Ice fishing???

[newbiedmv]

Ok due to the great wizard Google I now get a ton of ice fishing info for pike and musky.

Has anybody done that?

It seems incredibly cold and boring. Something for younger bodies.

 

[gim]

11 minutes ago, newbiedmv said:

It seems incredibly cold and boring. Something for younger bodies.

Ice fishing is very popular here.  There is actually more participation with ice anglers than there is for open water anglers here.  Part of the reason is the affordability of it.  You can go out on the ice with minimal equipment for a few hundred bucks.  Comparing that to a boat is pennies on the dollar.

 

I have done it before but not for many years now.  Most ice anglers will openly admit that fishing is not the primary activity, especially if they are in a permanent ice house.  Its more about socializing, drinking beer, playing cards, or watching satellite TV.

 

The guys that use a portable tent style house and move a lot do better.  They stay mobile and follow the fish.  Think about it.  When your fishing in a boat, how long do you sit in one spot?  Some of these extravagant permanent ice houses sit in one spot for a month at a time.  They aren't catching anything regularly.

 

Specifically for pike and muskies, targeting muskies here is illegal in the winter as the season is open from mid June until Dec 1.  Most people target walleyes or panfish, but some people target pike.

[MN Fisher]

I went out once in my teens - never again...even though I caught a few slab crappie and a keeper walleye, it wasn't worth the misery.

[TnRiver46]

I like the idea of it but I’m fairly certain I would be terrified 

[Further North]

I tried once, a long time ago.  It bored me to tears.

I tried it again to make sure I wasn't missing something.  Same result.

I understand how some folks can enjoy it, but it's not for me.  Around here it tends to be more of a social event than the kind of fishing I enjoy.

[gim]

23 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I like the idea of it but I’m fairly certain I would be terrified 

Lotta people take an unnecessary risk to get out there.  Early ice fishing is often the best ice fishing of the season so people creep out onto only a few inches of ice.

 

Then there's the truck and ice castle crowd.  They need at least 12-15 inches of good ice.  The people who drive out there without verifying the ice conditions are the really dumb ones.

[MN Fisher]

[gim]

@newbiedmv you should try it and see if you like it.  Don't let my or other people's opinions stop you from at least trying it once.  Who knows, you might even like it.

[newbiedmv]

Sounds like my teenage years. A bunch of us would pool our money. Get some beer and head to the river. Build a fire party and fish all night.

It was the only thing to do that we could afford.

But when it was halfway warm.

I don't think I can get good enough clothes in MD for it :).

only one lake many two around that are safe.

[PourMyOwn]

I'm a serious ice fisherman-electronics, GPS my spots in the boat to return in winter, all that sort of thing. I drill upwards of 50 holes per day, move all over the lake until I figure them out-IF I figure them out that is. 

 

I primarily fish for big yellow perch, crappies and big bluegills. I catch the occasional bass, but I never target them. Lake trout and walleyes are also occasionally on my agenda too. It isn't for everybody, lots of guys just go out to drink and party-I'm not one of them however. 

 

Here's a tasty reason I ice fish.

[gim]

1 hour ago, PourMyOwn said:

I drill upwards of 50 holes per day, move all over the lake until I figure them out-IF I figure them out that is. 

This is what I was talking about in my earlier post.  The willingness to stay mobile and find active fish is required to have a chance at success. 

 

Unfortunately, sitting in one spot over dead water for weeks on end, hoping that a stray walleye finds your bait is how many people do it...

[soflabasser]

Ice fishing looks like a fun way to catch fish so I say go for it. Youtube has lots of ice fishing videos for muskie, pike, lake trout, and other fish.

[desmobob]

I love ice fishing.  Some guys put out tip-ups and then sit around waiting for a flag to go up.  

 

I like to fish for lake trout for sport and yellow perch for the frying pan.  I prefer to jig and use a Garmin Striker Plus 5 to see what's going on down there.  

 

 

 

I can stay out of the wind and warm in my little portable flip-over shelter, that also serves as a sled to carry my gear.

 

 

 

[Bluebasser86]

Before I had a boat capable of fishing the power plant lakes, I use to do it when the ice got thick enough. Oddly enough, my dad called me tonight because he found my old tipup and asked if I still wanted it. 

