This little cutie allowed me to take her picture and post it up on here.  Isn’t she a little doll?

Our day on Sulpher Creek was a great one!  Thanks to everyone who pulled this event off and to the many anglers that came to play in the cold wind!

The ice was over 20 inches thick and so if any of you have threatened to come to this event and chickened out because you thought you might fall through the ice…NOT TO WORRY!  20 inches of ice will hold “your truck”  (not mine, but yours) full of gear and beer…trust me…your truck will not fall through.

After a little bit of a rough start to my day, and after running a red light on Riverdale road later on, we made it to the lake at a perfect time!  Our short walk from the sign in trailer out to our spot didn’t take very long and suddenly, our camp was set up for the day.

As is always the case in Wyoming, the wind did not stop blowing all day, but the temperature did rise from near zero to a balmy 20 something before the tourney was over.  I had to place an ice spike into the ice to make sure my tent didn’t go tumbling down wind, but other than that it was a great day on the ice.

Fishing however was very slow for us.  We each did manage to catch a trout but all of them were cookie cutters in the 13 inch range and they had to be at least 16 inches in order to be measured for the contest.  In our group, Weasel had the most bites, but only landed one quarter for his efforts, and ended up giving that up to someone else.  Our quarters ended up as an even steven payout.

Once we were on the ice, we had several other groups come and join around us to share the area.  More is better in my opinion and of course those guys knew what to use and so they caught a whole heck of a lot more fish than we did.  They were not stingy on letting us know the secret, but when you are 15 miles from the nearest place that carries the secret lure, you are pretty much at your own imaginations’ mercy as to how to get the fish to bite.  I even tried my newly thought up, blue fan-dangle….

It didn’t work.

But, there is more to this ice fishing tourney than catching the biggest fish.  We get to meet some great people.

Here a couple of bearded guys from the Duck Dynasty group joined our Sulpher Creek friend and mentor, WyoGoob (middle) and even though they didn’t grow those beards themselves, the beards did save their faces from a good wind burn.  Thanks guys for joining in the fun!  AND for towing our sleds off the ice when the tourney was over!

These events are all about having fun and allowing those that do all the hard work to get to put some money towards a worthwhile cause.  This lady has been “The Boss” of this tourney since its inception and the money raised this year is going to the Primary Children’s Hospital…And extremely good cause!

A hearty THANK YOU Cassidy Tynsky and the rest of your “in the background” team for being so gracious as to sponsor this event and going through all the hard work making it happen.  May there be many more!

The poor fishing aside or should I say, the poor catching aside (the fishing was great, the catching was not) everyone seemed to be in great spirits.  Some in greater “spirits” than others, but everyone having a great time for sure.

Thanks to this guy for allowing me to take his picture.  This should convince you that it was pretty cold up there and should you decide to join us next year, you need to get prepared like him!  It’s easier to take stuff off, than to freeze your butt off and wish you had it.

So, when we were all gathered up around the event hosts trailer, the fishing winners were announced.  They gave out 3 cash awards to the three largest fish and the number one winner, with a fish right at 17 inches, landed a cool cash award of over $1,000!   He was a happy guy!  It was obvious he had been having a good party already, but this announcement really made him grin and dance….But wait…there is more!

Cassidy and her gang of helpers went all out this year with a bunch of great prizes to be raffled off and they also held what is called a 50/50 raffle.  One in which you purchase a ticket and if your ticket is drawn you get half the money collected.  I did not catch the exact amount of the 50/50 prize but it was over $200 and close to $300 if my recollector recollects correctly.

So I’d have to say most every fisherman on the ice bought at least one  ticket for that drawing.

So, the little girl sitting on the snowmobile at the top of this page, pulled out the winning ticket for the 50/50 raffle and guess who won?…..The same guy that caught the biggest fish!  WOW!  How can that be?  What a lucky guy and all the drinks are on him!

A double winner with over $1200 for his “fishing” efforts!  Congratulations!  What a day it was for him!  I’ll bet he doesn’t get up until the big game starts today!  Party on!

Back to the raffle!  As I said they had some wonderful prizes to give out and almost every one of them were either purchased or donated by Sportsmans Wearhouse in Riverdale Utah!  (Thanks you guys!  I’ll be sending you a note today)!  Jaw Jackers!  Snow Shoes! Tackle bags! Buddy Heaters! And a big old ice fishing tent called an Eskimo Quick Fish 3 as the Grand Prize!  There were more prizes I just can’t remember what they were…my bad!

Everyone wishes their ticket would be drawn for any of the prizes being given away, and especially when the Grand Prize comes up.  Well, what would you know!  My ticket was drawn!  What a lucky day for me!

So, in spite of not catching a fish that could be measured for the contest and in spite of getting “chill blanes” on the backs of our hands, this group of contestants really had a great time!

From left to right, me, Shipley, Weasel and Rick Streble!

Thanks once again to Cassidy and gang, Sportsmans Wearhouse and whoever else donated to this great event!  We hope there is one scheduled for next year because if there is, you can expect this small group to grow exponentially!

Bears Butt

February 2, 2014