First Ice Fish

When I posted about ice fishing a couple of days ago, I didn’t think I’d be on a lake til at least the new year. But last night we had our neighborhood Christmas party and the topic of ice fishing came up. Several times, actually.

It started when a mutual friend of a couple of neighbors was planning to go out in the morning. The two neighbors, Rob and Steve, decided they would go and invited me along. Unfortunately, Mark, my usual fishing buddy, had other commitments and couldn’t make it.

We were supposed to meet at 9am to head out to Lake Owasso. Rob, Steve, and I got Rob and Steve’s 4 wheelers on Rob’s truck so we could get around the ice faster than just walking. Their friend was bringing the bait and all the fishing gear since none of us had any. We were all set by 9:30, but their friend was running late.

When we got there, there were already some anglers out on the ice. Rob took his 4 wheeler for a joy ride and went around the point near the boat launch. He came back about ten minutes later and said that his ride almost went through the ice. He hit a patch of thin ice and powered through it before he went all the way through. It just goes to show that this early in the season, you have to be really careful. Ice thickness can be really tricky any time in the winter, but especially early on.

We waited for over an hour before Mark drove up in his truck. He wasn’t going to fish because he had commitments right after lunch, but came out to change the water for the minnows he bought earlier in the week. Since Steve had a couple of poles, we decided to drill a couple of holes and do a little fishing while we waited for the rest of the gear arrived. The ice appeared to be about 6 inches thick, which was good for this time of year.

    

Mark drilled a couple of holes with his gas-powered auger and Steve got one pole rigged up with a minnow. He dropped the bait into one of the holes and had a hard time finding bottom because he didn’t have a good weight on his line. Mark peaked in the hole to help and saw a small school of perch hovering around the minnow. A few seconds later, Steve had one hooked. The first fish of the ice season!

Steve was nice enough to share the wealth, so I took over his pole. He later got his other pole set up and his bait in a hole a few feet away. It was a good half hour later when I got a bite. The other three (and Mark’s brother-in-law who showed up) were talking at Steve’s hole when I exclaimed, “I got one! I got one!” Another perch, but smaller than Steve’s.

We all agreed it was Rob’s turn to get one, so he took over Steve’s pole. Rob and I fished while the others chatted for another 15-20 minutes before we had to call it a day. Steve and I promised our wives we’d be back at 11:30. As Rob pulled up his rod to pack up, he reeled in his perch. So none of us got skunked. (Mark hadn’t planned on fishing and didn’t touch a pole.)

Rob and Steve’s friend never showed up. It was a good thing Mark came by or we would have been three dorks standing next to two 4 wheelers on the shore. We never found out why their friend didn’t show.

Since Mark was supposed to be busy this morning, he was planning to go out tomorrow morning. As we were leaving, the four of us decided we would all go out. I didn’t have an ice fishing pole, so I went and bought one tonight in preparation. Mark has all the gear and we’re meeting at his house, so we know he’ll be there. The crazy part is that Mark wants to be up before sunrise, so we’re meeting at 6:30am.

Hopefully, we’ll have just as good of news to report tomorrow.