[BlueLancer]

Oh, man, do I remember ice-fishing on Houghton Lake when I was just a sprout ... at least 16 different winters, multiple times each winter when the ice was thick enough to support my dad, my uncles, and me.

Tip-ups and sitting on upturned buckets holding these tiny ice-fishing rods, waiting for perch or walleyes to bite. One year I caught a mud-puppy and kept it alive for the next eight months in a fish-tank. I also remember the time when I was 14 and we stopped off at a bar-and-grill to get something to eat and I had my first beer, a Carling Black Label.

Ah, to be young again ...

[bella1]

Two people went through the ice on Houghton Lake yesterday, thankfully rescued.