By: Bears Butt

WOW!  The warmest morning in Northern Utah in over 3 weeks, 23 degrees and when you look outside it is raining!  RAINING!  When I went to get the paper I almost fell on my butt!  When that rain hits the ground, the tree, the anything..it freezes right now, not here in a minute, I’m talking RIGHT NOW!

I’ve seen this happen back East, but never out here.

The weather know it all guys say that the air above this inversion is very warm and as the snow falls from the clouds high above us, it enters this warmer air and turns to rain.  The rain then falls into our inversion “cold” and when it hits the super cold “everything” inside the inversion it freezes when it hits it.

I have not ventured out on the road and hope I don’t have to anytime soon, but I’ll tell you, if there aren’t a ton of accidents today I’ll KYA.  Like a good neighbor, they will be busy today for sure!

Stay in, enjoy a hot cup of joe, make up a pot of stew and stay warm.  Today is not a day that work needs you worse than you need to stay home!

Bears Butt

Jan. 24, 2013

Written on January 24th, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

The beginning ice fisher.

From my experience as an ice fisherman many years ago, my neighbor talked me into going with him as an observer, he said it would be best that way.

I have to thank him a lot for that lesson because I would never have taken up the sport had I not seen exactly how to do it.

In my mind I could not imagine stepping out onto that crystal clear dark ice that looked like it might be about 1/4 inch thick.  He stepped out and began walking as if it was a hard concrete path.  I stood on shore and watched him go.  All the time wondering just what I was going to do when he suddenly disappeared into the water.  He continued to walk and then stopped, turned around and asked if I was going to join him.

If I recall, in my shaking voice I said the weight of two of us would surely make it crack and down both of us would go and I did not want to end my life that way.  He laughed.

Then pulling out his ice drill, he drilled a hole through the ice.  His ice auger was nearly half its length into the ice before he punched through the other side of the ice sheet.  There you go, he said, it’s at least eight inches thick.  That is thick enough to drive a snowmobile on, or even a small car.

I thought, ya sure, maybe your car..not mine!

Well are you coming out or not?  He asked.  How far are you going? I asked.  Just another 100 yards or so, I was up here yesterday and that was where I found them.

Reluctantly, and I mean very reluctantly, I slid my right foot off the perfectly good shore and onto the black depths of the 1,000 foot deep water.  Followed that with my other foot and suddenly there I was with both feet on the black ice and standing over what my mind said was at least 2,000 feet of deep cold water.  My buddy was laughing at me!

I did not dare to pick up my feet, and so I slid them toward his direction and when I looked up, he was hoofing it out to his 100 yards more mark.  I was terrified!  Under my feet was “nothing”, you could not tell how thick the ice was.  There were no bubbles, no nothing in it, just plain old frozen water so very clear that the darkness of the depths of the water made you think you were standing on nothing.

It was a very cold day and even though I had never been near a frozen lake before I was just beginning to get comfortable shuffling toward my friend when suddenly I heard the ice crack from a long way away…not too bad I thought until my brain suddenly told me that cracking sound was coming closer and as quickly as it started the crack thundered right under my feet and off toward the other side of the lake….I could see the glimmer of the cracked ice as it continued to show its ugliness and it was only then that I could see it had some depth to it.  My heart was pounding harder than the night the Cong sent rockets over our barracks in Viet Nam.  I found myself breathing quite hard and I still had at least 300 yards to go to get to my friend, who, by the way was quietly sitting on a bucket with his fishing pole in hand.

I have learned some lessons over the years and one is, that clear ice is very good ice, while bubbly ice is not so good.  Clear ice is your friend.  It is hard and very stable.  And another thing, cold ice likes to crack, because it is actually expanding as more ice is being made.  Cracking ice is good as long as the cracking isn’t  just around you.

So, I did finally get to my friend, but as I approached I asked him just how close can I get to where he was before things would be un-safe for both of us.  He reassured me it would be safe to be standing side by side.

Looking down into the hole he had drilled with his auger, the ice was so clear you could not see the hole, only the water…it was weird…and the dark cold world under the ice hole was even stranger to this first time ice walker.

He did finally catch a fish and when he threw it back I KNEW he was crazy.  As he was fighting that fish you could see it under our feet, swimming and fighting to get loose.  That was the strangest thing I think I had ever witnessed and the ice magnified it and made it look like a 10 pounder!  It was a nice fish, I recall about 15 inches long and pretty thick and deep.  I still see that fish swimming around under us.

It was time to go back home.  The football game would be on in an hour or so and we had to get off the ice, up to the truck and drive the 30 minutes to home.  As he walked off the ice, I was shuffling right behind him, knowing that each shuffle meant the depth of the water under my feet was getting less and less deep.  The cracking of the ice was no deterrent, I was going home!  I was a happy sort of guy, just not off the ice yet.

When we made it to the good old shore line, with signs of sand and washed up wood, my heart decided I was still alive.  And to this day….I DON’T LIKE CLEAR ICE WITH NO SNOW ON IT!  Not only is it scary to look down into, you can’t tell how thick it is AND it is very slick!

It’s no wonder new comers to the sport of ice fishing want to cast from shore and hit the hole drilled into the ice.  Come on guys!  It’s safe!  Get out there.  Why do you think they make the poles so short?  The shorter the pole the shorter the cast to the hole!

Bears Butt

Jan. 24, 2013

Written on January 23rd, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

Except for a short blurb as we head out the door to go to this event on Friday, this will be the last I’m going to advertise this…You Comin?!?

