This story is part of a larger series on ice-fishing culture. To read all series posts, click here.
Let’s talk about orange soda. I love it, but the only time I ever drink it is when I’m ice fishing. I like grape too. But for some reason grape is harder to find in the convenience stores around here. So it’s usually orange when I hit the ice.
I’m drinking one right now. A Sunkist, which is a nice treat. My favorite orange of all time is Orange Nehi. Same goes for grape. Nehi was the best. Perfectly, wonderfully artificially flavored, with just the slightest crispness that kept it from being syrupy. It was great out of a can. Coincidentally my memory of drinking those as a kid centers around the ice as well. I always got them out of the Royal Crown machine at the Eagle River ice arena.
I like both orange and grape Crush, too, but with Nehi out of the mix Sunkist is probably my No. 1. Everywhere around here has Fanta though, so more often than not that’s how I flavor my fishing. To be fair, the difference between orange sodas isn’t tremendous. It’s not like the societal divide between Coke and Pepsi. I’ve never seen a Nehi Challenge, and Max Headroom never pushed a new formula of Sunkist.
So, I’m enjoying my first orange of the week. I’ve been out here since Tuesday but I can’t drink them every day.
I’m not really sure why I started bringing them out here. It’s been a long time. I like sticking it in the snow outside the shack when I get here so it’s ice cold when I crack it open. Sometimes the little traditions, the little things you love but only do in select circumstances, are a big part of what makes those circumstances special.
I could write a whole other story about Spam sandwiches and how I eat them once a year at deer camp, but that’s for another time.
My soda is gone. I’m gonna have an Old Style.
This story is part of a larger series on ice-fishing culture. To read all series posts, click here.
