Red Brush Gang’s winter vacation
This past weekend, I headed northeast to Florence County with my 9-year-old daughter, Selina, and 12 members of our hunting camp for a weekend of ice fishing and winter camping on the Pine River Flowage.
Friday, Feb. 26
High 28, Low 16
There was a strong wind blowing across the Pine Flowage when Selina and I arrived about 3:00 this afternoon. The majority of the Red Brush Gang had already arrived and set up a very comfortable camp.
My nephew, Riley Schuster, and his pal, Tim Rittmeyer, would be sleeping in an enclosed trailer. My brother, Mike, and brother-in- law, Dick Schuster, along with Jeff Moll and 8-year-old Austin Schuster would be sleeping in a 14-by-14-foot army tent that Jeff had just picked up and was heated with a woodstove.
Trent Schuster and Nate Moll would call a “Clam” ice shack home and Ross Moll and his buddy Joey Weber, who are local boys, would stay in Joey Weber’s permanent ice shack.
Once I had my ice shack up, Selina her cousin Dylan Walters and myself had our ice camp completed.
Two significant things happened towards dark. For the most part, this weekend would be spent fishing with tip-ups for walleye and northern pike. I learned as soon as we arrived that fishing had been slow with only one very small northern pike having been caught.
One of my flags went up and I missed what appeared to be a small fish. I let go of the line and very soon after that my fish was back and I caught a walleye in the 17-inch range. That walleye would end up winning me $35 for the big-walleye-of-the-weekend bet.
I did not have long to bask in the glory of my “monster” walleye as Dick Schuster yelled out, “Mark, you have a fire in your shack”!
My Coleman propane lantern – the one I had just bought in January, had caught fire where the gas hose meets the lantern. I came really close to losing my shack – the one I bought in December! The propane, lantern and hose were a total loss but our evening was a blast!
For the third time in her illustrious career, I have had Selina write her interpretation of this weekend. Please remember, these are the exact words of a third-grader!
My Winter Camping Trip! By Selina Walters
I had fun with my cousin, Dylan, and my second cousin, Austin, out in the woods exploring. I found a
bait puck and it still had bait in it but it was all dead.
My cousin Dylan found a metal bar and tried hitting the ground with it and it broke in half. After that,
Dylan tried to stab the ice with it but went maybe halfway though.
Then we found a cool trail and got kind of chicken to go up there because there was fresh wolf tracks
but we went up later.
Later, I broke my snowboarding record for the longest time without falling on the ice.
We did a lot of curling. I slept rotten because my dad kept a very bright lantern on all night. I caught a
northern pike but it was too small to keep.
It was a lot of fun, a good memory and hard to leave “Ice Camp!”
On Saturday, several of Jeff Moll’s friends from the Niagara area and our mutual friend Dwaine Drewa, a fellow KAMO member from Florence, joined our gang for a first-rate social experience on the frozen waters of the Pine River Flowage.
The fish were not hungry but we kept active with four snowmobiles, a four-wheeler, a campfire, exploring the woods and lots of laughter.
On the last morning of our adventure, 8-year-old Austin Schuster caught a 26-inch northern pike that won him a pocketful of money and bragging rights until The Red Brush Gang’s next winter vacation.
Stay Active! You Will Stay Happy!
Sunset
