Favorite Things About IceFishing

[mojocatt]

There was a thread some time back about things that drive you nuts when ice fishing.

I'm curious about things that people like about ice fishing, and / or favorite stories.

Favorite Things:

*Seeing a walleye come off the bottom on the flasher.

*Seeing a tip up flag go up and watching the owner charge out of his shanty, one glove on, one glove off, half a eaten sandwich in the ungloved hand, running and lacing his boots, all at the same time.

Favorite story:

Taking my 5 year old daughter ice fishing two years back we were sitting on a school of crappies. So I gave her the hole with the rod and the flasher and showed her where the fish was, and where the bait was.

I instucted her to lower the bait to the fish using the flasher. She promtly dropped the bait 25 feet to the bottom of the lake, and the crappie followed it down to 20.

I told her to raise the bait up to the fish, and she reeled it fast all the way up and out of the hole, and the crappie followed it back up to 10 feet. I told her put the bait back in the hole and lower it to the fish. She then opened the spool and dropped the bait to the bottom of the lake again, again the crappie followed it down to 20 feet.

Repeat this 3 or 4 times, bait down, crappie down, bait up, crappie up. Each time the bait zipping by the crappie at lightening speed.

Finally the she leveled the bait with the fish. Before I could instruct her on jigging the crappie nailed the bait and was pulled in with not much of a fight.

This method is now know to me as the "confuse a crappie" method of jigging. Where you baffle and tire the poor thing into giving up and commiting suicide on your hook.

[SomethingFishy*]

"confuse a crappie"

I'm going to have to try that

[looneyducer]

For me, the sheer act of walking on water is second only to the sudden realization that I'm massively under-tackled at the moment -- that this here is a big girl I'm dancing with.

[jwhjr]

One of my favorite things is watching my line moving sideways in the hole when a crappie has taken it so lightly that you can't feel it or see it on the rod. Then having the patience to wait and set the hook...

[JigginIsLife]

that was a great story about your daugter, im taking my girlfriend icefishing for the first time this winter and im sure if this topic is still up i will light up the screen for you guys. but confuse a crappie sounds like a good one.

Favorite thing about ice fishing, watching somone put up a portable with 30 mile an hour winds, and then watching them parasail across the lake

ohhh... and outfishing my dad

[fishcast]

My favorite is when sight fishing clear water and a big northern pike comes in and stares down my lure when jigging and I start shaking (I'd probably like fighting those big northerns just as much as watching them but I can't ever hook one, just the little guys)

I also like that the wind doesn't blow me off the spot like open water

and many more things....

[Pleasant]

I ice fish mostly on a small lake (no public access) and mostly enjoy the quiet.

Was always enjoyable fishing with my daughter, but alas she has moved to Colorado so I doubt we will be hooking up to ice fish this year.

I also site fish a lot and it is always fun seeing what will interest them into a strike.

Lynn J.

[Pikeslayer]

My favorite thing? HHHHMMMMMM!!No Stress,Vennie cooking on the woodstove,Cold Beer or a Morgan-Coke with my Buddys,Fish on my line and more in the bucket,Knowing I dont have to go to work in the morning!!NOPE!!none of the above,My favorite thing is seeing the look on my Grandaughters face when she gets a fish and she asks me Gumpa,can we cook em?

[NAPAFISH]

The sweet smell of propane burning

[IceHawk]

The solitude and peacefullness that comes with it!! That is if you fish away from the group and search out your own little honey holes like I do!

[McGurk]

95 degrees in July in the beating sun, and all I'm thinking about is thinking of the things I need to do before ice-up.

Taking people on the ice by truck for the first time, and taking a minute at the access to tell them to unbuckle their seatbelts and crack the windows a bit, and the resulting look of terror in their eyes.

The first time a rookie doesn't just hear, but FEELS the ice cracking beneath them on a cold day. My bro-in-law's girlfriend is the next rookie I want to experience that with.

The sweet sound of Mille Lacs making ice at 2 in the morning while you're in a skid house.

The first couple of slow "ticks" from a rattle wheel, while you've got a pair of queens in one hand and a cocktail in the other.

Dropping the transducer into a freshly opened hole and seeing it "lit up like a gul-dern CHRISTMAS tree!"

[Coach1310]

I with IceHawk on this one. Nothing like the stillness of dawn if you are fortunate enough to fish low pressure spots or during the week... Or searching hole after hole and finally a screen loaded with fish...or that first "tap" of the season followed by a solid hookset... or, heck I just love the opportunity to get out so my favorie thing about ice fishing......ICE FISHING!

