Back Home

January 31, 2020 daryl bauer

When I finally got on the ice this winter, a big wave washed over me.  It rolled down from the sandhills onto the lake shore, and then flowed out onto the ice.

As I was immersed, I thought of something I wrote years ago:

All of those memories and more come flooding over me every time I walk onto sandhills ice.  There is just something about that place that washes over me.  I still get excited at the thought of fishing there, especially ice-fishing.  Jittery trying to get there as fast as I can.  Somewhere in those acres of water, weed beds, and bulrushes swim some of the prettiest fish on earth.  Somewhere underneath that ice is the biggest bluegill I have ever seen and one of these days I am going to catch it!

There is something about those hills, those unique, glorious sandhills, ridge after ridge as far as you can see.  It is the smell, the quiet, the solitude, the wind on my face, the cool air in my lungs.  When I finally get there, it just oozes into me.  I breath it, feel it, taste it, hear it, smell it.  When I finally get the holes drilled and the first lines baited and dropped in the water, I sit down on my bucket and suddenly I am just entirely relaxed.  “Ah”, a big exhale.  A glance at the bobbers.

Everything is right in the world because I am finally . . . HOME AGAIN.

Now, where are those big bluegills?

DSCN4481

The post Back Home appeared first on Nebraskaland Magazine.

Previous Article
10 Valuable Fishing Tips Learned on the Ice
10 Valuable Fishing Tips Learned on the Ice

I sure enjoy ice fishing but admittedly I don’t do much of it. I don’t quite have all the equipment needed ...

Next Article
Game and Parks seeks input on proposed waterfowl changes for 2021-2022

LINCOLN, Neb. – The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is seeking input on proposed changes to duck zone an...