and eat them later. Usually the fish gods get a little donation or two from us in the way of items unintentionally dropped into the ice holes. Since there are four of them to choose from we usually succeed. The first item that was almost donated was Chris’ new fishing reel that he just purchased the night before. It fell off the rod while he was standing up and we were able to snag it just before it met its fate as a permanent underwater decoration for fish to admire. Fortunately the only other items dropped in were a couple of sinkers so I think we got of easy this time. Well after 6 hours of fishing and not catching a single thing we pack it up and head back to shore.
We loaded up all the gear and headed to our campsite where we parked and leveled the RV and got ready for an evening of satellite TV, chili and beer. Remember when I said there were three other campers there? Well one had already left and the other two were packing up and would soon be gone. This made us the only RV/camper in the entire campground. Shesh! It’s only supposed to get down to -18 degrees Fahrenheit overnight. And they call themselves outdoorsman!! Sissies! As I am getting things unpacked and situated Chris is getting the satellite dish ready to be set up outside. At this point Chris remembers that he forgot to pack the receiver. Well now we have a nice dish but no way to use it. So much for all of those thoughts of coming back to the RV to watch football for the rest of the evening while we were out there on the ice saying how great it was going to be! No trip ever goes according to plan so our plan to watch football and relax for the rest of the evening has now been changed to watching movies. Either way it was a great way to end the day even though the fish made it out unharmed by us.
Morning rolls around and after watching the sunrise over the mountains while eating breakfast I go out and start preparing the RV to roll out. While doing so our friend Clint shows up to give us some company for the day.
It is yet another beautiful day with clear blue Colorado skies, sunshine and no wind with morning temperatures below 0 degrees. Given that it is so cold out and sitting on a pit toilet with cold air bowing where the “sun don’t shine” is less than a comforting thought we decided to use the toilet in the RV. I only tell you this because we needed to empty it first thing in the morning to keep the tank from freezing. We leave the campsite and head straight for a dump station. We pull up to it and once we finally locate the drain we have to dig the drain out from under a few feet of snow. Fortunately Clint had a brand new collapsible shovel that he just purchased the night before that I used to uncover the drain. While using this brand new shovel I broke the handle. I was happy that I was able to help Clint out by breaking his new shovel for him before he ever had a chance to use it. I expressed my pleasure in breaking his shovel by laughing at him and telling him what a quality piece of equipment he had purchased. Glad he has a good sense of humor! When the drain was finally uncovered Chris pulled the waste drain hose out of the RV to hook it up to the dump station. While doing so it appears that the below zero temperatures were too much for the pliability of the hose and it breaks in several places. Chris decided to go ahead and open the valve to drain the tank onto the snow because we had to get that lovely water out of there somehow. After it drains on the ground Chris discovers that the hose also broke in the drain compartment of the RV so there was a nice puddle of “brown water” in there as well. Again we are fortunate that Clint had his brand new shovel with him. Chris used what was left of it to shovel the “brown snow” into the drain. Have you ever heard the saying “beware of the yellow snow”? Well let me tell you, “beware of the brown snow” should be “lumped” into the same category! Again I expressed the great pleasure I was having with this situation by telling Clint him that not only did I break your new shovel but now we have covered it with shit as well!! Once again I am glad he has a good sense of humor.
Finally after that little fiasco is over we head to Stoll Mountain campground. We decided to fish there because Clint “always” has good luck there. Once there we realize that we forgot to get another day pass for the RV. As Clint and Chris are getting things ready to head out onto the ice I take Clint’s truck back to get a day pass. When I return I grab a few unimportant things that Chris forgot to take with him onto the ice. Unimportant things such as the fishing poles and the bait. When I get out to the ice where they have started drilling holes and setting up the ice huts I pitch in to help out. Clint is able to get his line in the water first because he has the smaller hut. Well right off the bat he catches a 16 inch rainbow trout. Chris and I finally get our lines in the water and Clint catches another Rainbow. Remember how earlier I said Clint always has good luck here? Well that hasn’t changed because 3 hours into it and Clint is the only one to catch or even see any fish. Also, remember how I said we always donate something to the fish gods? Well I had asked Clint if he had the same luck as us when it comes to dropping things in the hole. He said that he has never dropped anything in. I guess he just hasn’t fished with the right guys or something. About 30 minutes after I asked him that question he asked me “hey Eric, you remember when you asked me if I have ever dropped anything in the ice hole and I said no? Well I just dropped my fingernail clippers in the hole.” The bad part is that the water was only 8 feet deep so you could see them as a constant reminder that you had dropped them. That was worth a good laugh!
