Icefishing ?

Well its that time of year again. I have enjoyed icefishing since I was old enough to walk. Been on the ice every year all winter long. Growing up we never had a icehut. Just went fishing. Since todays electronic market I bought me a Marcum 5i flasher to help out in fun times too. Also have a new gas iceauger to help drill holes. Im in western NE and we've had some cold days but not enough to make enough safe ice. SOOOOO, anybody drilling holes yet ?? Post where your from also. Thanks.

Haven't even seen a skim of ice on the water bucket yet. It'll likely be mid-January before you'd dare venture out here in Downeast Maine.

Our pond has been frozen for 3 days but no way a I walking on it

They are still duck hunting with boats here in semn. Usually first ice is around Dec 1.

Not even a hint of ice here in Mass. There have been years when we've been out fishing on it on thanksgiving (even if a little too thin to be really safe)

Have you used the gas auger yet? or is this your first year with one???

Power auger's not a "must have" on all ponds around here (depends on the water depth - on shallow ponds the ice gets much thicker), but man it sure is a "nice to have" - even on thinner ice.

I tried ice fishing once.....by the time I had a hole big enough for the boat, I was tooo tired to fish...

And then all you caught was 50# of ice,right???

Just a skim here in central MI. Will be quite some time before we have good enough ice. My buddy I icefish with is on the same page as me. We like quiet places up north where there is none/few people, but our schedules don't allow that very often anymore, so we stay pretty close to home. There are no natural lakes in Gratiot county, so we go over near Randy Lund in Montcalm county, they have tons of lakes. We like to fish lakes that have rainbow trout stocked. One lake we go to is small, maybe 15 acres, but it is loaded with huge trout, and is 120' deep! It has no boat access, but a few years back we carried in a row boat, fish finder, and marine battery and mapped the entire lake. It averages over 60' deep almost anywhere you go, and is loaded with springs, so the ice is kind of funny and never goes all the way to the shore, so you need to bring a couple 2X10's to slide your shanty over the open water around the edge. We don't really care if we catch fish (we still haven't figured out a good strategy for catching the stocked rainbows) but at least we get to have a good time and relax a bit, otherwise I'd be working. He likes to take his shanty, it is like a sled with 2 swivel seats on posts built into the bottom, then you flip the cover over top of both of you, sort of like an oversized tractor umbrella. I think it is the most uncomfortable thing, the seats are hard, it leaks tons of air around the bottom when it is windy, even with a heater, unless you pack snow all the way around the seam. Be likes it for ease, you toss your crap in it and pull it out. Mine has a floor and poles to put in the sides, so it takes a bit longer to set up, but is airtight, which I like because I get cold easy and can never seem to keep my feet warm. My buddy and I have been planning on building an aluminum/wood shanty approximately 6'X8' that will have 2 incorporated bunks/seats, an led light in the top, and a built in propane wall heater, a built in grill, and a rack on the back for a 30lb propane tank and his small gas generator. We want to design it to pull with a 4WD quad, and just haul the whole rig on my trailer, leave our stuff in it and go. Nothing set in stone, just something we hope to do in the next couple years.

Ross

One borrow pit pond about 15 miles west of Cedar Falls along Hwy US20 was about half skimmed over this morning. Too dark and the wrong side of the road to see if it melted today. 2 miles east of the first one a pond about 3 to 4 times larger did not show any ice, and this evening a mile to the west of the first one didn't showed any either. The one furthest west is also 2 to 3 times bigger than the first.

40 years ago I was fishing on a local lake with my brother in law. He made a portable ice shanty our of that black plastic and it was foldable- That night we took it down and folded it up and put it in the back of his Ford Falcon station wagon. The next morning when he and the family went out to go to CHURCH there was a Muskrat in the Falcon..................true story

JR, Ive used a power auger for some yrs now but first year with my own. It was always askin dad for his. Then he'd want/need it when I had it. Oh well, ive got one now. When I was younger we grew up on a six inch spoon hand auger. Man did that give dad a work out !! Lol. Still have it and dont care to use it again. Late winter here mid Jan to Feb we can have a little over two FT of ice. No way Im hand drillin that !! I would rather sit/stand on ice the fish from the boat. Winter is ME TIME !! I have a day job and have over 20 yrs to go before retirement too. Mid thirties for for me. Always have enjoyed winter.

Wife and I were fishing in a very shallow end of the lake years ago, because snow was too deep to get out where we wanted to be, and a muskrat came part way up the hole and luckily changed his mind. Now I have two portable fish houses, a gas auger that I hardly used at all brand new, a electric auger, couple hand augers and you would have to drag me out there to get me in that cold . I used to stand out on the ice and just wish to heck I could afford a decent fish house. OH, did build one also and used it four or five years. Lot of hassle as of course it always got snowed in. That was about 30 years ago.

I was driving School Bus this morning and one small lake that is always the first to freeze because it is small and shallow was all ice covered. The other lakes I go by were either open or just some bays had some ice. This afternoon there was a guy ice fishing on the small lake. I think he was really taking a chance!
DWF

Never seen a muskrat while icefishing lol. Guess I probably don't care to either!

One of my brothers liked to go ice fishing. Unfortunately, he caught pneumonia every time that he went. Took him several times to wise up.

There were 2 boats out fishing here yesterday, I was out in the boat in the Rainy River 10 days ago on the CA border, it was 54 degrees! I built a real nice fish house after I retired but now we go to AZ for the winter, so I use the fish house for a deer stand, shot a nice 8 point out of it last week.

In my younger days I ice fished.

