The only thing worse than watching paint dry.....

......is watching ice form. If you're an ice fisherman, that is. The last two above average temp winters and sketchy ice conditions nearly turned me into one of those snowbirds I've heard about. As I sit here in my recliner in front of the wood burner, drinking a hot cup of fresh brewed coffee and watching the local news, I see that the 10 day forecast shows the warmest it's going to be is 24 degrees and the next above freezing daytime temps is predicted for January 8th. That is music to my ears!

While some of you may be seeing that forecast as bad news, I couldn't be happier. I have plenty of fire wood stacked under cover, the propane tank is near full and my big job is nearly finished. That means the house will be warm, I can take my bi-weekly shower and I should have plenty of time to run around on the ice drilling holes. Today I'm putting my new truck into storage for the winter and getting the ice gear out and ready. Also moving the boat into the heated pole barn so I can replace the carpet and putter on a few other odds and ends before I pull it to Louisiana in February.

This is the time of year when I get my mower ready for spring, too. I pull the deck and check the spindles, belts and idler pulleys, sharpen the blades, change the oil and grease it up so it's ready to go in the spring.

So the time is here to break out the woolys, restring those ice rods, sort out your teardrops and buy plenty of Halis, waxworms and maggots. The fun is just about to start. And don't forget the heater for the coop, it's gonna get real cold out there.:fish:ThumbsUp:fingerdance:biggrin

Since winter is inevitable, might as well make the most of it.


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For the three years I lived in Canada and Michigan, I never did that - although my coworkers did. They kept asking me to join them, but after working outside every day didn't want to go with the little time I had off.

You fellas heard of Kalkaska, Michigan? That's where we lived and worked for two of the three years in the north. Small town they called a "village". No traffic lights, small grocery, diner, and small Ace Hardware store. They didn't deliver the mail there, you had to go to the post office to send and pick up mail. The "newspaper", all of six pages, came out once a week - also at the post office.

My family had a cabin just south east of Kalkaska near Fife Lake. I spent a lot of time up there hunting, fishing and raising cain. We were just around the corner from the Taffle Town bar and about a mile from the Big Manistee River. It's not the sleepy little town any more with all the fast food joints a body could want (which is none for me). When were you living up there, Randy?

Yep, I’ve been to Kalkaska, in fact we had a family friend who farmed there and worked in the butcher shop in a store that had Fiberglas statue in front of it. My dad used to hunt and fish up there in the 50’s. He said it wasn’t much until oil was discovered there and then it grew.

Our friend passed away a little while ago.....heck of anice guy.



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I was there in the mid 80's for the oil and gas business. Steve, I recall a large fiberglass statue in town of a trout. They claimed be be a trout capital of the state or county, can't recall.

Every couple of weeks we drove into Traverse City for our grocery shopping, I believe a hour drive. Remember seeing a large ranch half way there with buffalo they raised. We moved there in the early summer I recall. I had to go to the old Ace hardware in town to get something once shorty after we moved there and saw the oddest tillers I've ever seen. They had several different make and models. Told that fella working there I've never seen such a thing and I was born and raised in the country. He said it's a snow blower.

Ha ha...too funny lol

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Kalkaskastan is what we called it. They have a brown trout festival every spring. Hence the large trout.

Olsens was the buffalo farm. They had one on the way to Kalkaska and one on m37. They owned close to 30 grocery stores in those days. Raised them to hopefully become a sustainable food source one day. It never caught on. Both properties were sold for huge dollars. One is a casino and golf course, the other a giant shopping center.

The nickname had Arabian backgrounds due to oil and gas. That and the fact that every gas station in the area is owned by someone of middle eastern decent.

The only thing of significance in the area now is a giant community ice rink.

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What's a halis

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Originally Posted by KnightShadow10

What's a halis

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Ice fishing jigs and spoons.
HALI lures

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I hunted in Mancelona for a number of years.

Used to stop into Jacks Place on 131 in Kalkaska.


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Driving the back roads in the oilfield in the wee hours of the morning, I'd clip two or three deer during the winter on the road. Still had to haul them in to the local DNR office to be registered, to be "official". We had some sort of whistles on the front bumpers of our company trucks that alerted the wildlife we were approaching. Didn't always work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KnightShadow10

What's a halis

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Attachment 283914

My grandson asked Santa for some.




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Quote:

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Originally Posted by G";3534570]Ice fishing jigs and spoons.
[URL="http://www.halilures.com/prdf.php?lang=eng&tuoter=pilkit&show=Ice%20Spoons% 20and%20Jigs

HALI lures[/URL]

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Thanks for the link,G, I never knew they made so many different lures.

Gulliver Lake (UP) yesterday.

Attachment 283927




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Forgot to use his spud.

They're talking about taking sleds and 4 wheelers on Houghton