Ice Fishing Bloopers

[CrappieJohn]

We are getting right down to the wire for ice fishing guys and every year something will happen that will crack you up. Got any humorous stories?
For me , I was on Lake Pepin (Miss. Riv) one very cold New Year's Day and was not doing too well with the fish. Four guys come out on the ice dragging the biggest ice shack of take-down style I had ever seen and proceeded to put the thing together right where an annual pressure ridge forms. After getting holes punched they disappeared for about an hour. Finally one of the guys comes out and is followed by a veritable plume of smoke. He comes over to discuss the finer points of fishing and it becomes apparent that he is higher than a kite...he couldn't have spoken his name if it was only one syllable and two letters long. Pretty soon he takes his wisdom back inside with the others. A half hour or so goes by when I hear this hellish rumble coming at me a million miles an hour. I look to the noise and see this ridge coming up and out of the ice, approaching from the Wisconsin side of the lake. Of course it is making a beeline for that shack. And then it hit. That shack went about fifteen feet in the air, occupants and all. And of course when it came down , hit squarely on the open water between the two sides of the ridge. I don't think I'll ever forget what those four idiots looked like when they finally found thier way out of the wreckage. On had wet his pants! They had tackle hanging on them like a shoddy display at a K-Mart. And, get this, one didn't even drop the joint! I had to leave. The mayhem that followed this event was almost obscene. I went back a week later and the shack was still there in pieces and parts, but I never saw those four again.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!
[email protected]

[Gissert]

LMAO! "Dude, where's my shack?!"

[wade22]

CrappieTom that was absolutely the funniest story on icefishing I ever heard. Started laughing out loud.
Last year I was fishing near Onamia on a little lake by Mill Lacs. I went back to the lakeside cabin to grab some more beer. Hadn't caught a fish all day and was getting pretty soused. A friend of my dad's put a can of Bud with some weights on the end of my line. When I got back to the icehouse, I saw the bobber submerged and yanked as hard as I could, hollering Number One the whole time until I saw the walter was a 12-ounce can instead. The guys were watching from outside the door and laughed pretty hard. Coldest beer I ever drank.

[wade22]

CrappieTom that was absolutely the funniest story on icefishing I ever heard. Started laughing out loud.
Last year I was fishing near Onamia on a little lake by Mill Lacs. I went back to the lakeside cabin to grab some more beer. Hadn't caught a fish all day and was getting pretty soused. A friend of my dad's put a can of Bud with some weights on the end of my line. When I got back to the icehouse, I saw the bobber submerged and yanked as hard as I could, hollering Number One the whole time until I saw the walter was a 12-ounce can instead. The guys were watching from outside the door and laughed pretty hard. Coldest beer I ever drank.

[Guest]

I was on Big Cormorant Lake a couple years ago on a warm day with a couple other guys. We stayed til after dark and the wind started whipping up and it got real cold as we were packing up.

I emptied everything out of the portable, except for the lantern that was hanging on an inside support pole. As I stepped out with a arm full of gear to put in the truck, the house jumped out of the snow banks in mid-air and took off across the lake. A friend and I tried running after it, but it was moving too fast, somewhere around 20-25mph.

I stood and watched my portable twist and turn sliding away with the lantern glowing bright as the doors on the shack were wide open.

One guy had a brand new truck and we weren't about to chase it across the middle of the lake to get the portable. In a panic I went to every fish house asking if they had a snowmobile or ATV. Nobody had one, but they sure laughed their @$$ off when I came to their door because everyone saw it.

After a long hike on the other side of the lake that had no roads near it, and undeveloped, we finally located the fish house against a tree and still upright with the lantern still glowing.

We met up with a guy in a portable on the other side who said as he was quietly fishing in his portable when he heard the "SWOOSH" of my portable flying towards him. He got a little scared and ran out of his portable to find mine buzzing by his shack about 10 feet away!

That nice guy gave my buddy and I a ride back to shore or it would have been a killer to drag the house back where.

The bad thing was our wives didn't believe us when we called to say we were 2 hours late because we lost a fishhouse! They thought we could have made up a better story than that to go to the nearest bar.....

[Guest]

Crappie Tom and others good stories. LOL, got a good laugh out of some of them.
Now mine isn't really a ice fishing one but it happened while ice fishing.
There was this guy on his sled going about 70 or 80 mph across Green Lake (Spicer) a couple of years ago. And there were huge snow drifts on the lake and most were rock hard and you could get a good launch with your sled on them. Here is this cop out there on a sled, he sees this guy fly buy and now they are in a chase. So now i have seen this all happen from start. And now they are flying by our house about 100 yards away. The cop was loosing some ground and wasn't about to give up. Then he hit a huge drift! He and his sled went flying. He went about 10' in the air and landed in the soft part of the drift (lucky) and his sled landed (amazingly) and kept going for about another 50'. The cop gets up runs to his sled but then to find that the other guy is long gone.
LOL Laughed about that one for a while. I was out that morn on my sled and was jumping some drifts and then get to see someone do it and wipe out was kinda funny! Yet I feel sorry for the guy b/c that had to hurt.

