Ice Fishing Trip

We went out to do some ice fishing today. I've never been ice fishing, so this was really interesting. I guess I thought it was more complicated than it actually is. The whole operation really comes down to a string, a hook, a minnow and patience.

We started out around 12:30 and headed east on the highway for an hour or so, then turned south, drove a bit on a gravel road, and ended up on a lake/pond/puddle thing about 15 feet deep. I'm not sure how big it was, but it really should be classified as a lake. It's big.

The Jeep fared well overall on the way out. It was fun - we had to drive through a field for part of the trip and it was really rough. The Jeep excels on that type of terrain. I think Dad was going to bail out when we went into the field at about 20mph but was better once he realized he wouldn't lose a kidney.

Ice fishing poles are tiny. They're almost pointless. I was more impressed with the reels inside the ice house that drop a line down into holes you get to through the floor of the house. They rattle when there's a fish on the line.

We brought sandwiches, cheetos and cookies to eat and hot coffee to drink. The coffee was key - gotta stay warm.

We fished about 20 feet down and put the minnows about 8" off the bottom. We hit a few fish within an hour of arriving from holes inside the house. The outside holes located around the house weren't doing much for us.

There were at least 6 other groups in the immediate area who left to go to other bodies of water (presumably) at about 3:00. By then we'd picked up 3 more fish - all small. We hung on to the two bigger ones for a photo op at the end of the day.

It wasn't nearly as cold overall as I'd thought it'd be. Jim's ice house has a monster propane heater in it so it was easy to warm up after hanging around outside.

I'd go again without a doubt.