"The First Walleye"

Today marked our first weekend of ice fishing on Tainter Lake. My husband and his oldest son Mike, plus Mike's friend John, drilled their holes this afternoon in search of fish....Walleye to be exact! After getting their tip-ups in the holes, Ted hauled down arm loads of wood so we could build our usual toasty warm fire. I helped bring some wood down the stairs, but let me tell you, that's a workout in it's self! The hardest part is walking down fifty snow covered steps to the lake with an arm load of woods. As you can see in the picture Ted started off by burning our scrap cedar wood from a recent project we worked on. The cedar actually smelled really good as it burned. Then Ted threw on some oak logs to get the fire really going. I ended up roasting some brats for a late afternoon snack....very yummy!
So Ted caught his first Walleye today. That was exciting. She was a nice momma with a big round tummy (21 inches). He was going to put her back in the water, but Mike decided he would take her home since his freezer is getting pretty low on fish. We all like Walleye since it's nice and firm meat. I think it's best when you panfry Walleye in Shorelunch coating & seasoning, or make your own by using dried bread crumbs & an egg wash.

Mike was jigging for pan fish like bluegill or perch. No bites however. The temperature was great today. We had a high of 36 degrees. As you can see the lake out in front of our house has standing water underneath the snow layer. This usually happens during the winter, but not this early! Kinda weird. It makes walking around really sloppy & wet. Once we get a cold snap again, then that first layer will freeze up, but it will probably still stay wet underneath. It has something to do with the weight of the snow on top of the ice. By the way mom, there's about 8-9 inches out there....don't worry.