It made the Earth shake! Handy Randy and I hit the hard water on Canyon Ferry last week. The ice is safe, and the fish are hungry. We hiked a fat mile to where we set up and began out fishing. No one else was within a mile of our fishing spots.
On this day we were targeting the huge rainbow trout, that cruise the frozen shorelines of the lake. The ice was a healthy ten inches thick, and we were fishing in 6 feet of water.
I augured several holes and began rigging my rods. You can ice fish with 6 rods on Canyon Ferry. A jigged bait presentation of worm bits, and maggots were on the menu. I set my first rod and began rigging #2. A huge trout nearly dragged my rod down the hole. After a great battle, I was able to slide the fat Bow on top the ice.
I rebaited and placed the rod back into the ice hole. As I finished tying a knot on my second rod, the bite was on. Fish #2 was on the ice. I was never able to get a third rod in a hole and twice I had to step on the other rod while I was reeling in another fish. I threw back the smaller trout and just kept the Bigguns. A couple big bows managed to get off before I could hoist them onto the frozen lake.
Handy Randy was having the same good luck. I was watching him pull in trout as he kneeled on the ice. My stool was a perfect place to watch the action. Suddenly the lake began to shake. Ice was cracking and a wave of bulging ice tremors appeared on the lake. Handy fell over, and I was lifted off my seat a few inches. The wave passed and crossed the lake to the western shore ending with a loud BANG!
Apparently, an earthquake of 1.8 on the Richter Scale had occurred. Earthquakes are common in Big Sky Country thanks to the Yellowstone Caldera, which is a major Super volcano. The shock wave was amplified by the water, and ice. Handy and I were fine, but the cracking ice and explosion was certainly concerning.
Ice cracking is a common occurrence on a frozen lake. Huge cracks form as the ice grows and changes with temperature and inflows of water. Pressure ridges also occur as the Plate tectonics of the surface ice shift and crashes into each other. It is like Continental Drift on a smaller scale.
What was also interesting was that just before the earthquake, I watched flocks of birds flying erratically. After the earthquake, cock pheasants began cackling like crazy, along the shoreline. Wildlife often reacts to nature’s earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other earth-shaking events.
Handy Randy and I were fine, and we packed up our gear and took our limits, and butts, off the ice. I wonder if the fishing was better because of the potential Earthquake. The bite was still on after the earthquake event.
If the Super Volcano ever does explode, I hope that I am having great hunting or fishing with good friends and family!
Montana Grant