Bears Butt

Jan. 23, 2013

 

Written on January 23rd, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

As you get older it is really fun to look back at the photo albums stuck in the drawer or on the shelf.  I found that old wallet I told you about a few stories back and in it was some pictures of our two boys.

I thought I would share them on here with you.

Here is a progression of Brandon as the years flew past:

And here is his younger brother Mitch:

Of course Grandma and I look at the older pictures (younger pictures) of the boys and compare them to their own children and there are a lot of similarities on both sides.

You have to love old pictures!

Bears Butt

Jan. 23, 2013

Written on January 23rd, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

I like visiting the outdoor forum called UtahWildlifeNet! (http://utahwildlife.net/forum/index.php)  It’s a wonderful site filled with great ideas, fishing and hunting reports and it has some very lively conversations with very opinionated folks.  Today during my visit I clicked on a topic about a fish de-boning device that someone has actually made and it is for sale.

It has a very practical purpose as it de-bones trout and other fish rather easily, well, at least the video makes it look easy.  Does it work?  I don’t really know and I probably don’t know anyone who has one.  Do you have one?  Does it work?

Anyway, I thought I would share the website with you and you can look at the video yourself.  A very good gift for the outdoors man/woman who has most everything.  Don’t let the name confuse you!

http://spinelesswunderboner.com/

I almost put this in “Jokes I like!”

Enjoy!

Bears Butt

Jan. 22, 2013

Written on January 22nd, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

Those of you who know me know just how much of a “softy” I am.  I might look a little rough around the edges, but my heart is in the right place….at least that is what “I” think.

Anyway, I have a very tender part of my body that I like to keep clean and you do to.  A few days ago I told you about some toilet paper that Sherry bought at Smith and Edwards and how it just has its own way of being toilet paper.  I told her yesterday that those rolls sure do go a long way and that the usual toilet paper we buy from the grocery store always seems to run out quickly.

I think now that my sewer system is having a problem.  No, not backing up because of using this stuff.  What I think is happening is the toilet paper goes down the toilet and then somehow cleans itself up and comes back up through a hole somewhere under the bathroom sink.  There looks to be more rolls of that stuff in that cabinet than what she bought last week!  Talk about recycling!  We will never get rid of that stuff!

Bears Butt

Jan. 22, 2013

Written on January 22nd, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

It’s Monday and what better thing to do than go ice fishing?  Today I am headed off with a couple of old cronies I haven’t fished with in nearly a year.  And we are headed to a place I heard had some pretty good fishing.  AND BIG fish to boot.  We shall see.

I’ll post up a report when I get back.

Bears Butt

Jan. 21, 2013

Written on January 21st, 2013 , Hunting/Fishing/Trapping Stories
By: Bears Butt

Hey Handy People!  Have you always wanted to shoot a bow and arrow but just can’t come away from the budget table with anything left to go out and purchase that bow?

Me too.  But I found a site that shows how you can make a pretty classy long bow out of every day common stuff that you or your neighbor might be throwing away.  They say this is a 60 pound pull bow and I suppose it is.  Really looks easy to make and shoots pretty good, at least in this guys hands.

Maybe someone would like to make some up for the rendezvous and we can give them away for raffle prizes!  I might even switch over to bow hunting deer if I had one of these bows.

Check it out at this web site:

Easy to do, simple tools used and even I think I could make one.

Bears Butt

Jan. 20, 2013

Written on January 20th, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

This mornings breakfast consists of venison chunks, provided by Black Foot from this past years muzz deer hunt!  Thank you Black Foot!  Without the meat you provided I would be craving venison at this moment and probably eating pork instead.

Venison, chunked fried potatoes and eggs over medium!

Does it get any better than that?  I think not.

An another note, it looks like the volunteer list is coming together quite well for the upcoming kids ice fishing day to be held next Saturday…I can’t wait.

The weather forecast for the upcoming week, right through next Saturday is very good.  No real snow in the forecast and rather warm temps for this time of year, highs expected in the mid 30’s.

Talking with a fellow fisherman this morning on the cell phone, he said he went fishing yesterday and ended up taking off his warm weather apparel and fished most of the day in shirt sleeves and without gloves on!  Now that is warm for January!

Fishing?  Well he only caught one all day long, but it was a nice one, Cutthroat Trout, 22 inches long!  Nice fish in anyone’s book, he doesn’t keep his fish and so it is still swimming around in that lake.  He is heading to another lake as I am typing this.  He is to call me with his story later in the day.  He is also planning on going again in the morning and I just might have to join him.

I’ve been doing some research on another story I am planning to put up here but in my un-scientific mind I can not comprehend the following statement and hope someone reading this can help me make “common sense” of it.  What does it mean in laymen terms when someone says, “29.25 gr p/mole”?????

Is that a mole that weighs 29.25 grams?  It sounds like that to me.  But I was not researching the weight of a mole at the time, but that is what came up on my search.  There is a whole lot of weirdness going on in our world and people are making up stuff as they go.  At any rate a mole that weighs only 29.25 grams isn’t a very big mole is it?

Tomorrow is a holiday for a lot of you and I hope you make the best of it.  Keep in mind that tomorrow doesn’t mean much to us retired people, who have nothing to look forward to…no weekends, no holidays, no vacations…..

Enjoy your day!

Bears Butt

Jan. 20, 2013

 

Written on January 20th, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

Straw on Ice flyer

Click on the blue line and see what I’ve been talking about for a few weeks!  I hope to see you there!

Bears Butt

Jan. 19, 2013

Written on January 19th, 2013 , Uncategorized

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BearsButt.com | Stories, Ramblings & Random Stuff From an Old Mountain Man

Just some of my old stories, new stories, and in general what is going on in my life.