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Fish ON!

[Renneberg]

PikeEye, I seen something simular while fishing Shagawa lake in Ely. Three sleds were riding along the main plowed road on the lake. They slowed down to cross a road that branched off the main road and that's when we seen the fourth member of the party flying a cross the lake trying to catch up.
He most not of seen everyone ahead of him slow down because he didn't even touch the brakes. He went down the first drift ok, but he nailed the second one. The snow just exploded when he hit. He got launched from his sled and skipped on the snow for about 20 feet and stopped. His sled (now smoking) came to a slow stop about 20 feet past him. I then looked at my friend and said we should go and check on him. By the time we looked back he was on his feet, running to his sled. He jumped back on and took off as fast as he could.

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"Study to be quiet"

[icehousebob]

A friend of mine was on a small lake by Mille Lacs when two older gentlemen pulled up with a large fish house that was built in sections. After assembling,they carried in their gear and stove. A short time later, the door flew open and both men came out in a cloud of smoke. When they quit coughing, one man yelled at the other," I told you that we shouldn't use aluminum drier vent pipe for a stovepipe."
The first time I ever used a power auger was when my sons were in grade school. It was a buddy's 3 horse Jiffy and I was on glare ice without ice walkers. I had it full throttle when it caught on the bottom of the ice hole. The auger blade stopped dead and I proceeded to make three revolutions around the hole before I got the throttle released. The boys thought it was funny and wanted me to do it again. NO WAY. They said if they had taped it, it would have won on the funniest videos TV show.

[Gissert]

I have a couple from back in my high school days.

We had good early ice one year, and we were all fishing before thanksgiving. Around the first weekend in December, we had one of those several day stretched in the 50's. The ice had started to rot around the houses.

A couple of nice young men decided to pull all the shanties in the shanty town to shore. They pulled them all in (about 15 houses)except for one. The high school principal was not well liked by them (or most parents, for that matter), so they let his house sit. It fell through the next day. Man, he was mad!

A couple years later, we again had some early cold weather. The above mentioned principal decided to put his house out in another location, far removed from the others. There was no snow to speak of, and the ice was NHL quality at the time. He had failed to anchor his shack very well, and the wind came up. I was startled to see a 8 x 10 permenant shack starting to move in a pretty good wind. It stopped and started for about 50 yards, and then began to pick up speed. The direction it was going had a mile of clear sailing, with a heavily wooded point at the end of the run. It made it the whole way, crashing in to a stand of big trees at about 30 mph. Several other houses made the journey, but his was the most spectacular.

That story of the guys on Pepin still has me laughing. I bet there are some Game Wardens out there with some great stories of fish house follies.

[CornPirateKiller]

Great stories. I've got a couple of ice fishing/snowmobile stories myself.

My parents have a cabin on a small lake near Mille Lacs. One winter when I was a teenager, we were ice fishing out in front of the place, looking for some slabs when the neighbor rides up on his old 60's vintage Herters snowmobile. He asks how we're doing and chews the fat for a few minutes and then decides to head off to fish somewhere else. This was an old machine that had seen better days and it had no recoil on the starter rope. So he winds his handy pull rope around the starter wheel and gives it a good pull. The problem was, he messed up and wound the rope the wrong direction. Unbelievably, the engine started and ran. When he hit the throttle, the goofy machine started unscrewing itself and parts started flying right through the hood!! We dove into the snow while he dove for the kill switch. Wildest thing that I ever saw.

Around that same era, another neighbor there was icefishing on the other end of the lake once. He was an old guy with an Artic Cat. Nice machine, but it started hard in the cold. We were out in the yard when he came home one evening with the thing all beat to heck. Seems he was having a hard time starting it. Couldn't get enough oomph pulling the starter rope with one hand while holding the throttle partway open. So, he took a stick and wedged it under the throttle to keep it open while he pulled with both hands. Well, it started on the first pull and took off before he could grab the thing and remove the stick! He watched it head for the shore and disappear into the woods. Said he heard it bang into a few trees which must have turned it because a few minutes later, it came flying out of the woods and back across the ice towards him! He said he made a dive for it as it went by, but missed and watched it head for the opposite shore. Again he heard it banging trees and then heard it roaring like crazy. He followed the trail and found the thing piled up against a tree about 200 yards into the woods, still running with that stick wedged in the throttle. I was crying from laugh so hard when he told us that story.

