Guess what? You won’t believe it. I actually went fishing this weekend!
I attended the 4th Annual Meister’s Ice Fishing Get-Together on Saturday that went from 10am-2pm. Meister’s is a local bar and grill. It was the same get-together I attended last year with my neighbors. This year was vastly different than last year. Mainly because the weather has been so uncooperative. Many ice fishing contests were cancelled due to thin ice.
Fortunately, this one was late enough in the season to take advantage of the colder weather we’ve had of late. The lake we were on didn’t allow cars on the ice this year, so we had to relocate close to the boat launch. Meister’s set up camp about 150 yards out.
The weather started out cloudy and brisk with no wind. Prizes were only given for largest fish and the winners were caught within the first hour. Mark’s wife caught a 7.5 oz perch just as I arrived and last year’s winner won again with a 22.5 oz Northern shortly thereafter. Third place was a 7 oz perch.
Within an hour the sun came out. It made for a gorgeous day, but it put a downer on the fishing. Most people were chatting and playing games. One of the games was a version of bowling where people tried to toss bowling pins so that they would go into holes drilled into the ice (see the pic below).
When I first got there, I fished with Mark and his family in his shelter for about an hour (notice in the foreground of the picture of Mark’s shelter, there is proof that people build fires on the ice). But when the sun came out, Mark’s family vacated the shelter and I followed. I had some delicious hot dogs and chili and spent some time chatting with my neighbors. But around 1pm, I decided I should try getting on the board again.
I dropped some spikes down to the bottom and within a few minutes, I got a hit. I reeled up my line and found this little guy at the end of it.
It was only 2.5 oz, but the winner of the smallest fish contest was only 0.5 oz. At least I got on the board, though.
My other line had a lively minnow under a bobber and for the next half hour, I watched as it moved around and even bobbed up and down a few times, but it never went completely under.
We started cleaning up a bit before 2pm to head to Meister’s Bar and Grill for the prize awarding and raffles. I partook in the Minnesota tradition of a meat raffle, but didn’t win anything. I did, however, walk away with a 12 pack of beer from the main raffle. Not too exciting for me since I don’t drink, but it was a fun day overall.
That looks and sounds like a lot of fun!
Crappies are one of the most popular fish to go ice fishing for. For me, jigging is by far the best ice fishing technique. Just lower the rod for five to ten seconds then bring it up. Repeat. This method will land you the most fish but there are plenty more methods to try as well.