Back again…
So last week I got the chance to return to Saranac Lake, New York. The great little town in the Adirondacks where we shot episode three, Perfect Pike Po’Boys. Another friend of mine from my days in the Army, Mark Lopez, was visting there from LA and I thought it would be fun to see him and maybe even do a little ice fishing.
As with episode three, Chef John Vargo of the Eat ’n Meet Grill was our guide. It’s alway great getting together with these two guys, who I have been friends with for over 22 years. We were Food Service Specialists working out of the Elvis Aaron Presley Dining Facility (Ray Barracks, Friedburg Germany) and we built a life long friendship there.
On Tuesday last week our friendship brought us out onto the ice. It was a perfect day for ice fishing… It was cold, the whole area had just received a foot or so of snow and was getting an inch or two each day since. The ice was about eight inches thick and was prime for fishing.
This time we made our way out to Lake Kiwassa which is part of the same river/lake system as Oseetah Lake (episode three). Man it was beautiful there. It’s a real winter wonderland up there.
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Truth be told – ice fishing is a lot of work. You have to get to the place you want to fish (usually in the middle of a lake), setup your base camp area, drill your holes, rig the tip ups and try to stay warm… I think the thing about ice fishing is that you have to keep working to keep yourself warm.
After all that hard work… we didn’t catch any fish (and yes I did the dance). We were going after big Pike, but didn’t even get a bite. The only thing moving on our lines were the big shiners that we used for bait. After about three hours it started getting really cold and we called it a day.
Even though we didn’t catch a fish, it was great to be there with my friends in such a beautiful place. And you know what they say…
Check out our good friends from Eat ‘n Meet, John & Mikey, Mark and me trying to keep warm on the ice. It’s just a couple of clips from the frozen day on Lake Kiwassa.
-Pete
Filed under: The Hook Tagged: | eat and meet grill, ice fishing, lake kiwassa, oseetah lake, ray barracks, saranac lake, tipups