We finally decide to move over closer to the shelf where the bottom drops off. We go through the same routine where Clint is the first one with his line in the water and he catches another one right off the bat. Of course he has to gloat a bit about the fact that he has caught three and we haven’t even seen a single fish yet. It is a small pike so he throws it back but it is still a catch and I would have settled for catching a damn minnow at this point. Not too much later and he catches yet another pike and it is a decent size. By now I am ready to put one of his fish on my hook and drop it in the hole just so I can say I at least reeled one in! As we near 3:00 PM I finally see my first fish of the weekend through the hole and it is a very large salmon. I was excited but Mr. Salmon wanted nothing to do with what I had to offer so he moved on and that was the last I would see of him or any other fish for the weekend. Neither I nor Chris caught a single fish the entire weekend and Clint caught four in half a day. He was only fishing 6 to 7 feet away from us too!! He is no longer invited to come on our fishing trips because if we are not going to catch anything we don’t need a smart ass sitting only feet away catching fish. At 3:00 PM we pack it up and head for home. Even though we didn’t land any fish we still had a great weekend filled with all sorts of exciting events in the wonderful outdoors of Colorado.
Around the middle of December my friend Chris Carter and I decided we were going to head to Eleven Mile Reservoir on the 5th of January for a weekend of ice fishing and camping after the holidays were over. Well the Colorado weather decided it had other plans for us. A rather nice snow storm came through on the 4th of January and dropped a pretty nice amount of snow on Colorado Springs. Thursday night we decided that we would wait until Saturday, the 6th of January, to head out so we could see what the road conditions were like. Since we would be taking Chris’ 29 foot RV up into the mountains we needed to make sure we had road conditions that would not leave us stranded. Friday night we decided to go for it Saturday so we set a departure time of 7:00 in the morning from Chris’ house. We left 3 minutes ahead of schedule and that was amazing. Possibly even a first for me. Of all the times I have ever planned on going camping we have never left on time or even within two hours of our set departure time! Usually some last minute packing, a couple of trips to the store for forgotten items and a fuel stop delay us by at LEAST two hours!! Not this time. We were packed up and on the road with hot coffee at precisely 6:57 in the morning. Our destination was Eleven Mile Reservoir which is about an hour and a half from Chris’ house.
The drive up was beautiful. We left just before sunrise so on the way towards the mountains we were able to see the sun light up the snow capped Pikes Peak and then gradually illuminate the snow tipped pines that covered the mountain side. As we drove up highway 24 it was the most beautiful and perfect start to a great weekend. All the little towns along the way had snow piled up on all the corners from driveways and parking lots being plowed. Most of the traffic we saw was snowboarders and skiers on their way to the slopes. There probably was not many fisherman and campers heading out for a camping trip given that the low temperature was going to be in the negative teens and the high would only be around the positive teens. The curvy mountain road from highway 24 to Eleven Mile Canyon was narrowed by the snow so it made the journey with the RV a little nerve racking at times. We finally reached our destination around 8:30 AM. It was a beautiful sunny morning with no evidence of wind on the ice when we arrived at the ranger station. The lady at the front desk said it just hit 0 degrees when we pulled. Once we checked in and paid for a campsite we drove up loop A, the only loop open this time of year, and found the site we wanted. There were only three other campers in the campground at this time. We marked out site and headed to the edge of the ice so we could start fishing. Once there we unloaded all the gear we needed and strapped it to the top of the ice hut which doubles as a sled. We drug our gear out about two hundred yards off shore or so. Now if you have never walked in 4 to 6 inches of snow and pulled a sled full of gear you can’t quite appreciate the difficulty of this task. Two hundred yards was far enough and I think the effort to pull the sled determined our spot more so than us actually choosing where we wanted to fish! We cleared a spot on the ice for the hut and to drill the holes. Seasoned fishermen probably would have thought to bring a shovel to clear a spot on the ice but let me remind you that we are not seasoned fishermen. We had to use our feet to kick the snow off of the ice where we wanted to fish. Once that was done I drilled the first hole and it went well. Then we realized we had forgotten the chairs and the bait in the RV so I went back for that while Chris drilled the remaining three holes. When I got back we set up the ice hut and situated everything where we wanted it. We have a nice little heater, beer and chairs to keep us comfortable while we try to entice fish into what we have to offer them so we can hook them and eat them later. Usually the fish gods get a little donation or two from us in the way of items unintentionally dropped into the ice holes. Since there are four of them to choose from we usually succeed. The first item that was almost donated was Chris’ new fishing reel that he just purchased the night before. It fell off the rod while he was standing up and we were able to snag it just before it met its fate as a permanent underwater decoration for fish to admire. Fortunately the only other items dropped in were a couple of sinkers so I think we got of easy this time. Well after 6 hours of fishing and not catching a single thing we pack it up and head back to shore.
