When Doctor Destructo said that he wanted to go ice fishing, I thought he was joking. When I realized that he was perfectly serious, I thought he was loony -- the thermometer read minus forty.

But when there are fish to be caught, extreme temperatures are a mere inconvenience. Off we went to the frozen surface of the Red River, where we found his friend's fishing shack



As my I shuffled around on the ice snapping photos, Doc augered three feet down to the water.



The shack has a small wood-burning stove which warmed the shack from minus 35 degrees to about 10 or 15 degrees, so it turned out to be quite comfortable. Given a good selection of snacks and beverages, it could be a regular party-in-a-box.


Then we sat. And waited. And ate beef jerky (thankfully, it wasn't from the Country Fair deli).

Finally, all of our snacking paid off. I felt a tug on my line and fought for my life to reel in the monster. Suddenly, its great, gaping maw burst through the ice, with jagged teeth that snapped viciously at us. But Doc strayed too close, and it ripped his leg clean off at the hip. Now the monster had a taste for human blood, which drove it into a frenzy.

Well I decided that I wouldn't stand for any more insolence from this fish, so I dove into the icy water and wrestled it into submission. Quickly, I performed the Vulcan nerve pinch and knocked the fish out cold. I pulled it back up through the hole in the ice into the warmth of the cabin, where the good doctor was already reattaching his leg with a little fishing line and a fishhook.

All in all, it was a good day of fishing. We felt bad about taking such a large beast from the river's depths, however, so we decided to throw it back after taking a quick snapshot.



Yes, it was a good day of fishing.