Ice Fishing

We usually went fishing near home. There was always the river about a mile south or our home. If dad went fishing, we would load a few things into the back of the pickup and drive to the river. If I went alone, I would walk through the neighbors back pasture and come out at the fish house. This was a great place to fish. Nearby, were lots of sumac bushes. They grew in swampy ground that became frozen, and easy to walk on in the winter. What I liked about these sumac bushes was how good they were for the stove in the fish house. You could break some dead limbs off and drag them near the edge of the river in long pieces. They broke off easily because they were frozen and very brittle. Then you could either stomp on them to make them the length that fit into the stove, or you could swing them against each other. Either way made a lot of firewood in a short time.
Air often builds up under the ice. I presume it effervesses from the riverbed. This air will travel just under the ice by the current. It is pretty rude when you are sitting there bored silly and suddenly the air belches out of your fishing hole. It makes you jump. One particular time this happened to me and it seems a muskrat was swimming with the air. You know, for breathing purposes. Well as the air belched, he followed the air into my fish house. It scared the crap out of both of us. He disapeared back into the water before I could react. He obviously thought the fish house was too small for both of us. I can't argue.
Kayak Bandit '(*!*)'