As I was doing research for my last post, I came upon an article about ice safety. At the end of the article, a reader posted a comment that he’s seen people build fires out on the ice. The commenter couldn’t believe that they would do such a thing. Previous to my calculations, I would have thought the same thing. The calculations in my last post showed how a heater in an ice shelter is not a problem. However, it would seem to be a bit more dangerous to have a fire on the ice given... (more...)
Over the last few months, when I’ve been telling friends and family that I’ve been ice fishing, those that don’t ice fish themselves are astounded to hear that we have a heater in our shelter. Conventional wisdom would dictate that bringing a heater out on the ice would, as one of my friends put it, be grounds for a Darwinism award. After all ice + heat = water. So it would seem you are putting your life in your own hands when heating the shelter you’re ice fishing in. So... (more...)
Species: Crappie Size: 9″, 8″, 8″, 7″ Lure used: hot pink jighead with white plastic grub and live minnows Date: 1/24/2010 Time: 7:30-11:30am Body of water: An Iced Over Lake Location: Somewhere in the North Metro Weather Conditions: overcast, foggy, drizzly I got a call from Mark last night saying that he and the neighbors were headed out at 7:30 this morning to one of the local lakes. (I would tell you which one, but I was asked not to.) The morning was fogged in with... (more...)
I haven’t been able to get out on the ice in the past few weeks, so I haven’t had any ice fishing stories to tell. However, in talking with my buddy, Dan, he recalled an amazing story that happened to him and one of his friends while ice fishing in Northern Minnesota several years ago. Dan and some buddies were up in the Boundary Waters ice fishing. (For you non-Minnesotans, the lakes on the border between Minnesota and Canada are often referred to as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA).... (more...)
So I got started on my 2010 goals early. I got a call from Mark yesterday afternoon. He, Rob, and Steve were headed out fishing. I wasn’t able to join them right away, but found them on the ice at about 4:30. Steve had bought a nice 6 man shelter over Christmas (the red one on the left), so we were in some pretty nice digs. The fishing holes in the shelters were all taken up by family members that joined the adventure, so I set up my pole on a pole holder on a bucket outside. It was only... (more...)
Last time we were on the ice, Mark talked about the best bite being the hour around sunrise and sunset. We talked about the next time going out at 2:30pm and staying til after dark. We got our chance last night. My brother is in town for Christmas, so he and another friend of his, also an avid angler, joined us. There were quite a few fishermen out yesterday (see left). It was a nice brisk day without much wind. A perfect day to go ice fishing. We set up camp not far from our last outing.... (more...)
Our second day on the ice didn’t turn out as well as our first. We met at 6:30 as planned and were out on the lake from 7:00am to 10:30am and got completely skunked. When we first got on the lake, we set up near the same spot we caught the perch the day before. After nary a bite for about an hour and a half, we moved to the other side of the point. The only action was a tip up going off after we had moved, but the fish let go. We theorized it was a walleye that felt the line and dropped... (more...)
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... (more...)
When you live in Minnesota, your fishing season is only half that of those in Southern states. That is, unless you are one of the many who turn the handicap into an asset. When the sun gets low in the sky and the weather gets cold, a transformation takes place. Liquid turns to solid and mere mortals can do the impossible. People just like you and me can walk on water. I speak, of course, of lakes turning to ice. And so begins the season of ice fishing. We’re firmly entrenched in the holiday... (more...)
