The early lessons set in and Kugler became a life-long angler. Over the decades she accessed winter fishing spots on foot, by snowmobile and ATV, too.

But in late December she was treated to a first: an airboat ride.

Capt. Zach Burgess of Casco used his airboat "Why Knot" to whisk Kugler and seven other woman anglers out on Green Bay for a day of ice fishing for yellow perch.

In the iffy ice conditions, it was the only powered craft to leave the boat landing that day.

The aluminum hull glided like an air-hockey puck over the smooth sections of snow and ice and, where necessary, bull-dogged through slushy areas.