Best 1st Ice Story

[Rick]

Just for fun,
let's have a little 1st ice competition here.

Write a 1st ice story. I will pick the one I judge the best and put it on the cover of FishingMinnesota.com

Let's see one of your best

Sorry all...I've decided to let you pick....Read on.

[This message has been edited by Rick (edited 11-28-2002).]

[Steve Foss]

Best first ice story: Came home dry.

Sorry. Honestly, I've never had the cojones to go on the ice until it's 4 inches thick. Of course, during a cold snap, that's only a day later than the ice is 2 inches thick.

No doubt there's lots of guys out there who can do WAY better.

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Steve Foss
Superior, Wis.
[email protected]

[Rick]

1st ice means the 1st ice you usually go out on. For our purposes let's say 3"(for the brave or foolhardy) to 8" of ice.

[Guest]

I can remember last years first ice outing like the back of hand. And its easy to remember for good reason. Flying fish and I ventured out to a lake that we knew was the first to freeze. You know men turn to boys on the first ice outing of the year. On our way out onto the lake, we hopped across the slush and broken ice from others tredging and followed a trail of chisel holes out about 75 yards. The holes eventually stopped signaling that no man had gone any further. We kepted going,...... The ice cracked under our feet and adam shoved me away to keep a far distance. The ice was perfectly clear and you see bottom for a while, and eventually nothing but black. You think skydiving's a rush! We walked on top of solid black until we heard a slurping noise in the distance. As we approached, we were greeted by a crack, 2 inches wide ruuning the width of the lake. Like I said ealier, men turn to boys. Yeah so we decide we're gonna die trying. We got a good runnin start and slid across the crack on our bellies with the ice cracking from the waves we caused. We made it, and the fishing began. We were able to take home nothing, but were able to have caught the smallest walleyes we ever have, somewhere between 4 or 5 inches. We headed home in dark. And everyone can relate to the odd feeling one gets from walking across glare black ice in the darkness. We did that along with crossing that crack once again. We made it then and we'll do it again this year, hopefully by Turkey day.

[Wables]

About 10 years ago I was trapping beaver just north of Eveleth and decided to take a short cut on some ice on the edge of a marsh. There was a couple of inches, and I was only walking on the edge. I went through with a Duluth Pack full of 330's and #4's, not to mention hip boots on. I ended up with my feet in the muck and the water about chest high. Luckily I was able to get out, and was only 1/4 mile from my warm shack. I have been pretty darn careful ever since.

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Wables

[the big dipper]

Where I grew up in Northern Minnesota, first ice always seemed to screw up our duck hunting. It never seemed to fail, just when the birds were really coming down, and we were finally getting the hang of where to set up, and maybe even hitting a bird or two, we'd get a helluva hard freeze, (always on a friday night).
We'd walk down the trail to the dock to find Bullhead bay froze over too **** solid to break through with the canoe. Of course we'd tap the ice with a paddle, and throw sticks and rocks out to test how thick the ice actually had gotten.
I remember one such Saturday morning; frosty and cold and clear, and there we were, shut down before we'd even got started. The thing was, there were ducks flying around out toward the other end of the bay. I told my younger brother Craig, if we could just get out to a clump of bulrushes about 300 yds out we'd get lots of shooting. Of course I was the only one with a gun.( I was 13 and he was 10 yrs. old)

I'd say the ice was about 1 1/2" thick and smooth as glass, and we ventured out. Of course there was some cracking and we kept aways apart, and we skirted the edge, (the bay was shallow, 2 foot deep most everywhere - we called it bullhead bay cause in the spring it would fill up with hundreds of spawning bullheads). Eventually we reached the clump of bullrushes.

Of course after we got there the ducks seemed to be flying further off. We waited awhile, and pretty soon here came a pair of mallards. Well I pulled up and fired and down came a duck. He hit the ice and slid about forty yards right into the middle of the bay. His mate must have thought he was planning to land there because she went right down too. I guess I loaded up that old single shot 12 ga. pretty dang quick, and next thing there are two dead ducks laying smack dab in the middle of the bay.

