The Hubs asked me to go ice fishing with him the other day. He had gone fishing a few times over the winter, but I hadn't been out at all. This week is the end of the season, so it was my last chance.
We loaded my brother-in-law's quad on the trailer and drove to the lake. We parked the truck and The Hubs unloaded the quad and went to check the lake to see how wet it was. A few minutes later he was back at the truck on foot. Instead of following the road, he had taken a short cut through the ditch and got the quad stuck. We took the truck, hooked the quad up and I pulled him out of the snow bank.
We loaded our fishing gear into the sleigh we had brought, hooked the sleigh to the quad and headed down to the lake.
The trail was rough and rutted but we made it. We were so focused on choosing the perfect fishing spot that we weren't paying attention to anything else. We stopped in the middle of the lake, got off the quad and looked around. I frowned and thought to myself ”did he unhook the sleigh and I didn't notice, where exactly was it”. There were only the two of us and the quad on the lake so I didn't think I could miss seeing the sleigh. I casually asked where the sleigh might be. The Hubs looked behind the quad, shook his head, got on the quad and headed back the way we had come.
Meanwhile, I was left standing alone in the middle of the lake laughing. I was one with nature and of course, took the opportunity to snap a couple of selfies. What else was I supposed to do out there alone?
The Hubs eventually returned after retrieving the errant sleigh from the hill above the lake. Apparently, as the back quad passenger, I was in charge of watching the sleigh. In my defence, we were so wedged onto that quad seat that I could barely turn around to see anything.
The Hubs dug the holes, set up the fish huts and put the hooks and bait on. He said, “we will just fish for a bit”. I was thinking how lucky I was to have a guy who does all that for me, then he said bringing me along was worse than bringing three kids. I will concede I am a bit spoiled in regards to that kind of stuff, but he was the one who spoiled me.
I had just put my hook into the water when a big fish snapped at it. I looked down the hole and I could see the fish looking back at me. My line broke, my hook was gone and so was my fish.
The Hubs was in his hut and I was in mine, every half hour or so we would exchange a few words between huts and then lapse into silence, each lost in our own thoughts. Moments like that make you realize how seldom we are in complete silence. We notice the quiet more than we notice the noise.
My lost fish looked massive to me and I am sticking with my story. The Hubs caught one nice fish, but I never had another bite. The weather was just above zero and the sun was shining brightly so it was still a pretty good day.
We had enough fish for supper so it was all good. Next time I will try to be a better spotter as the quad passenger. That is if I get invited along again.
Side note: the Hubs went ice fishing again and dropped his prescription glasses down the fish hole. That makes me not noticing that the sleigh fell off not seem so bad!
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