ALMOST GUNLAKERS: ICEFISHAPALOOZA 2007! A GLEAMING SUCCESS!

The second annual ICEFISHAPALOOZA was held this weekend on the beautifully unsafe ice of Higgins Lake in Roscommon County. The journey began on Friday around noon after three hours of sleep for me. I met my two brother-in-laws at their house. We loaded up the DODGE HEMI pickup (yes the commanche commander was very mad at me for being left home!) and headed up.

We arrived at a beautiful old stone cottage on the lake which we rented as a group. It was a little fancy for my tastes but very nice nonetheless. It appeared to have been built some time ago and remodeled over the years. Very, very, very gnatty nice.

We then conferred with the group members that were already on-scene and loaded up for our first night of fishing. All were scrambling to dress warm in their neatly packed suitcases. The next picture is of J.P. in his new camoflauged underwear! (By now you all embrace the fact of how much I appreciate camo!)

We rushed to get everything set up before dark. As we began to unload the cargo a dark omen appeared in the back of the truck which would be a foreshadow of the quality of fishing success we would partake in this weekend. This omen was A RED HOT CHILI DISASTER as the large bowl of spicy homeade chili spilled and dumped its ballast into the hold! Nothing like having day old chili eventually on everything that slid in and out of the truck.

As we arrived on the ice, I attempted to break the chain of doom with the CEREMONIAL BITING OF THE FISH. A squirming live minnow must be snatched from the minnow bucket with violence and placed into my mouth.
A quick snap of my powerful jaws then cuts the fish and begins ICEFISHAPALOOZA!

After fishing until dark without so much as a nibble, I put my night time SMELT FISHING CAMPAIGN into action. As always, we here at TEAM T OUTDOORS want you to grasp the concept with a drawing. So here it is:

A simple car headlight and car battery attract the smelt right underneath you and blammie! We caught about 15 smelt. Not a ton but boy did they fry up nice and were tasty!

You know, I grew up going over to my Grandpa and Grandma's house and playing their organ. One of the songs in the book was "My Wild Irish Rose". Until this weekend I did not know that Wild Irish Rose is booze!

Here is the group shot of the ICEFISHAPALOOZA DREAMTEAM on night #1!

The Red Hot Chili omen continued to interject into our plans. Here is evidence of the bad continuing: A WIPEOUT! Notice how this professional managed to drop a box carrying a $300 fish finder and still keep perfect form so that the Busch Light is still upright and unharmed!

So many fresh baked and good things!

On Saturday, new fresh fishermen arrived! Out of the sack and off to the lake for a day of fishing!

It sure was nice only having to drill through 2 1/2" of ice! Makes even a dull ice auger zip right through!

The snow began to fall and the fishing fell as well. We had approximately 14 tip-ups set up. For those that don't know what a tip-up is, its a device that has a reel with line that is attached to a minnow hooked on the end. You set the tip-up over an ice hole and then if you get a fish on, an orange flag flings up into the air. Very nice and relaxing. Just set it and forget it! Here we are early on in the day loading up the gear.

The entire day we did not have a single bite! Oh well, the Glenlivet Scotch was tasty and the conversation warm! No bites on the tip-ups and no bite from ol' Glen either! REAL SMOOTH!
After a long day of fishing, it was back to the stone cottage for relaxation time. There was

poker

naps

wrestling

story time(about when Merle's mother-in-law came to wake him up in his bedroom and he grabbed her innapropriately in the dark thinking it was his wife. The most hilarious part of the story was when he told her "do you need me to teach you another lesson?")