Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts enjoyed a day of ice fishing on Moss Lake on March 12, 2011. (L-R, front) Cub Scouts Noah Furcht, Vaughn Swindlehurst, John VanderHeiden, Silas Sobanja (L-R, middle) Lucas Sheils, Tristan Walton, (L-R, back) Boy Scouts Aaron Breitsprecher, Daniel Ditmanson, and Kyle Martinson.
The early morning of the annual Boy Scout Troop 167 ice fishing trip seems to always start off cold, but that is expected— along with dreams of good fishing and catching the big one.
This year the Boy Scouts invited the Cub Scouts to join us for the day and enjoy fishing on the frozen lake through holes in the ice. The Boy Scouts set up the plans for the day on Moss Lake and started drilling the holes before the younger Scouts got there.
As planned, the cubs arrived on time at the landing and headed into the fishing spot. Two of the Cub Scouts had never caught a fish before, let alone gone ice fishing, so it became our priority for them to be the first to catch a fish. It wasn’t long, even before the holes all had flags by them, that the first flag popped up. Unfortunately the fish was gone, but one seasoned fishing dad said, “Don’t get worked up as some need to get away for another day.”
It wasn’t long and the fishing was on. The action came and went in streaks with several flags up at a time and with fish big enough to keep. As the shout rang out “Flag” a group of Scouts would go running. The dads had a great time watching these young Scouts interact with the older Scouts while enjoying a wilderness activity, learning to catch fish, cook lunch and have fun in the snow.
Soon it was time for the Cubs to head home which left the Boy Scouts alone with the fishing holes for the rest of the day.
By the end of the day, all the Scouts had caught fish to take home along with the memories of how to enjoy this great wilderness setting we have at our doorstep here in Cook County.
We kept 14 fish and released more than a dozen but lost more than that all together. To teach one how to ice fish you have to let them make mistakes to better understand how the fish bite.
This was the first Boy Scout fishing trip since I became Scoutmaster that Tom Johnson, our fishing guide, was not with us. But we all knew he was there in spirit and watching over our lines.
As I watched the tip-up flags go off, I could still see Tom sitting by his flag watching the fun that the boys would have pulling in the fish. Thanks Tom for the memories. May many more young people learn to love fishing and being in the outdoors as you did!
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