The 2014 Ice Fishing Outing (IFO) Group left Friday, February 21, for Devil’s Lake, ND. Devil’s Lake was a 14 hour drive on Friday because the three vehicles from Cedar Rapids had to skirt a blizzard and stay south of the storm traveling to western Iowa before we could head north on Interstate 29 toward Grand Forks, ND, then back west on Hwy 2 to Devil’s Lake. Our friends, Ralph and Sam, left their homes in Sioux Falls, SD, and arrived at the Woodland Resort mid-afternoon and had the chili ready for us when we arrived. The eleven of us split up between the two cabins and were up very early on Saturday morning to be led out to our ice fishing houses by a Woodland Resort guide. We set up in 47 feet of water. Our house did not catch a fish on Day 1!! We were greeted by very cold temperatures and a changing barometer–the reason the fish shut off, we wondered? We moved to different houses on Day 2 but still fished the deep water for perch. In our six man house, everyone caught a walleye except Cliff and me! What kept us going was the good comaradarie and joke telling to pass the time while we waited for the next fish to bite. Day 3 came with brutually cold temperatures. Tom and John were back fishing with me in a different house which we had difficulty keeping warm because of the 20-30mph winds across the ice. We requested another move after no bites and found ourselves in 17 feet of water fishing about 7 miles from the others in our group. Late afternoon Tom and I finally each caught a walleye while John went fishless for the day. Our houses were set up on the south end of Creel Bay. Ralph’s group had the best bite in 53 feet of water–what they caught gave us our best catch of the three days on the ice worth of some pictures back at the fish cleaning house. We left very early Tuesday morning, the 25th, for our rides back to CR and Sioux Falls and were back home by 5:30pm. It was a very tough bite for a group of ice anglers used to doing much better in past years! Now, we’ll meet to discuss where we’ll go next year for the 2015 IFO to fish through a hole in the ice!! Thanks to everyone who made the trip, helped with food preparation, and kept good attitudes despite the cold and tough bite!! Spike