Merritt Ice Fishing Derby

The Nicola Valley Fish and Game Club's annual ice fishing derby at Mamit Lake was a great success.
It started off cloudy but cleared up later on and actually started to get really warm.

I spent a good portion of my time there on the back of skidoo helping Paul sell 50/50 tickets to the folks camped out on the ice and unlike last year it was quite enjoyable because this machine actually was roomier and fast.
Paul even stopped for me to take pictures of all those derelict log cabins that I'm so fond of!

And of course there were plenty of fish to be found everywhere; here are some Rainbow Trouts:

A closeup of a coarse fish's scales:

Merritt's mayor Susan Roline and her husband came to the event and handed out prizes for the main fish categories.

I noticed something interesting about the ice fishing crowd...they are very patient people. I guess you have to be when you basically sit on the ice waiting for the bobber to jiggle above the icy well that the fishing line is immersed in. And they are very good natured: no one chafed around while waiting for the prize presentation and no kids were bawling unlike at most other venues.
Because my feet had got wet I had to put on my spare boots later on which are city style and the water on the ice was about 3 inches so couldn't take pictures from ground level. Stood on the back of a truck instead and took general shots.

Some of the fishermen:

Here's an early view of the lake in panorama style:

There is a bigger version of this at Heidi Koehler at DA. Use the download button under the advertisement on the right to see it really big.

If you decide you want to take up ice fishing you had better get warm, waterproof rubber boots and ice grippers. I don't recommend the kind that are supposed to just slip over the toe and heel. They did the job but kept coming off.

The better kind look kind of like squid wrapped around your feet. Get those at Canadian Tire.