Journal of a Minnesota Angler

As a rookie ice fisherman, I’ve been deferring to my more experienced friends to know when to walk on the ice, use a four-wheeler on the ice, or drive on the ice. If I were to ever go out alone, I would make sure I see a lot of people doing something on the ice before I ever did it. A few days ago, I read an article titled “Extreme Ice Fishing” posted at the Minnesota Bound Outdoor Journal blog. Travis, one of the Minnesota Bound editors, recounted a story of ice fishing on Lake... (more...)

This week, the average daily temperature in Minnesota rises above 30 degrees F and signals the beginning of the end of ice fishing season. Ice thicknesses are still in the 2 ft range, but will start to thin and become dangerous in a matter of weeks. As the season winds down, I thought it might be a good idea to document some of the things I’ve learned about ice fishing equipment this season. I’m obviously just a rookie when it comes to ice fishing, but when it comes to equipment, temperatures... (more...)

Steve, Mark, and I went out to Lake Owasso this afternoon. The air temp wasn’t terribly cold, but it was window. And it started snowing by the time we packed it in. The fish didn’t like the weather either. We were out from about 2:30 to 5:30 with 9 holes in 3 different shelters and and we only caught two Crappie. One was about 6″ and reeled in by Steve’s 5 year-old daughter, so it was very exciting for her to catch her very first fish. Steve reeled in the other at about... (more...)

Species: Crappie Size: 9″, 8″, 8″ Lure used: yellow beaver flick with live minnow Date: 2/6/2010 Time: 8:00 -10:30am Body of water: An Iced Over Lake Location: Somewhere in the North Metro Weather Conditions: overcast and windy I went out this morning with my neighbors, Steve and Rob, and one of Rob’s buddies, Greg. Mark had family commitments and couldn’t make it. We headed out to the same lake we were on two weeks ago. We met at 7:30am and were on the lake with... (more...)

A friend of mine read my Fire on Ice post and clarified why it isn’t dangerous to have a fire on the ice. He explains that fires don’t actually burn that hot at the level of the ice because there isn’t as much air underneath the wood as above it. That coupled with the ash acting as an insulator against the heat keeps the fire from burning a hole in the ice. Thanx, BigSkyAngler, for explaining how/why it works. Share this:FacebookTwitterRedditEmailLike this:Like Loading... Read More →

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...)