| The 2005 Ice Derby February 5th & 6th, 2005 |
From 2004's worst, to 2005's first! Duncan Fitts dominates the ice all weekend and easily claims the title of "King of the Ice" for 2005!! |
| As fast as Derby Weekend approached, it passed
us by and is now history. The months, weeks and days of anticipation
and preparation are now nothing more than fading memories. Those final
couple of weeks prior to the derby seem to pass painfully slow and the
closer we get to derby weekend, the slower the hours seem to tick by.
But come 5:00 on Thursday afternoon (for most of us), the clock
seemingly sets into fast forward and the minutes tick off like seconds,
the hours like minutes and the days like a mere couple of hours. Before
we know it, we find ourselves cleaning up and shutting down the house
on Sunday afternoon. Less than 48 hours earlier spirits of all in
attendance were at the pinnacle of the weekend as "Derby Weekend" was
upon us and the road to King of the Ice laid unwritten in front of us.
How would the fishing be on Saturday? Who would catch the first trout?
How big would it be? Who would catch the most trout? Would any of us
catch a rainbow? Would we possibly catch a tagged fish? Now, it's
Sunday, early afternoon. The scales are closed, the fishing is over,
the eating and drinking is done, the stories have stopped. Instead of
being busy organizing our tip ups and tying leaders, jigs, etc. in
preparation for Saturday morning, we are now busy packing, cleaning,
vacuming & shutting down the house. Voices are quiet and smiles are
fewer. We all seem to have only one thing on our mind; get this place
cleaned up so we can get the hell out of here. As fast as we tried to
get up to the cottage, we are all now trying to get on the road home.
This is not a special circumstance. Even with the Super Bowl looming at
6:30 tonight, we all know we will be home well in time to catch the
game. This scene repeats itself year after year. I don't think there is
one person among us who is happy at this point. Well, perhaps one. Some
of us caught fish this weekend. Some of us caught more than others.
Many of us got skunked this weekend. Some for the first time in many
years. That one who is happy at 1:30 pm on Sunday is the new "King of
the Ice", the new champion. The one who caugh the biggest trout of the
weekend. The one who goes home with the cash winnings. Perhaps
he is happy at this point. But is he really? Does the trophy bring him
happiness as we prepare to head back to the real world on Sunday
afternoon? Does the cash prize make him gitty and excited? Or does
winning "King of the Ice" merely make this moment tolerable? For Derby
Weekend is over. We're heading home. We've got to work tomorrow... and
the day after that... and the day after that... It's back to real life
for another 363 days. Why do we do this? Is winning the coveted "King
of the Ice" worth the pain of knowing that no matter how slowly Derby
Weekend approaches, we can do nothing to stop it from ending? Does
"King of the Ice" really matter at all? Do we really have to
keep score? Perhaps Derby Weekend means a little bit more... It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags! Ahh, fuck it. We had a good time as usual. The fishing was not that great, but not all that bad either. Duncan kicked ass and took home the prize. Congrats kid, to a job well done. Thanks to Pete for serving up breakfast once again. Unfortunately we over estimated the neceesary eggs by by five dozen. We had about 20 pounds of bread varieties left over, a Keilbasa, a bunch of venison, milk, juice, hot dogs and so on. But we'll work on that for next year. Thanks to Duncan who made a great bait box. Unfortuanately he painted it with a paint that had just the right amount of cyanide content in it to kill off the 6 dozen smelt we had. Thanks to Eric & Dan for whipping up some good Chili. Thanks to Chris Znoj for sleeping upstairs on Saturday night and allowing us to sleep a little better in the bunk room. Thanks to Kevin for cranking the heat and shutting the bunk room door so we could all wake up in our own puddle of sweat. Thanks to Jeff Dolloway for cursing Jeff Polous' and my Finicky Fish Factories. Thanks to Todd for cooking the laker on the skillet on Sunday morning... Thanks to Tom for playing it safe on Saturday night in a game of high stakes Texas Hold'em with fake money. Thanks to Scott for talking in his sleep throughout the night on Friday evening. Thanks to Jeff Polous for taking Duncan down off his horse before the end of the day on Saturday, even though Duncan humiliated you right away on Sunday morning. Thanks to Jon Robinson for wearing his full body red spandex suit and bringing his A game when Pete asked him to shave his back for him. Thanks to Pete for wiping his ass before laying naked on the couch and having Robinson tweeze his nipples after the two poliched off a bottle of Boons Farm. Thanks to Chris Znoj for bringing the ether and spending a quiet evening with Tom behind closed doors. Thanks to Tim for handicapping the field and trying to be witty and creative on the white board on Friday night. Thanks to Jon for keeping Tom and Chris Znoj company while catching nothing, all weekend.Finally, thanks to Scott for driving my dying body to the hospital on Saturday morning... |
