Testy Ice Fishermen!

[Pikemaster]

I know I talked about this last year, but thought I'd put up a reminder:

TESTY ICE FISHERMEN:

Ice fishermen sure can be a testy lot. Last Saturday, having bought a couple of tip-ups at a yard sale, I thought I'd give it try. I took my old muffler-less pickup out onto a local lake, along with an old curr dog that I'd just found roaming the back roads. Not quite sure how all this worked, I started driving right up next to a bunch of holes to see what it was supposed to look like. After doing this a half dozen times, I noticed guys coming out of their shanties and raising their fists at me. Thinking that their meaning was "Right on, Brother", I continued this for a while. Finally, having it all figured out, I spotted a couple of holes that weren't being used. Since they were within just a few feet of one that had a tip-up set in it, I figured it must be a good spot. I left my truck running and dropped my lines. A guy in a nearby shack popped out and yelled something about Son of....but I couldn't quite hear him. But he was right, it was a bright sunny day. I got my lines in and thought I'd let my dog out. That's when I found out he's a retriever! The mutt right away started running from shanty to shanty. Every now and then he'd return from a shanty with a nice perch or walleye in his mouth. What a dog! Again, I'm seeing guys with their fists in the air and yelling something. Gotta' fix that muffler one of these days, but what an encouraging bunch of guys! Anyway, pretty soon the mutt started wandering too far so I figured I better call him back. It'd be a shame to loose such a fine fishin' buddy! It was then that I realized I hadn't named him yet. Looking around, it dawned on me that "Tip-up" would be a really cool name. So it started: The beast was half way across the lake so I cupped my hands around my mouth and, with everything I had, yelled "Tip-up". The dog turned and looked at me, then kept running, but heads popped out of shanties all over that end of the lake. Pretty soon Tip-up trotted back with a whole stick of venison sausage in his mouth! Boy, I wish I had two like him. He took off again, stopping only to lift his leg on a minnow bucket that was next to a shanty. That probably wasn't cool, but he's not trained yet. Again he got too far away. "Tip-up", I yelled. More heads, some fists in the air and words I couldn't hear. Nine-inch perch from the mutt. After an hour or so of this and no action, I was thinkin' I might leave. The dog was way down the lake so I yelled for him several times with no response.

That's when I learned how testy ice fishermen can be. I turned around and six or eight guys of varying size were walking toward me looking none to happy. I think more than one was carrying sticks. Things really went down hill from there. I won't go into the gory details, but will tell you that I now belong to a bowling league. Ice fishing isn't for me.

Now, if you don't believe that ice fishermen don't have a sense of humor, just wait and see. Someone will take this seriously and swear he was on the ice that day and lost his sausage.

By the way, next time you hear someone yell "Tip-up", look around and see if you can spot a scruffy old mutt with a perch in his mouth. I miss that dog.

Pikemaster
 

[Webguy]

Definetely worth repeating!  

[dogfish]

Should have named the dog FLAG

[Iceshanty]

Good stuff in the IceShanty.com  ARCHIVES

-Scott

[Shaggy]

That was my sausage!!

[mrlongbeard1]

 So! Your the one??

[kerosenecounty17]

Who cares about your sausage, that was my cotton pick'n walleye!!

kerosene

[FullTmeDad]

Well, I think that was MY dog....and his name is STAY! I sure do miss calling him "come here  stay, come here  stay"

[BuckShotJon]

For sure worth repeating!

Jon

[Fat Boy]

OK, I'll admit it.  I know what happened to ol' " ".  I got a new bow that same day and was dying to sight it in.  Wouldn't ya know that my first shot was right on.  A good ol' Texas heart shot.

Yep, I remember this thread

[acsacmboy]

that is awesome. i remember it but i needed a refresh of the memory.

[daves]

I lost that mut last winter. Yes, he ate perch(only one or two though). Big black lab looking dog by the name of Mack. He will be fishing with me this year, spotting the big boy for me from above. A great story, sounds like the south bay at Bantam Lake, CT