Now I find I don't enjoy sitting out in the freezing cold near as much. Maybe if I was inside a shelter I'd be a little more inclined. My 'ol fishing buddies have either move or passed away and ice fishing is something that takes multiple folks to generate enough momentum to pursue.

Perch are about the only fish I don't release back and they are obliging to ice fishermen. But all the warnings of the game department are that it shouldn't be eaten more than once a month - and I can get a nice fish fry and a beer at a local pub with a lot less suffering. ;-)

I hear you on the "me time"! I love being out on the ice. With friends is good, but alone is nice in its own way too.

The pond I like to fish the most (since it's got a lot of pike in it) only averages about 6' deep. That ice easily gets a couple feet thick. Nice because you can drive out on it without worrying.

God, when I was a kid I was way too poor for even a hand auger. I used to use a chisel. Funny, I can't think of the word we used to call it - just a heavy steel 5' bar with a sharpened end. You haven't lived till you chopped your five holes (we're limited to five in Mass.) with one of them! Talk about appreciating an auger.

As a kid, I used ancient "tip ups" that my grandfather made. I found them in our basement. They were well made - slats of wood with wooden spools for the line - and a mousetrap mechanisms that were re-purposed to pop the flags. They had mouse chwed red cloth flags, and the line on them was equally bad. Snapped more than a few times when I got a real fish.

I never knew my grandfather well. He lived with us, but he had had a stroke before I met him, and couldn't move much and couldn't talk clearly. All I really knew about him was that he loved fishing. So I always wore an old wool shirt of his, half as luck, half because it was the only real "winter" clothing I had - and about five pairs of socks with wonder bread bags as a final layer - all tucked into my converse sneakers. I'd get soaked, mostly from the sweat of chopping holes, and just about freeze to death.

I must have been quite a sight out there.

I'd give anything to have one of those old tip ups now, just to have it. But my parents must have tossed them out somewhere along the line.

Sounds like you'd understand what I mean when I say thinking about those old days and just how INTO the fishing I was brings back some good memories. I still enjoy it, but at that age it was magical. You could pull ANYTHING up from anywhere under the ice - you just didn't know what to expect. As you grow and become more of an expert, some of that magic gets lost. Not sure I'd chip ice with a chisel these days just to get a line wet. But I do still love it.

... now I'm kinda wishing it would hurry up and freeze up out there.

Ice Spud ?

Dusty

Love Ice fishing ! head up to Devils Lake ND every year , and as much as I can around cedar rapids . Marcum LX7 and Strikemaster 4 stroke auger. Two years ago at Devils lake there was 57 inches of ice ,,whew

JR, i like your story. Brings back. Memories for sure with older folks we'd fished with. Now they are older amd retired and dont do much anymore. My kids are 14&11 and are really starting to enjoy the outdoors. Which reminds me of something else. I have always enjoyed being outside, rain,snow or shine. Now that the boys are older we get out a lot more and go riding around, hunting,fishing or just mainly a cruise on the dirt roads. I have always wanted to go out of state for icefishing but havent made the time yet. Up to ND,MS, Mass would be cool too. Its going to get colder here for the rest of this week going into the later part of next week. Hopefully, that'll build ice.

Im gearing up for ice fishing!!! I've read reports of and seen pics of people walking out in very thin ice up here..imo...stupid...3 weeks from now last year we had the ice castle out on Lake of The Woods on over 18" of ice...Lake hasnt froze yet...After lock up bearing we dont get heavy snow it should build fast. I fish with a Vexilar flx28 flasher. My ex-husband and i bought a 8x16 plus 3ft v Ice Castle fish house last October. I kept the pickup, he kept the fish house in the divorce, so we'll fish together still. We use a jiffy pro 4 propane 10" auger. Im hoping to hit early ice up there with the portable and 4 wheeler...it's looking like January before the house can go out. Im 90 miles from Devils Lake ND havent fished there in years...Temps are down in the teen at night here and in the mid 30's during the day so far...We need a real cold snap to freeze the big lake and lock it up...and low or no wind..

The ice is starting to form in the Midwest. In MN the lakes are just starting to get a slim on them. You won't catch me out there yet, but every year there are those that want to be the first...to fall in.

We've always enjoyed ice fishing, but as we get older it been easier to rent one or head north to a lodge.

We found a few places that makes this easy.

http://icefishing.rentals and the lodges on Lake if the woods.

Happy ice fishing to all.
Fish House Rentals in MN

actually yesterday the ponds had a thin skin of ice - so I guess it's coming.

Great to be able to share the fun with kids. My son's 17, daughter is 15. My son's more into it than my daughter (she feels too bad for the shiners).

My son and I used to do a lot of tournaments which was fun, but the past few years I just haven't had the time since that takes a night of preparation and a full day of fishing. But we still get out for a few hours here and there when we can.

I'd love to get up to the Minnesota area some time. The usual perch, pickerel, bass, or trout through the ice is ok, and great with young kids, but for me I'm not happy unless I'm pulling a monster up through the hole. But around here, that means about 10 trips of catching nothing just to catch one.

I'd really like fishing up there where they're more common.

I don't know where you guys are in Mi. I got lots of mud nowhere near being ice yet. It will not be close to freezing till after the weekend. Then might get some cold to make ice on a mud puddle.

THAT's the word I was looking for! the spud bar.

That's what I used to use as a kid.

where I come from, walking on water is not a normal thing, might get a month in the winter that it is safe.

Might want to be VERY careful ice fishing with an EX. lol Be my luck to get kicked in the ice hole!!!!