The Four Virgins

The FourVirgins? Why yes! This post is about four virgins. Let me explain.

Yesterday was my virgin ice fishing trip this winter. It was also my virgin ice fishing trip to Pineview Reservoir. During said trip I caught my first ever crappie AND perch. So there you have it! Four virgins.

 My first crappie.

My first perch.

You'd think I'd have spent millions of hours at Pineview Reservoir over the course of my life. I mean, my grandparents have lived in the area for more than my entire life. I've driven by it countless times, but including this weekend, I've only ever been there twice. I've definitely been missing out.

On Saturday Seth and I met up with The Navajos and Eric (that should be a band name), to do some ice fishing. We chose Pineview because of its close proximity to our apartment and the fact that it was completely iced over. Pineview is a little different from most lakes in the area because it's not a trout lake. It's known more for perch, crappie, and tiger muskie. We set out to catch some perch and catch them we did!
We probably showed up later than we should have because the fish were only steadily biting for an hour or so after we got there. The total for the group was 8 perch and 2 crappie. Seth decided he needed more perch so he went out again early Sunday and caught 13 more.

We all had a great time and I'm sure this won't be the last time we ice fish at Pineview this year. It was definitely a beautiful place to be.

 Seth was really angry at his fishing poles. Or maybe he was giving them a pep talk. I can't remember.

 Eric, Ramona, and Gabe heading out onto the ice.

 Woah. That's deep.

 Seth showing us the ways of the auger.

Eric tries his hand at drilling.

Seth with his first catch of the day.

If you don't fish, you may be wondering why on Earth you'd want to catch and keep such small fish. I'll tell you why. Those perch are good eatin. Never cleaned a perch? I hadn't either! But we found this great video on YouTube that explained it really well. Also just FYI, these things are like mini catfish in the sense that they DO NOT DIE. Our perch were sitting out on the ice almost frozen solid for several hours after which they were put in a ziplock bag and taken home. I was half way through gutting one when it started flopping around. ALL of them did this. Creepy huh?!

For the record, we took way longer to clean ours than 10 seconds a piece, but this tutorial made it way easier to clean the fish than anything we would have come up with on our own.

Gutting the perch... it takes lots of concentration...

Some finished cleaned perch. That Leatherman Juice knife is the best for gutting fish, especially after being sharpened by Dad Hanson.

Don't know how to cook these guys? Well you're in luck! I've got the best recipe ever for fried fish from the fish cooking master herself.... Mama Hanson. Check it out over at Gravy Training!

Snacks: The Secret to Fishing

This last Saturday we went ice fishing at Devil Creek Reservoir. We met Seth's dad, brother-in-law Marty, and niece Arielle there, along with what turned out to be a bunch of fishermen there for an ice fishing tournament.

It was a really nice day and it was good to get out of our dark apartment. Seth and I caught 4 good sized rainbows. They sure tasted delicious!

Marty and Arielle with a catch.

Daddy Hanson drilling some holes.

Seth pulling up a rainbow.

The Spoils.

I'm watching the holes. Honest.

Seth drilling more holes.

The Spread.

I have a tip for all you who are wondering what our secret was to catching fish.

#1 Rainbow colored Powerbait

#2 Go get a snack. Yup that's right. Not getting any bites? Go dig yourself out a snack from the cooler and I guarantee that'll bring them in. And don't get all sneaky on those fish. They know when you're just pretending to get one.

Third Time's the Charm

I'd only been ice fishing once before this weekend. We went up to Lost Creek Reservoir a couple years ago with the Navajos and didn't catch a thing. Over Christmas break in Idaho this year we went ice fishing twice. Daddy Hanson got a fancy new "flasher" (fish finder) and an ice scooper for Christmas, so of course we had to go test them out.

On our first day out we went to Gem Lake. Seth caught a big sucker and a small rainbow not long after we got there, but noboday caught anything else for the duration of the day. We also stopped off at Bruno's Pond to see if we could find any fish with the flasher, but we didn't see any. I was beginning to think ice fishing just wasn't my thing.

Hauling the gear onto the ice.

Seth's sucker. Wanna give em a kiss?

Seth and his rainbow

Figured I'd take some pictures of the scenery while I wasn't catching fish.

Me with my no fish.

We decided to try our luck again a couple days later at Mackay Reservoir. We ended up catching a total of 7 fish... 5 rainbows and 2 brookies. It's about time!

Drilling the holes

My first ice fish!

Daddy Hanson keeping an eye on the flasher

Waiting for a bite

Ice fishing can make you crazy... Crazy AWESOME!

I finally heard what ice sounds like when it's expanding. It's not too bad until you can feel it. I could do without that.