Monday, February 18, 2013

Whiteout

The difficult part of yesterday's storm was not the accumulation of snow, only about 2 inches, but the driving wind. I thought I'd take a short spin to Sebago Lake and see if I might be able to find a few ice shacks to photograph. The wind was ferocious and unrelenting. It created whiteout conditions and even made the 7-8 huts on the distant ice indishtinguishable. How many can you make out, not counting this one in the foreground, that's been pulled off the ice? At least if you have a shack to huddle in and perhaps a small woodstove, you can get out of the wind. This fellow, at 9 AM, has already called it a day. Now, puttin' a worm on a hook in April is one thing, but sitting on the ice for hours in February, in a cursing wind is another... at least for me. Oh, and one more thing, at least most of the shacks stock a cooler. After all, ice fishing in Maine is an alcohol event for most. Can you blame them?

22 comments:

  1. Ice fishing is an alcohol event??
    Who knew?
    hmmmmm.......

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  2. I am freezing, just looking at this photo and reading what you've written. I can see just one other ice shack. What's that design in the door window on the shack off the ice? Looks like some sort of religious cross design.

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  3. Don't know about the window, but I'm pretty sure the inscription over the door reads, "Abandon hope all ye who enter here. " :-)

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  4. I've always suspected that ice fishing has little to do with fish. It's about getting out of the house and being comfortable despite the cold and wind. Fisherman drinking? Guess I've heard that before. Around here pickup trucks seem to go through the ice every spring when fisherman try to get to their shacks.

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  5. Kudos to you for venturing out there. Amazing you saw one fisherman.

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  6. Brrrrr!!! not for me but only the hardy few I suspect. I thonk I see one other hut to the right and back. Yes? MB

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  7. I know. When I lived in Minnesota, people would ask "Let's go ice fishing and drink!" Ya gotta be nuts!

    Are you sure you didn't Photoshop this shot. Oh, right, you're not as sneaky as I am. Heh, heh!

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  8. I'd have to have a lot of alcohol before I would be out there!

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  9. i'd need a shot of bourbon just to get out the door in that cold wind!

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  10. I'd be giving up too if I were that guy. On second thought, I wouldn't have gone out there in the first place.

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  11. Enough with the Winter. I vote for Spring to arrive now.

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  12. I count one besides the one in front. You are a dedicated photographer to drive in a white out storm to get your photos. I like the one you posted. -- barbara

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  13. Sounds and looks like Minnesota. You captured the atmosphere beautifully!

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  14. I don't know if alcohol cannot be resisted... This is a shot I love though.

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  15. And YOU are a brave explorer! They took me ice fishing in my youth...I loved it, but it was not that wind!

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  16. Not an event for me! A good beer yes, but sitting in an ice shack no way.

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  17. What an image! I have only tried ice fishing once (no alcohol involved for this small person), and it was memorable. We were spearing, and the light coming up from that rather large hole in the ice illuminated the interior of the fish house.

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  18. How many others? How about none. I will concede all future ice fishing photos to you.

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  19. Good grief. It's like Shackleton crossing the tundra

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  20. It's freezing cold there! I guess I would prefer stay inside home and take a delicious coffee!
    Léia

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  21. that wind was WICKED! And I do NOT understand the appeal of ice fishing. I want to be warm.

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