/ / Systems Theory - Ice Fishing
I do have one question - I didn't understand the ice fishing hole. Would it be possible to explain to me, what is the view of the fish? What do they see? What is the perspective of the ice fishers? Does the fact fish are drawn to oxygen mean they are drawn to the holes? I would really love to understand your thoughts on this more clearly!
The hole: Narrow vision for both the fisherman and the fish. An 8-inch hole in a foot or more of ice is all that separates their two worlds. The fisherman above (before cameras) hoping that where they dug the hole is where the fish are hanging, and that they are hungry. The fish are constantly looking for something to eat. "There is no sense of urgency for the well fed" is what I said with regard to choice. The fish have no choice, they are always on the move looking for something to eat and where the oxygen is the best dictated by water temperature and plant growth. Micro variations in light, temperature, determine movement. Survival of the fittest determines who is chasing whom. Small mouth bass win a lot. Larger fish chase after smaller, smaller after the smallest.
Then enter in the fat boys digging holes up above. My time as an almost full time Ice fisherman (predicated by putting food on the table as told to my ex-wife) there was a duplicity of purpose. The original intent was/is to catch fish to eat. The drudgery of clothes, digging holes, waddling in clothes upon clothes, standing in freezing cold and hoping for something “to take a bite” to fulfill the prophecy. In reality, watching the sun go down or come up, the stars come out to play, the moon smiling at something, time trapped in the space between my ears with only my thoughts to occasionally invade the interplay of my surroundings, not listening to anyone complain about anything, nothing is right or wrong, just fish on or not. The peace is deafening. I am now in ice fishing recovery and have not been for many years, but have all new gear thanks to a barn fire, locked and loaded for the repurposing of my time.
The intent and purpose of both the fish and the fat boys converge on the hole for both to quantify and qualify each other’s motivation. For the fish, if they are pulled though the hole it is the end of the line. Pan-fried, pickled, baked or deep-fried they have just become the vanquished of the larger predominant ones.
For the fat boys, the expense, time, and energy have now become justification for allowing themselves to be stupid for a while…
The system is a perfect symbiotic relationship where each fulfills the others needs, wants, desires, intimacy, (a seven pound walleye through a hole is the ice is better than sex to some), achievement (I am bringing home the bacon), and self-actualization (my feet are cold and we are all out of beer). What was once “Theory” is now playing out before my eyes and at my fingertips.
My dog Hogan was once screwing around one of my fishing holes as I was chipping it out with a spud bar (a razor sharp blade on a metal pole) and slipped at the exact time the bar was descending. It cost Hogan a little toe where he could have lost his whole foot. So as in Theory as in Ice Fishing, Timing is Everything.
