Bad Ice

This was the weekend of the annual fishing derby at McGregor Lake, Montana. The fishing and weather were less than stellar but the fish were not totally uncooperative. As of Saturday's finish the biggest Mac was 10lb. and the biggest Rainbow was 7lb. Despite the conditions it was all still good fun finished off by a raucous crowd claiming some nice prizes in the drawing at the lodge' bar.

The ice was not the greatest. 6 inches of snow on top, 8 inches of slush under that and about 5 inches of good ice. I should have wore my chest waders and wading boots. The high point of the afternoon was watching a helo from Timberline rescuing an unfortunate participant's 4-wheeler from becoming an expensive piece of fish structure at the bottom of the lake. Actually, one other thing happened today, probably the most important thing I have seen in weeks, an actual large flying insect of the mayfly sort! Yeah, baby!