Finally some ice fishing

[Einthewoods]

Lake ice is thick enough for me to be out there, so today the boy and I got to go out for a few hours. What a great time spent with the kiddos!! A mostly quiet fishing day but for about 30 minutes it was fish as quick as you could get your line back in the water. Perch tacos tomorrow as my beautiful wife didn't have faith in us bringing home dinner so there is chicken and dumplings already in the pot.

 

[Ford850]

That's a nice one! We've been hitting our favorite area for bluegills and catfish. We haven't had any peak times, but just catching enough to keep us there for another hour, and then another.

 

[Thomas]

Also makes good fish chowder. :licking:

 

[s219]

Nice perch! My wife also doubts my ability to provide food when I go fishing, so in the odd cases I catch something substantial it's always the next day's dinner. That works out OK in most cases, as when I catch a lot of fish I'm almost always outside past dark cleaning them, and it would be tough to make time to cook them!

I haven't been ice fishing since I was a kid in New England, but have fond memories. Often, we'd cook what we caught right there on the spot. Smelling a trout cooking up with onions and butter over a campfire is a wonderful experience.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

You mean there are other ways to cook fish besides frying it?...And maybe an occasional grilled trout?

 

[MossRoad]

Lake ice is thick enough for me to be out there, so today the boy and I got to go out for a few hours. What a great time spent with the kiddos!! A mostly quiet fishing day but for about 30 minutes it was fish as quick as you could get your line back in the water. Perch tacos tomorrow as my beautiful wife didn't have faith in us bringing home dinner so there is chicken and dumplings already in the pot.


View attachment 534816

Nice jumbo.

 

[MossRoad]

Whatcha using for catfish bait? I've never fished for them on purpose.

 

[Ford850]

Whatcha using for catfish bait? I've never fished for them on purpose.

We didn't fish for them on purpose, but we've been catching them on waxworms and the tiny panfish spoons while trying for bluegill. They are fun to catch through the ice.

 

[MossRoad]

Ah, the universal bait! :laughing: I thought maybe you were using chicken livers or corn balls! :laughing:

It always surprises me how many species will bit a little waxy on a tiny jig. I've caught anything from teeny tiny 2" bass to large pike on that same thing. I think I recall catching a small catfish through the ice many years ago, but only 1.

 

[MacLawn]

Ice fishing is about the only redeeming thing I can see about living in freeze country! Our water stays liquid here, but I'd be walking on water if I lived up there! Yellow perch, or contains as my Dad called them, are some of my favorite. And beautiful fish too!!

 

[/pine]

Everything I know about ice fishing I learned here:
Grumpy Old Men (3/4) Movie CLIP - Cold Revenge (1993) HD - YouTube

 

[Einthewoods]

HA! Grumpy old Men....a movie for summer while we are waiting to be able to go ice fishing!

 

[Ford850]

Haha The green hornet! I made one of those for my son. He’s caught some fish with it too.

 

[MossRoad]

Ice fishing is about the only redeeming thing I can see about living in freeze country! Our water stays liquid here, but I'd be walking on water if I lived up there! Yellow perch, or contains as my Dad called them, are some of my favorite. And beautiful fish too!!

Ice fishing.... the beer never gets warm. :drink:

 

[Einthewoods]

Kind of a "duh" post....but, while out on the ice last weekend I realized that ice fishing gloves are the absolute best I have ever worn for winter. They are completely waterproof as I will scoop slush out of holes submerging my whole hand. If you take the gloves off after that, the water on the outside of the gloves freeze making them stiff until you break them back up. Even if your hands are a bit wet and cold, put the gloves on (even when iced and frozen on the outside) and you warm right back up.

Mine have big wide straps with pulls to tighten the glove around your wrist and also a longer sleeve to them to go over your jacket.

I think I will get another pair for outside chores.

Ice Armor Extreme

 

[MossRoad]

It doesn't get that cold down here. I usually just were fingerless gloves if I'm fishing outside. As long as I keep them out of the wind, they are perfect. If its slow, or the wind picks up, I'll put on some large red chemical gloves with thick cotton liners. Those are great! In the tent, I don't need gloves, even down to about 0F outside. And for the rare occasion it gets really cold, I have some very large oversized welders mittens. :thumbsup:

 

[oosik]

Short story. This should bring tears to Doofy's eyes. The year we lived in Glennallen - I worked for ADF&G - Alaska Dept of Fish and Game. The Alaska natives were allowed to subsistence fish in the winter. They would cut two holes in the ice - about 3' wide by 12' long. These two holes would be around 125' apart. They had this "unit" - called a jig that would be introduced into one hole, under the ice. This jig was the size of a normal ironing board and had a hinged apparatus with a rope attached. After introduction under the ice - the rope would be pulled - the hinged apparatus would make contact with the under side of the ice and the jig would be propelled forward. The top side of the jig would be painted in stripes of the most brilliant paint available. The snow was cleared down to bare ice on the path between holes. As the jig moved forward you could see it thru the ice and make any course corrections, as necessary.

This was all well and good. The BIG trick was to propel the jig, under the ice and have it emerge into the hole some 125 feet away. If all went well, you ended up with a rope running hole to hole as a giant loop. To this rope you attached a 100' monofilament gill net and pulled it under the ice with the rope loop.

I would go out and monitor their catch. Occasionally, a large lake trout or beaver or muskrat would get tangled in the mono gill net. What a mess. And usually all of this activity was going on at temps well below zero. Their normal catch was lake whitefish. The average winter catch for a family was 400 - 500 whitefish. This would feed the family and all their dogs.

 

[MossRoad]

I've seen a few shows about that technique. Just fascinating how someone came up with that thing to get the rope from one hole to the other so far apart.

 

[oosik]

Moss - another part of that story. When it came to running the jig from hole to hole - it was ALWAYS the senior fellows that did that. The young guys just never had the skills or PATIENCE. And once the jig gets too far off track - all you can do is pull it all the way back to the "start hole" and begin the process all over again.

 

[MossRoad]

I think Egon was talking about that in another post.