This is where it's pretty handy to have a little brother who only weighs about 60 pounds. We both got down on our bellies, Craig out in front, and swam our way out on to the ice. the ice was as clear as glass and it was pretty spooky and scary. The last twenty yards or so I told him it was too dangerous for both of us to go at once, but I'd come and get him if he had trouble. Well, he made it out and came back with the pair of mallards.

We skirted the edge back to the dock, (the shore was all marsh and floating bog), and carried the ducks up the trail through the woods to the house. It was still early morning, and I don't think anyone else was even up yet.

I remember that it stayed cold that year, and we did alot of skating and playing hockey, and I tried to trap muskrats for awhile. Then it turned warm for a few days, and I remember coming home from town on a Saturday afternoon, (We'd been to Santa Clause day in Gonvick ), the snow was melting a little and our mom wouldn't let us go out on the bay cause she thought it was too dangerous.

[Guest]

Rick,
I do have a few first ice story's
There is one I'd like to post but i've got to check the statute of limitations first.

This story I like to call BeerFish
When I was younger and (as I thought at the time)a whole lot smarter I really enjoyed my malt beverages in fact I probably enjoyed them a little too much.
Anyway on my daily stops for beer I got to know the owners of the local Liquor store
very well.
The owners wife was a recent immigrant to the states, if you can imagine a tall statuesque blond with a pronounced Swedish accent that would be her, I swear if they had the bikini team back then she could have been a member.
She usually opened up in the morning & he would come in at 4 or 5 and work to closing.
My fishin buddy George's grandpa was a caretaker for this resort up in the foothills
back then it was closed down in the winter time in fact he said they usually only had 30 or 40 visitors in the summer.
The only good things left at this place was the lodge & there were 4 ponds that were stocked with trout every other year.
Grandpa's main jobs were to feed the fish & dynamite the beaver dam's so the road wouldn't flood.
Grandpa got sick one fall & almost went under, it took him 2 or 3 months until he got his legs back under him.
George & me decided we'd help out with some of his chores so we would drive up 2 or 3 times a week to help out.
At first had a hard time getting close enough to the open water near the aerators to throw in the magic fish pellets.
George did come up with a great idea though, we nailed our boots to some old planks to spread out the weight a little & this worked ok until the ice was thick enough to be safe.
Everytime the fish would see our shadows coming across the ice they would swarm the open water to get their dinner of pellets.
Them fish would grab anything you threw at them & we would most always take enough home for a meal or two.
One early afternoon I was cleaning a mess of these fish & ran out of brew.
I walked across the road to get some more & got to talking to my swedish friend about the fish & fishing She told me that she hadn't had any fresh fish since she moved to the states.
Anyway I told her I would bring her some when I was finished cleaning then, I gave her a half dozen nice ones, She wanted to pay for them but I refused, She insisted so I said whatever you think is fair.
She gives me a 6 pack & said 6fish 6beer I thanked her & left.
I really didn't think too much about this until the next day, when I went in to get my daily ration she immediatly thanked me again & asked if I could get her anymore of them beerfish, i'm not sure but I think that maybe beerfish is a swedish word of somekind at least it sounded that way to me.
To make a long story shorter in the next 3 weeks George & I brought her 247 BeerFish & received in turn 247 ice cold one's, it was like a dream come true.
Fish that wouln't stay off the hook & almost free BEER!
Unfortunatly everything that is right & good has to come to an end.
One night after he closed the liquor store her husband came over knocking at the door,
when I answered He came in carrying 2 cases of Hienie and said here's the deal My freezers full, She's been Feeding me Trout 5 day's a week, And besides that I Don't Like Fish the only reason I eat it is because she grew up on it & Loves it, You guys Promise when you come in my store never ever mention fish or fishing again & you get the Hienekens and if you ever bring a fish in again i'm coming over and feeding it to you raw.
That's my BeerFish Story
Enjoy
Coldpole

[Steve Foss]

Coldpole, some other guys might give you a run, but no one can beat that.

See, I KNEW you guys would have better stories than me. That's why I didn't waste your time posting a tall tale. I've obviously just gotta get out more.

And a saying by my Dad has new meaning: A thousand Swedes crept through the weeds, pursued by one Norwegian.

Obviously, the Swedes were women.

And coldpole, you may be a Fishingminnesota newcomer, but you're obviously a veteran in other areas.

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 11-14-2002).]

