Arctic Adventures

Going Hunting Ready Dad? Looking for Bears Picking Berries Blueberry Pancakes Fishing School from Home

 Each year around Thanksgiving time we make set lines for Burbot. We get 10' willow poles, 3/0 circle hooks, and 2' of 30# braid. Tie the line to the hook and the wide end of the willow. Make a hole in the ice and put the willow down the hole.  Finished Set Let it sit overnight and check it the next day. We have 4 set lines. #1, #2, #3, #4 (real original). #1 is in shallow water around 2'. #3 is the deepest line in 6' of water. #2 is between those and #4 is slightly downriver even with #2.  First Catch #1 has been our most successful line. One check we had 4 burbot with 1 on each line. We usually get 1 or 2 fish on each check but recently we have not caught anything.  Ryker's Catch We will keep up checks until right before Christmas and if the catch rates stay at nothing we will take them out until spring time. The Bounty (From top left: Stomach and Intestines, they taste better than you would expect, liver, fillet x2, and belly fillet)    See lines in center frame

  Moose Camp    Oren, Ryker, and I took a trip downriver to set up camp and look for moose. Our original plan was to stay for one night, but when the weather was really nice on Saturday we decided to stay for two nights. We had to check the status of our food though. On camping trips we almost always come back with food so I figured we would have enough to last us two nights. The boys figured if we ran out of food we could always catch a pike and eat them. Camp was about 15 miles from town and normally wouldn't have cellular service, but I was able to gain a little elevation and inform Kayla of our plans to stay another night. Making Fires Having Fun Saturday we took our time going down the river. We stopped and hiked into 3 small lakes and meadows to look around. The last spot that we stopped near our intended camping location had plenty of moose sign. We spent about an hour overlooking a small lake. Then we continued on our way to camp.  Marking the Spot But before camp, fishing.

Wildlife photography is tricky. Thats why we like still artistic shots. We finally have a decent lens and decent camera at the same time. We had a rough go of it there for a bit. We had purchased a zoom lens and it worked well for about summer, fall, and part of winter. Something happened to it after using it in the cold and winter and it stopped working. We saved up for a new lens and bought one that spring. First time out with the new lens and I dropped the lens and the camera. The weight of the lens busted up the camera.  After some trial and error attempting to fix the old camera in which I was completely unsuccessful we purchased a new camera. Now we have the camera and lens back in action. What do I do one of the first trips out? Leave the camera at home and see a wolf and pups on the riverbank at 50 yards. facepalm# I missed out on a glorious opportunity for photos of a lynx because I didn't have the camera ready. I spotted a lynx stalking along the river bank. Watched it wi

We returned to our arctic home a little later than usual this year.  Brett had a little over a week before he had to start work, but we certainly were able to make the most of that time!  Brett's sisters Kate, Shelly, and Jenna came up for that week and we were all super excited to have them.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't awesome with rain forecasted every day, but it didn't slow anyone down (except for me maybe!!).  They are here!   The girls got a village welcome as we threw their luggage into the Mule and piled onto the "honda."   I'm sure they were beyond exhausted as they traveled through the night, but everyone was game for a short fishing trip.  Brett figured we had to take advantage of the time because with the rain the river would just continue to rise and would get too cloudy to really do any fishing.  Shelly caught a pink salmon on her first cast!   Kate with her grayling. Anya gave a little effort, but she doesn't stay patient for very long