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Jan. 29th, 2007 01:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oakenguyGarrison Keillor was on the radio this weekend talking about ice fishing. And it made me suspect that one of three things was happening:
A) He's not only never been ice fishing, but never even really seen any;
B) Ice fishing is done very, very differently in Minnesota;
C) He went ice fishing once, was totally taken in by a practical joke, and never realized it.
I can't completely rule out the possibility of B (much as I'd like to), so I'm transcribing, as best I can, his description. See if it sounds familiar.
Ice fishing involves going out onto a frozen lake, drilling a hole in the ice, putting some bait on a hook and putting the line down through the hole into the cold water. So far so good. Then you put on some expensive goggles, really well-made so they fit your face just right, and you put your face down into the water and you watch...they're infra-red goggles, you see...you watch for when the fish takes the bait and then you YANK the fish up, and pull it up out of the hole.
Infra-red...goggles? For fish? In an ice-covered lake?
I call shenanigans. AND monkeyshines.
In my experience (and I was driving BY ice fishermen on a lake while I listened to this), once you put the line down the hole you attach it to a little stick-and-springs contraption that waves a little red flag when a fish tugs on the line. Then you either retreat back to your ice hut and meditate (translation: drink) or take your Star Wars figures and spend a fun few hours creating elaborate Terror on Ice Planet Hoth dioramas, depending on your inclination.
That's my opinion...but you on my friendslist are much more worldly and well-travelled than I am. So I ask you, *is* there a frozen lake out there in the Midwest where you can go and see dozens of elderly fishermen kneeling down, butts up in the air, faces in the water?
A) He's not only never been ice fishing, but never even really seen any;
B) Ice fishing is done very, very differently in Minnesota;
C) He went ice fishing once, was totally taken in by a practical joke, and never realized it.
I can't completely rule out the possibility of B (much as I'd like to), so I'm transcribing, as best I can, his description. See if it sounds familiar.
Ice fishing involves going out onto a frozen lake, drilling a hole in the ice, putting some bait on a hook and putting the line down through the hole into the cold water. So far so good. Then you put on some expensive goggles, really well-made so they fit your face just right, and you put your face down into the water and you watch...they're infra-red goggles, you see...you watch for when the fish takes the bait and then you YANK the fish up, and pull it up out of the hole.
Infra-red...goggles? For fish? In an ice-covered lake?
I call shenanigans. AND monkeyshines.
In my experience (and I was driving BY ice fishermen on a lake while I listened to this), once you put the line down the hole you attach it to a little stick-and-springs contraption that waves a little red flag when a fish tugs on the line. Then you either retreat back to your ice hut and meditate (translation: drink) or take your Star Wars figures and spend a fun few hours creating elaborate Terror on Ice Planet Hoth dioramas, depending on your inclination.
That's my opinion...but you on my friendslist are much more worldly and well-travelled than I am. So I ask you, *is* there a frozen lake out there in the Midwest where you can go and see dozens of elderly fishermen kneeling down, butts up in the air, faces in the water?
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Date: 2007-01-29 08:31 pm (UTC)He's probably waiting to see how many e-mails he gets from NPR listeners who embarassed themselves by going to L.L. Bean and asking for ice-fishing/night-vision goggles.