[Guest]

whew.... I thought that story was going to turn into bedtime literature When he asked for whatever was fair. Forgot I was on the forum for a minute there!

[Finlander]

2nd week of deer hunting at Osakis found us out there with my duckboat with 2.5" of ice!
I have picture of that day where I was sitting in the duck boat fishing over the side through the ice.
Later some fools besides us saw us out there and decided to join us without any boat, life jacket or any other life saving device!
And one of those guy's is 6'8" tall and weighs 260lbs.!!! Man was the ice ever making noise wherever he walked!
Well nobody went through the ice and nobody caught a thing and we all laugh about that time when we ice fished in a boat!

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F-STOP

[pikehunter]

Three years ago I made my first ice venture a little later in the year than I usually do. A hard freeze for about two weeks put about 5 or 6 inches on most of my favorite lake and I ventured out the first moment I had time.
I have a early-ice spot I love to fish on this lake that noone seems to know about. I'm able to sneak out on an "alternate" public access and go unnoticed.
So on this particular morning I'm sitting in this lonely bay on around 5 inches of ice — six max — when I see a Dodge Ram 4x4 come down the road, down the boat ramp and onto the ice. Cruising out onto the lake like there was 15 inches, he cruised right towards me and the ice was absolutely cursing him — the loudest noise I've ever heard on ice.
I, of course, am trying to figure out where I can run to as this moron motors toward me going about 40. I back away as he gets even closer, until he stops about 20 yards from me, rolls down the window and, pokes his head out and says:
"Hey, how much ice is there out here?"

[kb1965]

A couple of years ago helping my wife's uncle put out his house. The ice was about 6" thick and smoother than a baby's but. Needless to say the wind was blowing and and took us for a ride across the lake to where we were going to set the house up. The only problem was we didn't stop until the other shore line about 1/2 mile away. We looked at each other and decided that his house would stay put where it was until the wind died down.

[Guest]

I'll make a long story short. 2 seasons ago, me and my buddy WallEYES decided to go fish a favrite spot on Minnetonka for the dusk bite. It was early December and it was way cold out but the lake had only been frozen for a few days.....We walked out and there was a guy I knew about at the weedline fishing pike. He said the ice was 5" thick there. We continued on out to our fav spot walking on about an inch of snow. I put the auger to the ice and after about 2 revolutions it went through. We were on two inches of ice over 30' of water. We were both quite alarmed but still on top so we decided to fish since we were already there and marking fish. We caught some dandy 'eyes that time but with pucker factor in full effect. I'll never forget that one!........I vote for the beerfish story. One more thing.....take a look in the 2003 Ice Fishing guide magazine on page 50. Do you think the laker is the only trout in that picture? Appears to be a one eyed model there too. I could be wrong .but..........T

[Guest]

Two years ago on Peltier Lake...

3 inches of ice and no snow. I could see the bottom through the ice in 5 feet of water. I ventured out towards deeper water and fished a mud flat in 13 feet of water. It was about 3pm and the sun was gradually becoming faint. I found a school of perch that were biting pretty agressively. Nothing too big but some fast action. Once 4pm came along the perch shut off and the crappies came through. I eagerly accepted their company and iced a few 10 inchers for dinner. After about an hour of catching 10-11 inch crappies I tagged a 13 incher that gave my adrenaline a recharge. After admiring the slab I let her go. After catching a few more smaller crappies the action died off. Now it was about 6:30pm. Things seem to shut off and I was ready to pack up and head home for a fish fry. I decided to give it five more minutes. I set my rod down on the bucket when I saw a solid red line rise from the bottom towards my jig. I let the rod sit because whatever I was doing worked so I left it alone. The red line went past my jig so I grabbed the pole and raised it. The line quickly turned and hit the jig and started running towards deeper water. I had a light action rod, 2 lb test, and a tear drop tipped with maggots, not exactly the gear for fighting a fish like this. I thought it was a pike so I let it play out. As I got it closer to the hole I realized it wasn't a pike, but a walleye. Now my adrenaline was higher then ever. I fought the walleye for about 15 minutes and eventually got it close enough to the hole so I could grab it. 29 inches of golden beauty. I sat there for about 2 minutes and just stared at the fish until I could breathe again. A nearby fisherman came over to see what I caught and was just as excited as I was. This was the biggest walleye I ever caught through the ice. I held the fish for another second and gave it my farewells and then I let her go. At that moment I was in a state of sublime, nothing else mattered. The drive back home after that night of fishing was the best ever. I didn't care what happened the rest of the season because I knew it would be tough to top this...and nothing has.

