You do what?!?!?!

[bradyd]

...is what I've been hearing for the last couple of days now. I'm down in Mississippi taking some classes for work and they cannot believe that we fish on the ice. They think I'm nuts when I tell them how popular ice fhishing is in MN. They all seem to think that it's impossible to have a heated house out there and wonder how we don't freeze to death when we sleep out there!

But to each his own...I think their nuts for living in a town where you hear cop sirens all day and all night!

Anyone else have this happen to them when your in a different part of the country?

[Sandmannd]

Oh yea, ten years ago I traveled all over the south and to Jamaica. Couldn't believe we lived in the cold and did things outside. Actually being from ND, some thought we still drove horse and buggys around.

[toughguy]

I've been treated the same in New Mexico and Arizona. I have pictures on my laptop if they don't belive me.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Yup, the in-laws from Texas think I'm crazy. I think it was elevated to "nuts" when they found out we drove our vehicles out on the ice.

[Gordie]

my ex- girl friend was from Pennsylvaina and she freaked out when we drove out on the ice she about killed me of course I didnt tell her that we were on the ice until we got out of the truck. the other time I told someone from texas about ice fishing he thought that you would put the boat on the lake a motor around the ice then I told him that we drove on the ice his reply was that is not normal and he would stay away from it.

[SSSTaxidermy]

When I was in college I tried to talk a couple of teammates into going ice fishing. All these guys were from down south..Florida, Texas, etc. They were deathly afraid of being on the ice with a heater. They thought while sitting in a nice heated fishouse, it was only a matter of time (like 1 hr or so) the ice below you would be melted away. I never could talk them into going.

When I couldn't convince them to try something new, I decided to have a little fun with their unfamiliarity of Minnesota winter. I told them Minnesota has poisonous snow snakes, and you don't want to ever get bit my one, not even the small ones, otherwise death is sure to come. I didn't see these boys until spring!

[Reynolds]

I work out of Jacksonville,FL, and the people down there can't believe that we drive out to a heated house and fish through 8" holes. A couple of the guys see to be intrigued, as they have been asking if they could come up this winter and ice fish!

[BobT]

One of the fellows I hung out with while going to college in Bemidji was from Texas. I'll never forget the time we were driving past the lake with all the fish houses and he asked, "Is that the Indian reservation?"

Another time we decided to go fishing. We piled about 6 guys into a VW bug and headed out onto the lake. One of the fellows in our group was from Florida. We got out of the car and drilled a hole. When he saw the water come up the hole I don't think I ever saw anyone jump into a car so fast in my life. He came out just as fast when we reminded him that the car far outweighed us.

Thought of another one. While installing one of our machines in S. Carolina I got to talking with a couple local gals. They indicated that they could not understand how we could enjoy winter with the cold and all. I put it to them this way. No matter how cold it gets, I can always dress up warmer and keep warm by getting active. What I found troubling was when I can get up in the morning, look outside and see a beautiful sunny day with a light breeze, open the door and about pass out from the heat. There is no way to dress down far enough or slowing down enough for that.

Bob

[machohorn]

Back when we had the super bowl up here some boys from the redskins decided to take a little trip, These boys had never seen snow or a frozen lake. They stopped in Big Lake and talked to the reporter there ,she seen my friend going out to his house and asked of they could come see it. He put 4 of them in the back of his truck, gave them a couple of blankets and said cover up and DO NOT MOVE or we will go through. lol One actually caught a small crappie.and he got his 5 minutes of fame along with a pic and a article printed about him and his house.

[lookincalifornia]

i get alot of that out here too. some of the alpine lakes get ice fished, but i have yet to hit them as my augers are in iowa.

[slipperybob]

...play volleyball on the ice!!!

LOL's

[Camp Bob]

show them some pics from the Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravganza,10,000 plus people on the ice will blow their minds!

[Blaze]

I moved to TX 2 days after HS graduation (big mistake).

I tried explaining how you can go from 0 to 100mph on a snowmobile in about 5 seconds,

usually on a river or lake for me. They couldn't comprehend it...said it wasn't possible.

I tried to compare it to a motorcycle or Jetski - still just heads shaking in disbelief.

Proof that the humidity and heat in Houston, TX does rust your brain.

[zamboni]

And people from Minnesota think southerners are nuts for "noodling" catfish. It's what they do, and ice fishing is what we do.

[zamboni]

...play volleyball on the ice!!!

LOL's

Okoboji Iowa has winter games every year, they play softball, volleyball, have running events, etc.

[jwhjr]

It's not just people outside of MN that think we're nuts, I know plenty of people that I couldn't pay to come out on the ice with me because they're afraid they'll go in. It doesn't matter to them that it's 3 ft thick and can support a tank

[zamboni]

My buddy rolls down the truck window when we get on the ice. If theres alot of cracking and popping sounds, so do I

[BigWadeS]

I hear you about that, but I think there are a lot more people in the southern states and eastern states that don't have a clue about the upper midwest (N. Dak, S Dak, MN, WI) ect...

[walleyematt]

thats funny right there

[Bobb-o]

When I couldn't convince them to try something new, I decided to have a little fun with their unfamiliarity of Minnesota winter. I told them Minnesota has poisonous snow snakes, and you don't want to ever get bit my one, not even the small ones, otherwise death is sure to come. I didn't see these boys until spring!

\

I do the same thing with people who are new to ice fishing, except i tell them the only way to keep the snowsnakes away is to sip a little snowshoe grog

[Bryce]

We were vacationing in Curacao. Ended up sharing a cab to the hotel with a couple from NY where a major snowstorm was occurring. Cabbie through small talk asked if it was really true that they had a meter(about 3 feet) of snow. As the conversation died down, I piped in that the wifey and I had been out on a lake fishing and the ice was almost a meter thick. Cabbie gave me the look in the rearview that clearly stated "got a live one here".

[Big Dave2]

I have a half sister who lives in Tennessee and the 1st time she came to visit me she asked where my snowmobile was cuz she thought that everyone here had to have one to get around.

When I told her that I like to go ice fishing she looked at me puzzled and said that she thought that it was a made-up thing that is only in movies like grumpy old men.

[BobT]

Did they forget where they filmed Grumpy Old Men?

Bob

[JigginIsLife]

This is a great thread guys really makes the day go by quicker, keep the stories comming