big ole carp
no lead for you
looks open but it weren't...
A lot of us have learned the term "post-holing" in the past three weeks, whether getting the mail out of the box or taking the trash out or going for a winter hike. One minute you are cruising along on top of the icy crust, the next second you've punched thru into powder, slush or icy water.
I chose icy water.
No big deal, as I had purposefully stayed within a few feet from shore, so the water was mid-shin. But having a boot full of ice water was...ummm...unpleasant. All this was on a quest to get the kayak into open water. I figured I could slide the thing about 50 yards to where there was a new lead into ice-free territory.
The ice seemed fine, until it wasn't. Lesson learned: don't be so smug when you see the news footage of some poor smuck getting rescued from icy water. And thank your guardian angels who let you survive when you solo'ed, 4 decades ago, out on to the Big Lake in Columbia in the early hours before the HoCo cops showed up with bullhorns.
Later on, when the crowds thinned out, a big carp swam lazily under the boat. Then it stopped a few feet away and let me get ridiculously close. I guess it was cold and lethargic.