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Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati

[Guest]

Great stories guys! I'm sitting here with tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard.This has to be the funniest stuff I've ever read on the Internet.CornPirateKiller, yours had to be the best. It nearly finished me off completely! Once while ice fishing on Mille Lacs, I pulled a rotten trick on my good buddy, Marlyn Swedeen. When he stepped outside to create more yellow snow, I grabbed a can of sardines from our multitude of snacks and put a big rubber band around the middle of it, pulled up his line, attached the hook to it and put it back down. Of course when I hollered out at him that he had a bite, he came flying back in all excited to fight his "fish". It worked to perfection! Since the can of sardines was hooked in the middle with a rubber band it wallowed back and forth almost exactly like a fighting fish! I won't explain about the many colorful and descriptive names he called me that day. I ended up having to buy the beer that day, but it was well worth it.

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DIRTBALL2

[iffwalleyes]

I would like to laugh but I have had several of those things happen to me. The auger catching on the bottom and spinning me done that. My two buddies used to put their feet against mine so that I wouldn't turn with the auger when it caught that happend quite a bit the past few years were we didn't have so much snow. The house blowing across the lake had that happen but instead of a latern in it it was my one buddy. His job was to stay put till I got everything out of the house so he was doing a good job of this, but when I made my last trip out of the house with the last of the gear I felt the house move from beneath me. I turned around and saw him sailing away in the house. Now keeping your balance when the house is moving is pretty tough so my buddy is doing his best to keep standing but at the same time he is trying to figure out how to stop the house. Me and my other partner are now trying to chase after him but this is kind of tough because we are laughing all at the same time. Finally we caught up to him and caught the house and I got back in there and we collapsed the house. I can't forget this one. This is another auger story. My auger hadn't been running right and I had been making small adjustments to the carb trying to get it dialed in right final I got it it would bore like a pig throught the ice it was the fastest it had ever drill so I had a pretty good head of power. However at idle the auger bit would turn a little I hadn't figured out why yet but I wasn't to concerned because it was drilling really good. So we are out drilling holes and getting set up when I got caught on the bottom of the ice and the auger jerked itself out of my hands. Know the auger is stuck and the power head kep on spinning around and around so now I am trying to grab it but at the same time it is spinning kind of fast so I was playing patty cake with it well trying to grab on to it. So then my other buddy is going to try and help me stop it but he is doing the same thing as me so now there are two of use playing patty cake with the auger while it is still spinning. The 3 guy is laughing his butt of at us and of course his laughing so hard he is of no help. Finally I swatted at the power switch and shut if off and got a hold of it. Oh the stories though sure more entertainment that watching tv that is for sure.

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Grip it and Rip it

IFFWalleyes
I Fish For Walleyes
[email protected]

[Ruttin' Buck]

CD/Gissert...my favorite ice past time: ice house races!

Years ago myself and the guys used to put my 8x12' out on Waconia. Well, we had fabbed it up with well pipe so 2-3 guys with cleates could push the house out on early ice (~4") where only portables, 4x6's, & 6x6's resided.

Well, we had 3 bunks and the only permanent and therefore were the only guys fish walters & crappies all night. I remember 1 night in particular. Under a nearly full moon the wind started crankin'..first maybe in the 20 mph range. With no snow to be found the unoccupied portables began their journeys. I don't mean 1 or 2, I mean 10-12! We watched in the warm comfort of the house as these things flew by us and ended their voyage against shore. Then it really got windy! Winds were probably at 30mph with gusts over 40...and then the rumbling started!

There were 4x6's and 6x6's tooling past us! We started the betting. Some of the houses would peak early and hit a stretch of rough ice and slow. Others that had started near Coney Island were at terminal velocity and would catch up and just bowl into other houses! Crashing, sliding, rumbling, and nonstop laughter! Some of the stick built houses were nothing but pieces when they slammed up against other houses or the shore of the In Town Marina! Anxieties rose as we anticipated the crash of a house tooling at 30 mph into our house. Fortunately, it didn't happen....I don't have seatbelts in mine!

Felt a little bad for the guys sorting through the shoreline the next day, but anchor your house for Pete's sake!

[Guest]

A funny one from my pop!

Years back, they went to mille lacs in that late winter. The ice was starting to melt and the weather was warming up. They went chasing walleyes/perch. As the day progressed, the weather got warmer and about 2" of water was starting to form on the lake from the ice melting/sinking, yet they were still on a good foot of ice. As fog started to settle in, and the water began to grow on top of the ice, they decided to bail out. Meanwhile, they were drinking their fair share of adult beverages.