| The melt off from the warmth on Friday mixes with the cold early moning air on Saturday creating an eerie cloud above the ice... | It's always cold before the sun comes up... | |
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| . | No derby is complete without an early morning visit to the ER... ...(thanks for the ride Scott) |
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| Defending 2004 King
of the Ice, Kevin Polous scouts out the area for a good hole.. |
Enough of the hospital, let's get back to the ice! | |
 Driving back to the base camp... |
 Poulie baits up... |
|
 Pete & Robinson fire it up and feed the crew! |
 Bacon & Eggs just doesn't do it for some... |
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 The tip ups are set... |
 Now we wait... |
|
 and wait... |
 and wait.... |
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Fish on!!! Tim was always at the ready with the video camera! |
 Scott, quick with a joke or to light up your smoke, or to haul the fishboard... |
|
 Duncan breaks the ice and gets the 2004 monkey off his back. (Duncan got skunked in 2004). |
 Nice way to start the weekend! A nice size laker gives Duncan an early lead! |
|
 back to the waiting... |
 Even Eric was there... waiting... |
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 |
 Dan brought his 1972 John Deer and John wore snazzy boots... |
|
 Scott figures another beer for good luck... |
 Would any derby be complete without a bout of Pete's isolationist tactics? This year it didn't work... |
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FISH
ON! Tim is off and running
again.
|
Scott
grabs the fishboard... |
|
 Duncan ices his second fish of the day! |
 For the rest of us we wait some more... |
|
 Jon listens intently as...
|
 Robinson recounts an old story of his college drug abuse and prositiution trials and tribulations ... |
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 "And about a week later there was this legion that was all pussy and stuff..." |
 Tom gets a little help from a fiend (not pictured...) |
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FISH
ON!!! |
 Here we go again!
|
|
 Jeff lands a fatty and overtakes Duncan for the lead! |
 A 2.8 pounder puts Jeff ahead of Duncan! |
|
 Todd, eager to catch a fish asks Jeff D. for some advice... |
 "I'd raise your bait up to about 5 feet under the ice..." Jeff says with a wink... |
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 What do you know, it works! Way to go rookie! Nice trout, err, ah, umm, whatever it is... I think you should put it back... |
 Sunday started off cold again, but soon warmed up.... |
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Fish On!!! Scott is getting tired of this shit... |
 But Tim can't get enough!
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Duncan continues
his onslaught!!! Another fine laker for Duncan... |
 That makes four for the weekend all through the same hole... |
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 Our mascott... |
 The three Fitts Brothers getting along for a moment... |
|
 "Could you
imagine hitting the lottery?"
|
 Scott tries to keep sane...
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 Solo talks about what it feels like to be in first place and then not be in first place... |
 A good shot of nearly the whole group... |
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| No Derby goes by
without some sort of incident, and it almost always involves Znoj... Kevin made some juicy venison burgers.. He offered to make one for anyone that wanted one. When he put his down on the chair to go back for a beer, Znoj appeared out of nowhere, looked left and right and over his shoulder, and quickly engulfed half of Kevin's burger.  Note to Kevin, and to all for that matter: When you've asked everyone in the vecinity if they would like a freshly made venison burger, make sure you get any form of "No" from Znoj in writing... |
 Znoj gets an earful from Kevin, yet he remains joyous in his knowledge that the now contaminated burger is his, all his... |
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 The familiar depressing site of breaking camp. The derby is over. Time to go home. Now it's back to the house to clean up and clear out. There's an important football game on tonight... |
 Jon threatens to break Duncan's tip ups in half right before the start of next year's derby... |
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 Load up the Titan and go home... |
 Back at the house, Tim helps unload the lumber and bring it up to the house... |
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