# Epic Lake Cathrine Adventure 4-9



## tye dye twins (Mar 8, 2011)

Lake Cathrine - We arrived at the parkin lot at 10am and saw the parking lot attendents that always wonder how the last adventure went. After chatting with them we made the mistake of visiting the restrooms in the lodge. The hosts, window cleaners, and out of outta staters just had to talk to us. Gosh we had a big hike ahead of us so we had to get moving! Well then the ski patrol came to talk with us........ again. We had some friendly banter and finally one of them said, its on the house boys, what chair you wanna ride? Oh yeah that shaved a half hour off the day!

We started by skiing down to the trail. We were at Lake Mary in 10mins, but that was not the goal. We arrived at Lake Cathrine by 12:45. We drilled a hole with EXTREME difficulty! We were shaking in our ski boots that the auger might not make it. We made it by 1 inch. The handle was hitting the egde of the hole! IT WAS 5 FEET 7.5 INCHES THICK!!!! We joked how guys were complaining of no ice yet when we almost didn't get through. The holes we dug were in 19 feet of water. After hours of no bites it was time for action.

I drilled a hole at 9 feet of water. A great sign was the weeds on the scout hook! Lost a fish right off the bat! Evil Tye Dye dug a hole at 8 feet or water. Wham he had a fish on the deck. Well one after another later I dug another hole at 6 feet of water. Considering we moved at 4pm and stayed till 6:30pm the action was hot! I caught 6 brook trout and my twin got 9 brook trout. We lost too many to count and had bites every few minutes.

As we packed out we collected all of our gear were eager for the ski down to the parking lot at Brighton. It was a mix of powder, crust and ice the whole way down. My teeth were chattering to the point of chipping and my feet tickled.

All day long we were using the pumpkin pepper jig as well as a pink, yellow, black striped ice fly that glows in the dark. All lures were tipped with nightcrawlers.

The perks of being a local is you get free lift rides!









But eventually you must start the hiking somewhere









Lake Catherine has to be here somewhere









At lake Catherine....finally!









The 1st Brookie of the day was a beauty!









Me and my brookies









EvilTyeDye's extremely colorful brook trout









The Day's Brook Trout collection









Me ice fishing Lake Catherine under Sunset Peak









Me skiing back to the car


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## brookieguy1 (Oct 14, 2008)

Good trip guys. Looks like Marys has the healthier brookies though. Hats off to your rigorous research!


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## tye dye twins (Mar 8, 2011)

brookieguy1 said:


> Good trip guys. Looks like Marys has the healthier brookies though. Hats off to your rigorous research!


We were thinkin of Lake Blanche but the warm weather was bad avalanche wise. Late start as we had to find all that ice gear again too! Over 5 feet of ice, man maybe november ice is easier to drill through. 

The longest brook was 12.5 inches but skinny!


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Wow, I was wondering when you guys were going to do the Catherine trip. Congrats for pulling it off. Great that you got a free lift.


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## jer (Jan 16, 2012)

5'+?? WOW haha the brooks are beautiful  but those last 3 pictures are simply amazing. Thank you for the top notch post


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## lunkerjunker (Aug 8, 2011)

Looks like you got at least a few good turns in on the way down!


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## Size Matters (Dec 22, 2007)

It looks like a awesome trip thanks for the report and photos. 8)


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## EvilTyeDyeTwin (Aug 9, 2011)

Size Matters said:


> It looks like a awesome trip thanks for the report and photos. 8)


An awesome trip it was...in the summer I am sure gonna miss skiing back down! The next adventure will be even more beautiful, and a much longer hike....but the ice needs to start shrinking first. Hard to believe people complain about hand drilling through 10 inches of ice.....try hand drilling 3 holes through 67.5 inches of ice! Thats 202.5 inches of ice...I bet the average ice fishing angler never even hand drills that much ice in a season!


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## quakeycrazy (Sep 18, 2007)

Great report and even better pics!!


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## Size Matters (Dec 22, 2007)

EvilTyeDyeTwin said:


> Size Matters said:
> 
> 
> > It looks like a awesome trip thanks for the report and photos. 8)
> ...


Your trips are always awesome how long did it take you to drill a hole? 8)


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## tye dye twins (Mar 8, 2011)

Size Matters said:


> Your trips are always awesome how long did it take you to drill a hole? 8)


About 20 to 30 mins! The last 8 inches was ruff! Talking putting all your weight on the auger and both hands on the turn handle. Barely bit.


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## Bscuderi (Jan 2, 2012)

I think we should invent an auger in the spirit of the Tye dye twins that features a lightweight battery powered motor so they can pack in and complete these adventures without the weight of a gas auger


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Na, it sounds like they need to change the blades on their auger. We routinely drill through 5'-6' of ice here in Colorado with no problems using a hand auger except that your arms get real tired at about the 4' mark.


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## tye dye twins (Mar 8, 2011)

Oh I get through ice pretty easily early season. Just when it gets late in the season the ice gets what I call "sticky". It is like quarter crank PULL, quarter crank PULL! That gives way to easy drilling till the next "sticky" layer. Happened a lot last year.
Next year I am getting sharper blades. Since I get out so much it might be time!

Critter I have a question for you. Where did you get an extension? What brand do you have? What screws do you use? Like size and type of screw, bolt, etc.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I have both a Eskimo power and hand auger. When we pack into a lake we take the hand auger. As for extensions the auger companies make them but I made our own out of a 3' piece of drill steel. Also if we are headed to the lakes at 10,000'+ where we know that the ice is going to be extra thick we change the blades out before we go to some nice sharp ones.


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## tye dye twins (Mar 8, 2011)

Critter said:


> I have both a Eskimo power and hand auger. When we pack into a lake we take the hand auger. As for extensions the auger companies make them but I made our own out of a 3' piece of drill steel. Also if we are headed to the lakes at 10,000'+ where we know that the ice is going to be extra thick we change the blades out before we go to some nice sharp ones.


I have not seen the auger extensions for a hand auger, just the power augers. As tube dude put it "They know there are no dim bulbs that want to hand drill through that thick of ice!" Then he made me the extension. Without him these adventures wouldn't be possible.

Been looking for a hardend screw but my eskimo auger screw hole is too small. Home Depot suggests a custom machine shop for a hardend screw. The one I have in right now is ok and way better than brass but it bent a bit last time. The brass lasts a year but it bends quickly and the auger won't break down. You look like a jouster from the mid-evil times! It snaps eventually and you have to drill out the rest of it. Pain in the rear!!!


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