Gone Fishin

Well today was eventful.  I went to work like normal and in the middle of fixing someones email, my boss sent me a page. It said "you're gonna be drilling holes in the sea ice this afternoon, so call me". Of course, I was intrigued, so I called him. One of the things the scientists are studying is why some special species of fish can only survive in a very narrow temperature range. So in order to study the fishes, you need to get some fishes. So some scientist type person was going fishing and they picked me and some other guy to go with. It's kind of a working morale booster type thing they do sometimes. So you're kinda working and helping out but it's away from the station and usually doing something really fun other than your normal job.  Sometimes if there is an open seat on a helicopter they'll let you ride, stuff like that. In my case I got to go fishing in Antarctica, how many people do you know that ever get to go fishing in Antarctica? Me son, you know me!

Before we go any further I have to tell you that our "science type person" is named Sandwich.  It's obviously not her real name but it has something to do with a sandwich shaped lunch box she's had for a couple decades or something that she takes everywhere. Anyway...

So I got some lunch, geared up, and headed over to the Crary science lab.  I filled up some big containers with some sea water for our bounty. We loaded everything up in the Piston Bully and took off. What is a Piston Bully you may be asking yourself, well there are pictures below so just hold your horses bucko! The thing is slower than dog shit and it's several miles out on the ice so it took a little while.  We stopped first at this fishing hut. There is a hole drilled in the ice under it that you can fish through. The hole had frozen over some, so we spent a half hour or so breaking the ice up with a bar and skimming the ice out of there.  We dropped our lines in the water for maybe 10 minutes and a seal decided to come up through the hole and say hi. The seal just stuck his face out of the water to get some air. So we stood there and watched him and took pictures and videos while he just posed for us. He was there for probably 5 minutes and the went back under. His presence scared the fish away so we just drove off several hundred feet and picked a spot to drill through the ice. 

We drilled 3 holes in a triangle shape so we all had a hole to fish. The drill is just a small gas powered engine on top of a giant auger bit. The ice ended up being about 8 feet thick so it took us an hour or more to drill all 3 holes.  Once we were done we setup the poles again and tried to get some fishes.  We were standing out there for maybe a half hour and hadn't gotten a thing.  Apparently the fishing is normally really good, Sandwich called it "a fish a minute", but today, not so much. So we packed it in and went to a fishing shack that is over near the OB Tube which is right by the station.  That one was like the freakin Taj Mahal.  It was warm inside and there is a fan blowing air onto the hole so it never freezes over. So we just dropped the lines in and went at it. So it wasn't long before Sandwich hooked one, so we put him in the tank deal.  Then the other guy and I kinda pulled one out together. I think it was on his hook but our lines were knotted together so it was kind of a team effort.  We also scooped a really small one out with a net.  So we spent hours driving, drilling, breaking up ice, and freezing just to come back and get fish out of the hut close to town. Oh well it was still awesome. 

After we got back to town we helped Sandwich get the stuff unpacked and she took us down to the...ummmm...I don't know what it's called, I just call it the aquarium. Lots of tanks with various sea creatures in em. She put our catch in with the others and then gave us a tour around and showed us all the different fish. It was really neat to see it all. 

I would say that fishing in Antarctica has to be my best "work day" ever.  Did I mention they're paying me to be here? Crazy right?!


THIS is a Piston Bully...

 This is Sandwich...

 Starting of the journey...

 This is the first ice shack where we had to break up the ice to reopen the hole...

 Hole for fishing...

 Sandwich and the other guy drilling. I did a ton of drilling myself but it's hard to drill and take pics of yourself doing it. I think sandwich took a video of me and the other guy breaking through the ice, but I don't have that video yet...

 After we were done drilling, this is Sandwich fishing. Is it weird to hear me use the word sandwich when
referring to someone? It's weird to type it, but she's really cool...

 Here is me fishing with my pink Barbie fishing pole.  There was a Star Trek one too but I got Barbie. Only a
secure man could fish with a Barbie fishing pole, hahahaha...

 Me looking sexy and fishing without Barbie this time...

 The Taj Mahal...

 Sandwich putting our catch in the tank...

 Some type of weird looking sea creature...

 Fish...

 This is the touch tank, you can touch the stuff in there...

 The "aquarium", or whatever it's really called...

Videos...

driving out there...

I took this outisde the ice shack. It just seems like the ice goes on and on forever...

 seal 1...

seal 2...

seal team 6...

 Them drilling a hole, I took over after this...

 The aquarium 1...

The aquarium 2...