We loaded up all the gear and headed to our campsite where we parked and leveled the RV and got ready for an evening of satellite TV, chili and beer. Remember when I said there were three other campers there? Well one had already left and the other two were packing up and would soon be gone. This made us the only RV/camper in the entire campground. Shesh! It’s only supposed to get down to -18 degrees Fahrenheit overnight. And they call themselves outdoorsman!! Sissies! As I am getting things unpacked and situated Chris is getting the satellite dish ready to be set up outside. At this point Chris remembers that he forgot to pack the receiver. Well now we have a nice dish but no way to use it. So much for all of those thoughts of coming back to the RV to watch football for the rest of the evening while we were out there on the ice saying how great it was going to be! No trip ever goes according to plan so our plan to watch football and relax for the rest of the evening has now been changed to watching movies. Either way it was a great way to end the day even though the fish made it out unharmed by us.
Morning rolls around and after watching the sunrise over the mountains while eating breakfast I go out and start preparing the RV to roll out. While doing so our friend Clint shows up to give us some company for the day.
It is yet another beautiful day with clear blue Colorado skies, sunshine and no wind with morning temperatures below 0 degrees. Given that it is so cold out and sitting on a pit toilet with cold air bowing where the “sun don’t shine” is less than a comforting thought we decided to use the toilet in the RV. I only tell you this because we needed to empty it first thing in the morning to keep the tank from freezing. We leave the campsite and head straight for a dump station. We pull up to it and once we finally locate the drain we have to dig the drain out from under a few feet of snow. Fortunately Clint had a brand new collapsible shovel that he just purchased the night before that I used to uncover the drain. While using this brand new shovel I broke the handle. I was happy that I was able to help Clint out by breaking his new shovel for him before he ever had a chance to use it. I expressed my pleasure in breaking his shovel by laughing at him and telling him what a quality piece of equipment he had purchased. Glad he has a good sense of humor! When the drain was finally uncovered Chris pulled the waste drain hose out of the RV to hook it up to the dump station. While doing so it appears that the below zero temperatures were too much for the pliability of the hose and it breaks in several places. Chris decided to go ahead and open the valve to drain the tank onto the snow because we had to get that lovely water out of there somehow. After it drains on the ground Chris discovers that the hose also broke in the drain compartment of the RV so there was a nice puddle of “brown water” in there as well. Again we are fortunate that Clint had his brand new shovel with him. Chris used what was left of it to shovel the “brown snow” into the drain. Have you ever heard the saying “beware of the yellow snow”? Well let me tell you, “beware of the brown snow” should be “lumped” into the same category! Again I expressed the great pleasure I was having with this situation by telling Clint him that not only did I break your new shovel but now we have covered it with shit as well!! Once again I am glad he has a good sense of humor.
Finally after that little fiasco is over we head to Stoll Mountain campground. We decided to fish there because Clint “always” has good luck there. Once there we realize that we forgot to get another day pass for the RV. As Clint and Chris are getting things ready to head out onto the ice I take Clint’s truck back to get a day pass. When I return I grab a few unimportant things that Chris forgot to take with him onto the ice. Unimportant things such as the fishing poles and the bait. When I get out to the ice where they have started drilling holes and setting up the ice huts I pitch in to help out. Clint is able to get his line in the water first because he has the smaller hut. Well right off the bat he catches a 16 inch rainbow trout. Chris and I finally get our lines in the water and Clint catches another Rainbow. Remember how earlier I said Clint always has good luck here? Well that hasn’t changed because 3 hours into it and Clint is the only one to catch or even see any fish. Also, remember how I said we always donate something to the fish gods? Well I had asked Clint if he had the same luck as us when it comes to dropping things in the hole. He said that he has never dropped anything in. I guess he just hasn’t fished with the right guys or something. About 30 minutes after I asked him that question he asked me “hey Eric, you remember when you asked me if I have ever dropped anything in the ice hole and I said no? Well I just dropped my fingernail clippers in the hole.” The bad part is that the water was only 8 feet deep so you could see them as a constant reminder that you had dropped them. That was worth a good laugh!
We finally decide to move over closer to the shelf where the bottom drops off. We go through the same routine where Clint is the first one with his line in the water and he catches another one right off the bat. Of course he has to gloat a bit about the fact that he has caught three and we haven’t even seen a single fish yet. It is a small pike so he throws it back but it is still a catch and I would have settled for catching a damn minnow at this point. Not too much later and he catches yet another pike and it is a decent size. By now I am ready to put one of his fish on my hook and drop it in the hole just so I can say I at least reeled one in! As we near 3:00 PM I finally see my first fish of the weekend through the hole and it is a very large salmon. I was excited but Mr. Salmon wanted nothing to do with what I had to offer so he moved on and that was the last I would see of him or any other fish for the weekend. Neither I nor Chris caught a single fish the entire weekend and Clint caught four in half a day. He was only fishing 6 to 7 feet away from us too!! He is no longer invited to come on our fishing trips because if we are not going to catch anything we don’t need a smart ass sitting only feet away catching fish. At 3:00 PM we pack it up and head for home. Even though we didn’t land any fish we still had a great weekend filled with all sorts of exciting events in the wonderful outdoors of Colorado.
