Latest version of the Wildhorse Reservoir Ice Fishing Escapades

By Don Quilici

Jan. 30 - Feb. 2 were the dates of the latest version of the Wildhorse Reservoir Ice Fishing Escapades, and as usual, it was unusual, to say the least.

This year, the Escapades consisted of "The Dirty Dozen": Norm Budden (Cheater No. 1), Bob "Slick McCulloch (Cheater No. 2), Jack Cooke (Cheater No. 3), plus Steve Baxter, Mike Fettic, Brent "Bird" Heckathorn, Scott Mattheus and Jeff Nowling, plus Mark and Stephanie Day and Elaine and I.

For those unfamiliar with Wildhorse Reservoir, it is located way up in Northeastern Nevada, near the Idaho stateline.

It is a long 364 mile drive from Carson City, but once you are safely at the Wildhorse Resort, you can have a "ton of fun."

Earlier in the week, The Dirty Dozen Troop Leader (AKA me) sent everyone an E-mail advising that the weatherman was forecasting bitter cold, high winds and lots of snow for when we would be there. In that E-mail, I asked for a vote to go or not go.

Cheater No. 1 immediately phoned Cheater No. 2 and Cheater No. 3 to tell them that I was backing out of the trip.

Cheater No. 2 instantly called me to say they were going to Wildhorse, with or without me.

Cheater No. 3 quickly E-mailed everyone that "The Men" were going and that I was staying home with "The Women."

For the record, the other eight left very early on Wednesday, while Mark, Stephanie, Elaine and I left later that morning in Mark's 4WD truck.

Our trip was basically "uneventful," except for the last 64 miles from Elko, when Mark's truck was the only vehicle following an NDOW snowplow that was plowing snowdrifts off the highway caused by heavy snowfall and high winds. A bad omen!

When we arrived at the Wildhorse Resort in the late afternoon, the snow was deep, it was still snowing hard and the wind was howling even worse. A second bad omen.

We joined the other eight on their room porches for cocktails. It was snowing, the wind was unreal and it was so cold that the Grenadine Cheater No. 2 was pouring for Pecon Punches was freezing coming out of the bottle. A third bad omen.

Then, while having "several" cocktails with the entire group, the four of us discovered the other eight had been ice fishing that afternoon, even though our fishing derby did not officially begin until Thursday morning.

When we protested, the eight (led by Cheater Nos. 1-2-3) taunted us and said they had changed the rules. They had 8 votes, we had 4 and the majority ruled. Cheater No. 3 demanded the four of us each pay our derby entry fee to him. We refused because none of us trusted any of them.

Following a loud and rowdy dinner, everyone turned in early. It continued to snow and blow very hard, all night.

When we got up, there was a full-scale, white-out, blizzard raging outside, with zero visibility. The snow had drifted up and over our motel unit porches!

A car parked in the parking lot had almost completely disappeared under the drifting snow. A last bad omen!

Six of us (Mark, Stephanie, Elaine, I and Cheater Nos. 1 & 2) voted to pack up and return home to Carson City. The other six maniacs elected to go ice fishing and they did! It's true!

When ready to leave at 9 a.m., our two trucks had a difficult time driving out of the parking lot due to the terrible blizzard conditions. Then, Norm in his truck and Mark in his truck slowly convoyed down the middle of the highway toward Elko.

The snow was falling, the wind was gale-force, and we could just barely see the snow markers on each side of the highway, as we drove through deep drifts of snow. We were the only two vehicles in an Arctic landscape.

We finally arrived back in Carson City at about 5 p.m. Whew!

I'm not sure about the wisdom of the other six who remained to fish in a white-out blizzard, but what the heck, each to his own.

According to Mattheus, on Friday the weather turned beautiful and the fishing was great. He caught the largest rainbow (20 inches), and other rainbows were: Baxter (19.25 inches), Nowling (17 inches) and Fettic (16.5 inches). Cooke had the largest perch (11 inches).

The six diehards also nicknamed Budden and McCulloch as "Laverne and Shirley" for returning home early. Hmmm!

• Bet Your Favorite Pigeon

Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you about Budden's and McCulloch's room.

If he grins and says, "They did not have a flushing handle on their toilet and they did not have hot water," he could have been one of "The Dirty Dozen."

• Don Quilici is the Outdoors editor for the Nevada Appeal.