Patience was wearing thin, so was the ice in spots, but it paid off!

 My last 4 pike trips have ended with a few things in common..tons of walking in and out through deep snow, countless hours with no pike on the ice and everything possible way to lose a fish or not getting a single flag. To be honest I've questioned myself a few times for continuing to go.. although i feel like i am now a professional ice watcher.. which means something right? Sadly no. But the only way to break the bad luck is to keep going. Well today i went to a spot on the River that is again a long walk in but today added the uncertainty of knowing if the spot would have safe ice or ice at all? Only way to find out is to go... After my 3/4 mile walk down i found where i just stood last week was now open water. Was on the water for 6am and the tide was high so i tried anyways but i couldn't fish the depths that i really needed to hit. This is a main river spot with a current break so being alone it was creepy but that factor went up times ten when i put my right foot down near the shoreline and went right through. I went just past my knee and bashed my left knee on the ice. Pulled myself out / sat on the bank / took off my boot / hung my socks on a tree branch / rolled up the pants to let the sun hit them / wore a glove as a sock and starting to think... hmm what am i doing here, fishing the wrong spots, falling through the ice.. Not what i had planned for my day. Decided to pack up and make the long walk back to the car to try another area. 

This is where Google maps comes in handy. Not knowing where i wanted to go next i thought about some river spots i hit from my boat but not from shore that have similar structure and depths as the first spot i fished and by 11am i was on the ice again. To my surprised a few people were already there fishing and they couldn't have been nicer. Offered me some food off the grill before we even exchanged names. Was the right move.. before i had my fourth tip up in the water my first flag was up. Line was flying off the spool and i just held tight and fish on. After a decent fight i finally had another pike on the ice. I didn't measure this one because my sled was far away but id guess 31 inches give or take an inch. Came out of 2 feet of water on a dead bait. An hour later another flag! This time in 1.7 feet of water on a dead bait. I ran over and again the line was flying accept this time when i set the hook the fish had some better weight to her. The line even cut my finger. This was the best fight i had had through the ice yet and the fish kicked up all kinds of mud from the bottom to the point i couldn't see into the hole at all. After a few minutes i feel the fish get stuck to the bottom edge of the hole and thought oh no!!!! but she swam off and next thing i see is a big pike head sticking out of brown water and i reached into the gills and pulled out this 36 inch fish. Wasn't too fat but after the fishing ive been through i couldn't have been happier. Those were my only 2 flags of the day but 2 flags 2 fish. Ill take it. Ill be back out tomorrow hopefully.