Good Fishin, Matt.

[Rick]

Great Stories,

Keep em coming.

[wishiniwerefishin]

Well, i know that this won't top any of the earlier stories, but here goes anyways.
Two winters ago, a buddy and i decided that we wanted to get some early ice action in on grays bay on tonka. So, as we are walking out on bay, we are drilling a hole every so often to check the thickness, and it seems to be around 3-4". We decide to keep going out to the hole that we know usually produces some crappies. As we get to the spot, we are already spread out, and we start to drill our holes. I get mine drilled, and my buddy starts to drill his. As he makes the second turn of the handle, we hear this loud bang and the ice cracks right through both of our holes. As we look at each other, realizing that neither of really want to go through, we grab out equipment and move closer to shore and start to fish there. Well, it turned out to be a good day after we get the **** scared out of us with the cracking that was happening, as we caught our fair share of slabs in the hour that we stayed.

[muskybuck]

My most memorable ice fishing experience was many years ago. I was working my way out to the best walleye spot I know with my ice chisel. Its a great spot at first ice. I feel pretty comfortable on two and a half to three inches of good clear ice. The ice was getting a little thin (about an inch and a half)and I was going real slow when I saw a piece of ice that looked a little different so I reached my chisel out and just laid in on the spot about 4 feet away and it just went though. I just about you know what and started backing up real slow. I left the ice and did not go back to that spot again for at least two weeks. I think about that every time I go ice fishing and about how close I came to going down. I have not been in that big of a hurry to get out there as early as possible ever since. That was very scary.

[kslipsinker]

I usually end up being the first person out after first ice, but this story extends a little farther into the season, the first drive on the ice.
I had walked out about a mile with my portable and gear, drilling holes every hundred yards or so to check ice thickness. The next day I decided it was "safe" to drive and drove out in the early morning darkness. I stay close to shore and work my way to my spot. I pulled up and drilled a couple of holes. Ice seemed to be about 9" or 10" thick, which made me very nervous. I set up my portable and started fishing. About mid-morning the water started woofing up in the holes, so I stuck my head out to see what the heck was causing this.
From the far side of the lake, across some of the deepest water, comes a full size 4x4 truck pulling a 8' x 10' fish house at a fairly high rate of speed. I got out of my house to watch this fool go through. Surprizing, he made it, and pulled up a few yards from my setup. I questioned his sanity and told him to get away from my spot or we would all be swimming. All he said was, "Well, I made it didn't I!" He uhooked the house and drove all the way back across the lake.

[Gissert]

T-Bone

The pucker factor on Clitherall at first ice was high last year also.

[yoppdk]

It was the first weekend in December, 1990. We'd had plenty of cold up until this weekend, so there was about 3-5 inches of ice north of the metro area. We were out to get some early ice crappies and to break that long "no fishing" period from when you put the boat away and when you can get out on the ice. However, the day was warm - warm enough for my friend and I to be harrassed by a bumblebee as we walked out to French Lake. We already knew it was going to be a "weird" evening on the ice ...

As usual, I let my buddy walk out on the ice first. We hadn't heard of anybody going out yet, so I needed to be sure. He made it out far enough to convince me it was safe and I followed. The most dangerous part was the glare ice ... very little snowcover made walking out slippery. I imagined if we slipped, we'd fall and crack not only our butt, but the ice as well.

We went directly to a deep hole location we had fished from a boat just about a month prior. The sun was setting and we drilled a half dozen holes through the thin ice.

I honestly don't remember catching any crappies that evening. We may have caught some, but as it turns out it really didn't matter. Temps were in the 50's, but dropping somewhat and even clear skies. It just felt good to get out and wet a line.

I do remember pacing back and forth between holes, checking one after the other with a minnow and the sonar. We'd each leave one rod back at out main location and eventually work back toward that central spot. Once we came back to find my bobber out of sight. We figured the crappie bite had just started. Until I set the hook ...