[newbiedmv]

Given the cold, the work, ???ice, cold, blue toes I think I'll watch YouTube videos about it if at all.

I can't handle float, trolling,  or deep downrigger fishing anymore.

I'm 35 years too old to start that stuff.

Thanks. Seems it's a bit more advanced now than a beered up guy driving out on the ice..then ice go "Crack ??.

[thunderblack]

Fish yr round in Michigan. Fish steelhead in the fall and ice in the winter after bass are done. Ice fishing is a blast but it can be a lot of work if you go by yourself. If you have a shanty, heater, and a flasher unit you can have blast and stay warm. Not a fan of tip ups. I fish rods only and walleye are the target. If you have not tried it I certainly recommend it. It's fairly cheap to get started. Most gear you can find second hand and cheap. 

[Fallser]

I did it years ago.  When I had both knees replaced back in 2009,  My surgeon said "No ice fishing for you."  Nothing complicated for equipment.  No ice shack or anything fancy.  I hand an old sled from when I was a kid.  We packed our gear in a plastic milk crate and a 5 gallon bucket.  Tip-ups and a couple of short rods with spinning reels.  A hand auger that cut a 6 inch hole in the ice.   I sat on the plastic milk crate on top of the sled.  My buddy either stood or sat on the bucket.  Minnows for the tip-ups.  Jigs tipped with meal worms or maggots, sometimes minnows.  Warm clothes, insulated boots and gloves.  A couple of thermoses of hot coffee.  No booze.  Had decent years, mostly sunfish, perch and chain pickerel, the occasional bass.  The biggest fish I caught over the years was a 30 inch musky 

[Bluegillslayer]

It seems really fun to me. My family used to ice fish back East before we moved to the PNW but I was to young to be interested in doing, one day I want to take a ice fishing trip to one of the bigger lakes in here in Washington. 

[newbiedmv]

I have a buddy from west central Montana. He said MD clothes, boots, and gloves don't work well.

All I got is heavy duckies farm stuff and insulated wolverine boots.

Heck my heart probably would explode.

Not curious enough to do the drive. I might try it if they have "charter" type ice fishing where your supplied with everything.

Huh come to think of it the Potomac used to freeze every year in the 70s, we would drive down to watch them blast the ice flow. Can't remember when it last froze.

[gim]

1 hour ago, newbiedmv said:

Huh come to think of it the Potomac used to freeze every year in the 70s, we would drive down to watch them blast the ice flow. Can't remember when it last froze.

Yes, that’s the trend everywhere, including here too. Which is unfortunate for the ice anglers but beneficial to us bass anglers. Last winter we literally only had 2 weeks of bitter cold weather the entire winter. Makes a guy think twice about spending 15 grand on a deluxe ice castle.

[Black Hawk Basser]

I'm an avid ice angler.  Definitely all-in.  I make my own rods and have a tungsten ice fly retail business.  I have a lithium powered electric auger, portable shack and use the same Helix 5 that I use in my boat.  Sitting in a permanent shack may be the thing to do in Minnesota, but we barely get enough ice to put an ATV on the ice some years.  I can honestly say I've never drank while ice fishing. Most guys I know stay mobile and move until they find fish.  It is a lot of work, but for those who haven't done it for years, it is a totally different deal now with light weight electric augers, lithium flasher batteries, lighter & warmer clothing, etc.

[newbiedmv]

Dumb question what's a flasher. The batteries are mentioned.  You all dump a flashing beacon in the hole?

[desmobob]

3 hours ago, newbiedmv said:

Dumb question what's a flasher. The batteries are mentioned.  You all dump a flashing beacon in the hole?

 

A flasher is a type of old-school, real-time sonar.   https://marcumtech.com/explore-m-series-flashers/

 

A lot of guys used them in their boats back before LCD graphs came out.

[newbiedmv]

Ok...makes sense. I'd guess lcd or any new display won't work in that temp.

[desmobob]

That wasn't the real issue.  New displays and most LCDs work fine.  The issue was that early graphs had a lot of latency.  When you're fishing vertically, having real-time information is important so ice fishermen relied on flashers (and many still use them) because of the instant readout.

 

Most modern graphs are fast enough that ice fishermen use them.  They have the advantage of showing several seconds of history on the scrolling display.