Ice Fishing Time Coming Up
Other Things To Do In Winter For Seniors.
Ice fishing on Heffley Lake near Sun Peaks Resort with Elevated Fishing Adventures. Here, the guide and guest try their hand at outdoors holes. Credit: Yvette Cardozo
Some folks fish for sport. Some for relaxation. Some to “just get away.”
I fish to eat. If I can’t eventually put it in a fry pan, I’m not really interested.
So enter Elevated Fishing Adventures, near Sun Peaks Resort in British Columbia, Canada, where you get all three. Especially the eating part.
“Probably half the people who come out with us cook their fish that night,” said owner/guide Campbell Bryk.
Owner/guide Campbell Bryk picked my friend, Nancy Slye, and me up at 7 am and we drove out to nearby Heffley Lake, which at this point in the year, was covered with 20 inches of ice.
The lake is stocked with rainbow trout, a mild fish that makes great eating. The red glow is sunlight coming through the red canvas tent. Credit: Yvette Cardozo
A few hundred yards out, Campbell set up his fishing tent, got a portable heater going and re-drilled three of his fishing holes. Then he baited our hooks with natural looking lures that not only wriggle, they glow in the dark water below the ice.
This is really popular with families that have kids. “As soon as you see fish down there, you can get kids to sit for hours,” Campbell said.
And anybody …really ANYbody…can catch a fish, he insisted, describing one morning where a mom was breast feeding her infant with one hand and hooking fish with the other.
“Her three-year-old caught a 24-inch fish,” he added.
The BC government each year stocks Heffley with 5,000 rainbow trout, a fish that Campbell claims, “Anybody can cook and virtually everybody likes because it’s so mild tasting.”
The best fishing, he explained, is just before Christmas. The most any group has caught in a day is 36, though folks are limited to keeping only five per person. And the largest fish anyone’s ever caught was 30 inches, big enough to feed six people.
The lake has both wild and stocked fish. The wild ones are dark red and green, the stocked ones are shiny but they both taste the same, so we were told
As for us, we were pushing the end of the season. And the fish were nowhere to be found. Have any groups ever come up completely dry?
Only two out of 50 trips. Campbell invited them to come back the next day, free of charge.
Okay, we were running out of time.
And then, with maybe 15 minutes before we had to pack up, something nibbled Nancy’s line. She set the hook and reeled it in. It was cute. It was tiny. It was too small to keep.
So we went back to fishing and now, with merely five minutes to go, Nancy got another one (I was busy taking pictures). Again she hooked it. Again she reeled. Again it came up.
And this time it was over a foot long, one of the stocked fish, holding a good pound of edible meat. A keeper. Campbell filleted the fish and delivered it to us later that day.
As for the cooking part, we removed what tiny bones remained, cut the fish so it lay flat, tossed it into a frying pan with lots of butter, garlic, a bit of salt and a splash of lime juice.
Even I, someone who joyfully eats but doesn’t necessarily cook fish, did a yummy job.
Next year, Campbell said, he will have a permit to fish on Paul Lake, which is stocked with landlocked sockeye salmon, called Kokanee in these parts. He’ll be making salmon sashimi for those who want it and cooking lunch.
Nancy and I WILL be back.
Click for more about Elevated Ice Fishing at Sun Peaks Resort.
After cleaning, there is about a pound of rainbow trout, perfect for two for dinner. Credit: Yvette Cardozo
The Flat Light Polka
Ugh. Flat light makes the going tenuous. Jan’s wife threads down through the powder. Credit: Jan Brunvand
It isn’t just senior skiers who suffer in flat light, but whiteouts may take a greater toll on our sometimes diminished vision and balance. Case in point: the few falls I’ve had in recent ski seasons were all in flat light conditions. One crash last February caused a minor injury and led to the realization that I shoulda known better.
I wish I had gone to the lodge instead of to the lift with the senior group that day at Sundance when I gazed up at the summit swathed in mist and swirling snow. Instead, I toughed it out for a couple of runs, eventually getting to that sickening point when I couldn’t tell up from down, or whether I was moving or standing still.
I tumbled over an invisible bump, pulling the muscle in my left calf. I managed to get home, needing only my right leg to drive. At the University of Utah Orthopedic Center I got an ultra-sound and instructions for wrapping and icing my leg so it would heal itself in about ten days.
While I was recuperating I composed a parody of a politically-incorrect song of the late 40s, “The Too Fat Polka.” The original was recorded by, among others, Franie Yankovic, Arthur Godfrey and (with a change of pronouns) The Andrew Sisters. I altered “She’s too fat for me” to “The light’s too flat for me,” and I ended up with this:
Here’s a silly ditty, you can sing it while you ski.
Just don’t hit a tree, and sing it while you ski.
Here’s a silly jingle, you can sing it night or noon.
