Yesterday, we pulled all the houses except for a rental coming on Thursday for Perch and Northern Pike. We made a few more readily available to set up if needed. There is approximately 30″ of ice in most areas with little snow cover so we will remain open for some time yet for wheelhouses and portable traffic.  Just call ahead the day before for the latest conditions.

Last evening, after we closed, I took a drive around the “loop” as we call it, to take in the lake at sunset and see the roads without houses and fishermen.  It’s something I have done for the last 50 years at the end of the season when the houses are off the ice. Seeing it empty makes you think about all the effort that went into getting fishermen to enjoy their time on the ice.  You remember all the busyness involved in accomplishing that and can almost see it happening as you look at how empty it is when it’s all over.

Probably the coolest part of this year’s drive around was on the way back in.  As I approached the shore, there were lights on in the Red House.  (Where I had grown up, lived there for a while before moving up to the hill for 35 years.)  The last four years, since Cindy and I built a new house off the lake, we have opened our new office in the “Barn”. No one has really been in there except for the summers when it’s rented.  My granddaughter, Isabel, is renting the place until May 1st and was home from work. Seeing the lights back on at the Red House warmed my heart…the best feeling I had all day.

Eddy