Ice Fishing By Necessity In Alpine County

Man, this really puts it in perspective.  Most/many of us fish on hunks of rigged plastic, and we do so more or less as a luxury activity.  Some must fish for a living, and I don't mean for a profit. 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/18/MN6R1BGRGK.DTL

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Camping isn't the only thing people are thinking of as they turn to nature for help in hard times.

"I haven't worked in six weeks, so this is my dinner," said Walt Openshaw, 52, as he hauled a wriggling trout up on his fishing line one recent afternoon.

Openshaw usually operates heavy construction equipment, but with nothing being built, he spent the day drilling an 18-inch hole into frozen Caples Lake and catching his meal instead.

It was his first time ice-fishing. He was glad for the free fish, he said - but really, he'd rather be driving a tractor.

"You just have to ride these bad times out," Openshaw said. "But believe me, I will ride them out.

"This is a good life up here in the mountains, so it would take a lot to make me leave."

It's a sad story but we're facing one of the hardest times in US history.  I admired his saying: "You just have to ride these bad times out," Openshaw said. "But believe me, I will ride them out.

"

You just have to ride these bad times out," Openshaw said. "But believe me, I will ride them out.

My man   

otherwise looks like nice conditions

If anyone's gonna survive its mountain folk.....tough sobs.