Here’s the words, that’s all you need, ‘cause I just sang the tune.
Chorus:
Oh! If I can’t see it, I can’t ski it,
It’s too flat for me,
Much too flat for me,
The light’s too flat for me.
I can’t see it, I can’t ski it,
It’s too flat for me
It’s too flat; light’s too flat.
It’s too flat for me.
It’s a fright out,
There’s no light out,
I can’t ski here,
In this awful whiteout.
(Chorus)
Can you ski when it snows?
No, no, no, no, no.
Can you ski when it blows?
No, no, no, no, no.
Can you ski in the trees?
In the sun it’s a breeze,
But if you possibly, run into a tree. . .
NO, NO, NO!
(Chorus)
I can’t grapple
With the graupel*,
I can’t ski right
When there’s no more daylight.
(Chorus)
I get woozie,
I get dizzy,
When its foggy
Then I’m in a tizzy.
(Chorus)
Hey!
*Small particles of snow over a thin, fragile crust of ice
Note: The Wikipedia article “Whiteout” distinguishes between Flat Light (a “diffusion of sunlight”) and Whiteout (a ”reduction and scattering of sunlight”). Flat light produces a “flat featureless vista [causing] loss of depth of field resulting in disorientation.” Severe Whiteout may lead to “a loss of kinesthesia . . . confusion, loss of balance and an overall reduction in the ability to operate.”
I’m not sure I understand the difference, but for sure its all bad for safe skiing.
Head for the lodge after this one? Think so. Credit: Jan Brunvand
This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Oct. 5)
Big BC Snow Beats Record, Colorado Senior Discounts, Conditioning Cautions, Ski Shows Coming.
Oct. 2 25 cm (10 in.) snow wallops Calgary, breaking record with more expected.
No doubt about it, snow is making a statement in the Northwest and Canadian Rockies in particular. Just this week, Calgary experienced a record-breaking snowfall, catching municipal snow removers a bit flat footed. Equipment had to be imported from local towns and cities to help clear the streets. But, the pictures of snow on the mountains are certainly encouraging for those interested in starting the snow season. Check out the Calgary snow fall story by clicking here.
Free Ski Listing Coming Soon.
Incidentally, SeniorsSkiing.com’s annual listing of resorts where seniors can ski for free (or almost free) in galley form, as the expression goes. This year, we have included several dozen Canadian resorts that provide low or no cost tickets for seniors. Meanwhile, if you can’t wait, the 2017-18 listing is still available under Subscriber-Only Content. You’ll have to re-enter your name and email to get to it. Click on the menu box at the top of the page.
While some resorts offer free (or almost free) skiing for seniors, others give a big discount. For example, we’ve learned A-Basin in Colorado offers 70+ seniors a $105 unrestricted season pass and a $40 day ticket. Aspen has season pass for 70+ for $514, not bad considering an adult season pass goes for $2,284 at the top end. At Cooper, 60-69 pay $279, 70+ pay $149, 80+ are free. Not to be confused with Cooper, Copper Mountain offers a $389 pass for 70+. You can find other senior discounts and free ski offers at Colorado resorts by clicking here.
Conditioning Starts Now. Right?
Sure, you can do the gym thing. It’s not to late to hit the trails, too.
If you haven’t started getting into shape yet, please consider using the next couple of months as your last chance to buff up before your first run. A couple of years ago, one of our friends decided to go skiing in the early winter without any kind of preparation at all. Needless to say, she had a wicked fall on her second or third run, pulled muscles, and cancelled the rest of her season.
The reality is that we can’t just go out and do it like we used to. Every year adds a new challenge. If you are wise, you will pay attention to this. Please people, don’t get hurt. This week, correspondent Pat McCloskey tells us about some alternatives to gym workouts that you can do to harden those legs, shoulders, and abs.
In addition, Harriet Wallis offers us a Woman’s Guide To Sports As We Grow Older. Despite the march of time, Harriet encourages us to adapt and keep going. There’s always a way. Just do it.
Ski Shows Coming.
For some, going to the fall ski shows is the official start of ski season. In Boston, the Ski and Snowboard Expo is on Nov. 8-11, in Denver, it’s on Nov. 16-18. Notice the banner ad at the top of this page? If you click through, you can get your tickets at a discount when you enter SENIOR in your order.
The ski show is always a fun afternoon. Collect the swag from the resorts, check out the deals, retail sales, demos, vendors of all kinds, and enjoy saying hello to your pals in the snow sport community. We will be wandering around the Boston show this year. Say hello, and we’ll give you a SeniorsSkiing.com sticker.
Reminder: NYC Gathering Nov. 14
If you’re around New York on Wednesday evening looking for a diversion and potentially winning some co0l raffle items, drop by our SeniorsSkiing.com Gathering. Details below.
Remember, dear readers, there are more of us every day, and we aren’t going away.
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