So looking at maybe doing an ice fishing trip, eh.
Anyone here do much ice fishing, eh?
Devils Lake, ND looks like a decent place to book a guide. Lake of Woods, MN??ÿ
Holy smokes though - it's cold up there. Current check has a high of -14 today. Dear God that's cold.?ÿ
Anyways any advice or experience? Stories, pics, etc.
I don't have any advice, but will be watching this thread.?ÿ I have been thinking the same thing, but am?ÿleaning towards Mille Lacs Lake.
When working on Wolf Point Reservation in Eastern Montana one cold winter, we had one field person who would not show up for a few days (no notice) and then a few days later would show up like nothing happened ready for work.?ÿ After the second time he did this, I started asking him questions.?ÿ He would set up camp on the ice and fish - for 3 days.?ÿ Nobody can just 'fish' for 3 days but Ronnie could.
Back when I lived in the land of cheese I would ice fish often. I suppose that our standards were low insomuch as bluegill, sunfish and crappie were all we fished for and we got a lot of them. We would fish on Turtle Lake where the local bar manager would take our bucket o fish and turn them into a basket of fish while we dipped a few beers in the bar. Happy days.?ÿ
We had a shack for several years that we towed (with a snowmobile) out on the lake and it stayed until it almost had to be floated back to shore. I think there are rules now about that.?ÿ With two of us inside it was cozy warm even when it was way below zero. Ice got about 21" thick one year which was kind of a pain but there were tools for that. Kind of like digging up a monument.?ÿ (wonder how many spuds are on the bottom of lakes?) We would have a hole in the shack, and sometimes a couple more outside with tip-ups to let us know if there was anything on the line. Those were mostly a pain because you had to put your jacket back on in order to maintain them.?ÿ We never drove a car out on the lake. Never. Well sober anyway. Walking out there with your gear in tow is part of the adventure and I've seen a few go through the ice which isn't pretty.?ÿ
Many years later my buddy Larry took wife-person ice fishing. Got her all outfitted and made her spud her own hole. No shack but a tent like contraption for shelter.?ÿ She had a blast and brings up the adventure every chance she gets.?ÿ?ÿ
I imagine you can call just about any lakeside tavern in Minnesota or Wisconsin and ask if there would be someone to take you out and you'd get a "yup".?ÿ Have fun wherever you end up, I bet you will.?ÿ
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Do a fair amount in winter and spring when time allows. Lake trout, burbot, char and pike mostly. I don't know where your going or what kind of gear you have. Spring is always the nicest time to go when the days are getting longer but the ice is still solid enough to drive a truck on. Fair number of FB groups you could look into that might be able to give you the skinny on where your going and what's working and what's not. If you're going out and it's down to zero and below, even if it's not and the winds blowing you'll want a ice fishing tent and Mr. Heater. Haven't tried it yet but I'm hoping to try spear fishing for pike some time. I mostly jig and drop bait and chill out with a case of beer. Watch out for overflow. It can really screw up your day if you get stuck in it. I speak from experience.?ÿ ?ÿ
Anyways any advice or experience?
Dress warm...
I'm going to stick my sub-tropical neck out here and say that my understanding is that fish in freezing-cold water fight a lot less than those in cold-warm water. Anyway, I had to find out what "overfalls" are, and found this advice from the pro's:
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=119
Went to a little talk a week ago Monday at the Flathead wildlife meeting. (In the FWP building in town)Put on by the Ice fishing pro at one of the sport shops here. After the talk, I figured the only things keeping me from being a pretty good fisherman was a job, a family and about $10,000.....
PS- keep you maggots warm....
Good article. I wounder how many cheetos have caught fish?
The only ice I want to see is in a bag at the 7-11. I go out back to the dock with a fly rod and can catch bluegill and specs?ÿ all day. Of course it has to be between 70-80 degrees before venturing out on such an expedition. No ice huts, trucks, fireplaces, 16 layers of clothes, chain saws, augers, flags, life rafts, flares or emergency personnel standing by, just a beer and a fly rod.?ÿ
Personal fishin' spot......
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Had to share that one with a dozen buddies. The only thing he left out was, "Here. Hold my beer." Still chuckling.
I would recommend ice fishing Maine.?ÿ You can fish five lines.?ÿ We would set four traps with live smelt, shiners, tomcod or suckers, and jig with one rod.?ÿ An experienced ice fisherman will tend to catch more on a jig pole, but I always enjoyed getting them on traps; someone yells, "Flag!", you run like a maniac to the tip-up, look down the hole, see the reel screaming, and grab the line.?ÿ Lots of fun.?ÿ
Maine will give you a great variety of species within a small area.?ÿ Oxford County is the area I'm familiar with.?ÿ There you can catch brook, brown and lake trout, as well as landlocked salmon, white and yellow perch, black crappie, small and large mouth bass, blue gill, pumpkin seed and many others.
Carl Bois at Rocky Ridge Guide Service in Lovell, Maine will get you into some trout and salmon through the ice as well as any warm water species.?ÿ Casey's Camps on Moosehead Lake's Spencer Bay is a great place if you want some larger brook trout, salmon, and lake trout (Mainers call them togue).?ÿ The cusk or burbot fishing is fantastic too.?ÿ There's a reason they call cusk the poor man's lobster.
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