They loaded up the car and all jumped in. The driver put it in gear and gave her gas........however the car didn't move!!!!!!They were stuck on pure ice!!!!!!! It is getting warmer and the water is growing on top of the ice.....

So they get out and push, but get no where.......The motor is screaming, but they can't move it!!!! They are in trouble!!!!

About that time, of pure panic of 5 guys and how they are going to die........after about 5 minutes.........One guy hollers: "HEY, PUT THAT BLEEP A DE BLEEPING CAR IN GEAR!!!!!!!!!!". The driver put the care in gear, and they drove off just fine!!!!!!! He had put it in neutral, while he thought he was in drive!!!!............Next time, lay off the sauce!!!!!!!

[Guest]

I was fishing on a small private pond around Owatonna. I was fishing in an otter type house with a sled of course. We had a vexilar down the hole along with a aqua-view. I was on crutches so i could not get around fast. The guy who I am fishing with got out and a gust of wind caught the house. I was thrown off my bucket to the bottom of the sled. The canvas runs over our poles, and the electronics. Everything was scattered. I went on a ride for about 50 yards until the wind stopped and they came to get me. Man that was fun, exept for the electronics.

[IFallsRon]

It was pretty easy to throw a shack together up on Rainy. Boise employees could get Blandex cheap and a bunch of 2 x 4s didn't cost much. We'd make the floor out of plywood with a 2 x 4 frame and make square walls out of two sheets of Blandex and 2 x 2 framing, allowing the corners to lap enough so we could bold the whole thing together.

We had all the dirty work done and trucked the pieces to the lake for assembly. This shack's owner, who still lives in the Falls and will remain nameless, insisted that we auger holes before assembly. We had fortified ourselves against the cold and probably were in no condition to operate operate machinery or power tools. Fortunately, it didn't hinder us from using ratchets and Crescent wrenches.

Getting back to the holes, I think final assembly took a trip back to town as, and I'm kinda fuzzy on the exact number, the ratchets and wrenches soon took residence on the lake bottom just out from Rainy Lake City.

[Boyz in the Woods]

Remember the bad ice last year in Southern MN?
Some friends built a permanent shack and put it out on a lake by Faribault (around 40 miles from home). Later the same week they heard the ice was getting bad and everyone was pulling their shacks off the lake. They called a relative that lives in the Faribault area to go out and check on the shack.
He called back saying "it must have gone down, there are no shacks on the main part of the lake. The friends are sick thinking about losing the shack and the possible fine for letting it go through the ice. The next day they took off from work and went over there.
No shacks on the ice where their shack was. As they were driving around tryng to decide what to do, they noticed a shack that looked like their's on the opposite side of the lake. Upon further investigation, it was their shack. It must have been blown across the ice and up against the shore before the ice got bad.
Lucky guys.

[CrappieJohn]

Maybe thirty years ago there were some guys doing cookies on the ice at Lake Zumbro and lost it...and you got it. What a smuck job that was, but thankfully no one was in the shack to get hurt. That same year another hut went up in smoke when some dork tried to fill a kerosene heater....while it was operating! Takes all kinds.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!
[email protected]

[woodyjdh]

Years ago while still in high school, I went with a friend of mine to fish crappie in his dad's fish house. He got the woodtove nice and hot, darn near glowing. He sat back down on an old steel folding chair, and proceeded to lean back on it, against the wall. Throughout the morning he would lean back, and rock the chair. I jokingly told him, "wouldn't be too funny if you feel, being that close to the stove". Well, you guessed it, the floor being wet from our boots, the chair slid, and down he went! Still having his new winter jacket on from relieving himself a few minutes earlier, his arm landed right on top of the stove. PEEEEWWWWWWWWWW did that stink!! His melting jacket still on, him freaking out, I told him to shove his arm down the hole. To which he did. After making sure he was ok, I couldn't help but bust a gut laughing.
Another time I took him to my dad's fish house to show him how to catch Walleyes. (He had only fished crappies til then) I needed to write my name in the snow, and told him to keep and eye on my lines. I got about half my name written, when he started screaming for me to "get in here!". I stop midstream, and open the door to find him laying on the floor, arm in the hole up to his shoulder! I asked what he was doing. "Your bobber when down, and I set the hook like you said, started bringing it up, and it jumped off the hook after I had him out of the hole." I again began laughing my tail off to which I replied "by now he is on the other end of the lake never to return!!" To say the least he never did get the walleye.