[prov1900]

No boat control worries. Fishing in a pack of strangers is more social on the ice than out of the boat (in a pack of strangers). No ice needed to keep the PBR cold.

[irishjigs]

*Walking/Driving off a landing and seeing nothing but opportunity.

*The "pop" of the waxie as you put it on the hook.

*Watching a bobber ever so intently go down the hole as a walleye hits your set line.

*The frenzy that happens when you are under a school of feeding jumbos on Mille Lacs.

*The head shake

*Falling out of the top bunk to be the first to a rattle reel.

*Auger starting on one pull

*Getting the chill out of the air inside of a trap right after you bring the tent down.

*A fish slime tainted chew in the mouth.

*Dipping into a minnow bucket with bare hands.

*Doing a double take on the aqua-vu.

*watching my dad set the hook too hard.

*Looking at a paper lake map to see where I've been when I get home.

-Just a few things the next couple weeks will bring me!

[Blainebob]

For me,its just using the equipment.Dont have a boat,and where else can you be fully set up for $1500.00?

[Ray Esboldt]

Being alone in my portable!

Or, taking the kids, which can be like fishing with 50 people.

[jigginjoe]

what Is'nt there to like. I like everything about it the peace and quiet, the good times with friends, the fact that anyone can do it fairly cheap. All the tackle But most of all setting up in the middle of nowhere and just pretending for a few hours that nothing else matters.

[Thunderman]

The challenge of finding the fish and pulling them through the hole .Listening to your buddy or buddys wine because they just lost another one I usally find my self talking to the fish finder alot and the fish .I think thats common in ice fishing.

[jigging-matt]

There is something about heading out on the ice early in the morning, firing up the auger, setting up the house, then dropping your line down the hole and seeing marks on the Vex. How can you top that.

[Bobby Bass]

The quiet, a few hours after sunset all the traffic on the ice is gone. Anyone still on the ice is going to stay late. The hiss of a lantern burning, hot coals in the little wood stove falling over on top of each other. The tell tale click of a float against the side of the hole. Looking at your buddies hole because you know he is watching yours. Scrape of a card on the table being picked up and then the slap of ten cards and Gin being spoken. Smell of beans and franks simmering on the top of that little stove. Then the crack of the ice so loud you look down to see if there is open water beneath you. The door cracked open to let out smoke rings and cool down, The ribbon of light from the door escaping to light up a narrow stretch of snow covered lake with little spots of light escaping from other houses. So many things...

[kcota15]

I am missing my first year of ice fishing since I got hooked on the local river when I was 12. I have recently moved to Arizona but my mind and heart are still in Northern Minnesota. I enjoyed all of the other posts! You are all exactly right. The thing I miss the most is standing outside the tent and not hearing or seeing anyone, and feeling the cool, clean air. I'll miss it, but I'll be back! Can't wait for the Rainy in April.

[pathogen]

There's something about seeing the big red "blip" on the flasher slowly merge with the little green "blip" of your bait, and then seeing the spring bobber twitch downward......god, I love it!!

[The Grebe]

I like it all, the planning, the hunt, the 1/2 inch "SNAP" of the little float, or the "TAP" on the tight line, that lets you know you are on some sunnies.

The red line on the Vex moving up toward your bait and the slow sink that lets you know you have fooled another crappie.

The "Rap" on the jig that tells you that another walleye, or jumbo perch has grabbed your offering.

The fresh winter air and the fact that you are trying to locate and pull fish out of an area on a lake that measures maybe 8 inches in diameter.

It's all good, I can still recall the smells of the first fish houses I was ever in as a kid, they each had a distinct smell, those with fuel oil heaters, those with wood stoves, those where the old guys chewed Copenhaugen, the ones where the fellas rolled their own smokes, or had a pull from the hidden 1/2 pint, I never forgot.....from selecting the right bait, to finding that out of the way water where no one else is fishing and then getting into them...I can hardly wait for the first outting!

[Paul Waldowski]

Sitting in my Otter on a quiet still evening with a soft snow falling and fish all over the Marcum

[The Grebe]

You know what? I thought of a few other things I really like about ice fishing....Power auger as opposed to the spudbar I started out with....Lake maps and sonar as opposed to lining up a triangulation. Better fishing equipment as opposed to the old length of broom handle with a couple of pegs, black braided line, and a ominous looking spike sticking out of one end!

I like having warm clothes, boots and the ability to easily move a fish house around on the ice if you so have a mind to. I like the mobility an atv gives you to get to the area you want to fish, before striking out on foot.

Ice fishing has come a long ways and I can proudly say that I have been there for a good portion of the journey!