Ice Fishing

A quick update before I leave for warm, sunny Tennessee. I had my first attempt at ice fishing this past weekend. It was a attended by lots of young children. When I pulled up to Jewel Lake I happen to park next to one of my students. I mentioned it was my first experience and they invited me to join them. Fun!!! You will notice that our Alaskan Ice Fishing doesn't look anything like the ice fishing seen on Dirty Old Men. No huts, no big fish and no sexy ladies. Everyone here was bundled up. It was cold on the ice. You will see one family the children and Dad are sitting on the ice. They were sitting there at least 30 mins. I would have been frozen to the ice by then. My student's father baited my hook. He used fish eggs. I just can't touch bait yet. I thought touching dead fish (to feed to the sea lion) was pretty bold. You can see I am wearing my down snow skirt and jacket and very warm boots and base layer. After a couple of hours I was ready to go - it got cold just standing there. Look closely behind me and what do you see? A Moose. They love me, everywhere I go I find a moose!! She (cow) meandered on the ice but it was slippery and she quickly headed back to the bank covered in snow. She ate the shrubs and tree branches all the way around the lake. The little girl, four ice holes to my left, caught all sorts of fish. She is holding her pink. They stocked Jewel Lake in August with 5000 fish and what some were catching were about 6 - 9 inches big. Some pinks, some trout, and some other kind. I would love to tell you what that kind it was but I had the gentleman repeat it twice and I still couldn't understand so I nodded my head. Perhaps my ears were a tad bit cold and couldn't hear well. Our ice fishing poles are about 6 - 9 inches long. What I learned is that every so often you have to "strip" the line. The fishing line get ice coated and you have to wear gloves and pull the ice off it so you can reel the line back in. The hole was about 3 - 10 feet deep. One group of fisherman knelt down on the ice and kept looking in the hole for the fish schools. It was cold putting your face near that hole and it was dark. One person also had an underwater light to see better. Gosh, how real is that fishing? Then everyone, but me, had these really neat long handled scoops with holes in them. You have to "clean" the ice off the top of the ice hole every few minutes do to ice covering. There are several routines a true ice fisherman performs to be successful.

The red picture is not a fire. It is the sunset from my porch last week. I know it is blurry because I don't have a tripod up here, so I had to hold as still as possible. I just loved the red and thought I would share it with you. I can't wait for the Northern Lights to begin. I hope to bring a tripod back so you can see some great colors in the sky.

Now for your short Alaskan science lesson - hoar frost. I'm sure some of you have heard of this word before. David said it is used in crossword puzzles. Hoar frost is formed when solid surfaces are cooled below dew point of the air. Frost crystals sizes differ depending on the time and the amount of vapor in the air. In other words, frost forms on cold clear nights when heat loss causes object (plants, trees, etc.) to become colder than the surrounding. It is absolutely gorgeous. It looks like every plant, or tree has a white fluffy covering. The hoar frost covers all sides of the branch so think of a fluffy white pussy willow. I have been told if you disturb the hoar frost (I love saying it since I am a Lady of the Evening) you can kill the plant and it won't bloom in the spring. I am sure the moose don't care about the hoar frost - all they want is food. At school ,the kids have been instructed not to disturb the hoar frost and believe it or not these 450 students don't touch any shrubs around the school.
I will post our Mt. McKinley flight and snow maching event soon. Enjoy your time with your families. Happy Holidays!!! Sheryl the Nanuq