My son and I made the journey to Erie for walleye this past Saturday. We were intending on fishing Crane Creek. Coming from the East, we stopped at a bait shop near Catawba at 4 AM, but it was closed. While trying to figure out what my next move would be (needed minnows but also needed to get to Crane to get a parking spot). A fellow ice fisherman, John, pulled up beside me and offered for us to partner with him (he was by himself) for the day out of Catawba. I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth and I do believe in divine intervention. The bait shop opened early (4:30) and we got what we needed and headed to Catawba. Our quads decided to give us a hard time starting, so we used our heaters and warmed them up to get started. We headed out onto the ice tundra by around 6. Traveled a little west until we hit the ice highway and then turned North toward the islands. Got set up and THANK GOD John had a power auger and busted right through the ice, no problem (tried using the hand auger.... not the preferred option!). We were making fish and the hit was on every time they came by! That was a short lived bite though. It wasn't long and they all disappeared. As I sat there texting some buddies back home, my boy got excited because an air boat was coming by and he wanted to see it. He JUMPED up and headed to the door and knocked my cell phone from my hand. Guess where it went!? Yep, it joined the collection of all good things gone bad and went right through the 10" hole in the ice! Well, that is the way things go I suppose. He didn't get to see the air boat because he immediately sat back down and began crying. I didn't yell or lose my cool (I WANTED TO KILL HIM ON THE INSIDE), I just told him we needed to catch a whole lot of fish to make up for that one (We only put one on the ice).
We moved around trying to find fish without success. We stayed until just before dark and then made our way back. I was amazed with the true sportsman that we encountered out there. At the end of the day, I asked my son Hunter what he thought. He responded by saying "Dad, I know we didn't get into the fish for long, but when we did, it was great. Losing the phone was bad, but I think the greatest thing was meeting all these new people and talking to them, it made the trip worth it." As a dad, he makes me proud because he understands the value in the sport. He and I enjoy so many outdoor activities together and now we have just added another to our "bag of tricks."
All of this would not have been possible without the information we gathered from these boards and from the people we encountered on the ice. A HUGE thank you to "John" from the Cleveland area. We are hopeful to make another trip up this weekend, provided the conditions are still favorable.