It was definitely no crappie on the other end of that line. The ultralight ice rod and 4-lb test line throbbed and strained, but kept in-tact thanks to the reel's drag that sang out time and time again for at least 15 minutes before I made any progress. We had a lantern lit at the time, since the sun was well below the horizon. By the light of the lantern, we saw movement under the thin, transparent ice. Judging by the size, and since we'd caught bass there just a month ago, we assumed I had hooked a large bass. We later changed our minds ... it must be a carp ... no bass in this small lake were as big as the shape swimming back and forth under the ice.

Since it was a carp, I decided it was no longer important to get it through the hole. I considered it a major let-down and hoped it would break off - saving me the hassle of digging that tiny jig from it's soft, rubbery lips.

Eventually we got the fish's head to the hold and gaffed it onto the ice. We both stood there for at least a minute gazing at the odd-colored, odd-shaped carp. What a weird looking carp. Until it dawned on me, in that dim light, that what laid before us was a massive walleye - the largest I walleye I had ever personally seen. The length measured over 28 inches and the girth, while unmeasured, had the shape and size of a huge pre-spawn bass.

Since we had gaffed the fish, we needed to keep it. In our excitement, we decided getting a good weight for this fish was more important than pursuing more crappies. We loaded up and went to the nearest bait shop where it tipped the scales at 9 lb 2 oz.

"Is it a trophy?" I asked the bait shop owner.

"You betcha ..." he said, while he snapped a couple photo for his bulletin board.

The walleye ended up on my wall and still provides my best fishing memory ever. Larger walleyes have come my since though are as memorable as the one that went from being a crappie to a bass to a carp and turning out to be a walleye. Nice first-ice surprise.

[mjhowe]

TBone!

You are absolutely right about that picture on pg 50. Looks like he was in the middle of something when the flag flew!!!

ROFLMAO!!
Mike

[blue_healer_guy]

This one is my buddy's but I love telling it. Let's just say his name is Dave. Well Dave loves to spear and on one first ice outing a few years back, he gets the hole chopped and is ready for a day of spearing. Dave's not a big fan of the cold so he usually has 2 little propane cylinders going at the same time. He accidently bumped one of them and sure enough it fell into the hole all the way to the bottom. He tried hooking it with everything he had, daredevils, jigs etc. but nothing would hold it. Finally he decides to chuck the old spear at it. Well hang on cuz this gets good. He hits it right in the middle of the tank. Nothing happened at first, but all of the sudden a huge bubble erupts from the cylinder. As he is staring down the hole, the bubble reaches his hole and WHAM! The other tank that was lit ignited the bubble and all hell broke loose. He got out of the house and pulled his portable off to the side. It was on fire and the hole also was burning. After putting out the fire in the fishouse, he looked around and here were 10 guys just standing there looking at him. I would have loved to seen the expressions on their faces.
When Dave got home, he looked in the mirror and found no eyebrows and no hair except what was under his cap! He also said the only good thing to come of this event was that he didn't have to paint the bottom of his floor cuz it was now charcoal black. Unbelievable!

[jt24]

That sounds more like plain stupidity than a good first ice story!

[Gissert]

ROTFLMAO!

Tragedy + time = Comedy!

[Guest]

Years ago as the ice fishing season was approaching, several fishers at the work place were entertaining themselves ( Wacking at the boredom ) by starting a who can outfish who / my name and another became the focuse - the tension built with things said to where I actually stiffend ~~~~~ the other was a great fish catcher, I wasn't into compition fishing, but this was to be a shoot-out. We got out there into a Bay on a large lake where the fishing was exceptional at times ~ the agitators went into full swing anouncing GENTLEMAEN DRILL YOUR HOLES >>>>>>>> I drilled one - the compatition drilled several / I was determined to make the one hole work .......... fish came out of that hole all morning long ( Many large Bass to toss back - out of season ), many perch, bluegill, crappie ~~~~ we could see one another and I was pulling up the lions share by far ~~~~~~ after a while he came over, not bad he said ..... I went over there ~~~ he had almost as many as I did / something wrong ~~~~~~ well, one of his buddies had kept walking over to him all morning long ~~~ he had been saulting the fish-heads bucket. That was the first time I had ever gotten mad over fishin - that one cost them coffee and more for a year to keep me from sueing - LOL ><> We became great friends.