An Outdoor Thought - The Misery of Ice Fishing

Oh the misery of ice fishing. Frozen fingers, runny nose, wet boots, deep snow, bulky clothes, cold wind, hard work drilling holes, long walks to the ice, burden of checking depths, in-mobility, no fish, tedious task of setting up and packing up. How the heck do we call this fun? Okay, let me rephrase that question; how did our dad's or grandpa's call this fun? Good question, huh. I have some photos of my past ice fishing experiences pinned on my office walls and for some "strange" reason I found myself gazing at them. After some time passed my subconscious started drifting and the questions I asked above came to mind. Usually what happens next is I get in the writing mood, and whalla! An article is born.

Take a second with me and think about ice fishing and the old days. Back in the day ice fishing was a tough man's sport. The winters were more severe (or the stories always made it seem so) and getting to the lake was a challenge with the vehicles available. But what happened when you finally reached the ice? You probably pulled out a four inch hand auger--or if you were lucky/adventurous enough--a cold blooded Briggs and Stratton equipped with crude auger and blades. After about ten minutes the finished result was a crooked hole hopefully with a large enough opening at the bottom to fish. To top that off you stand hot and sweaty rubbing your aching arms cringing not at the fact you only had one hole drilled but that the below freezing temps would soon find the sweat you lathered up.

Finally, six holes are drilled (only wanting four but two of them ended up being the same depth) and it's now time to untangle the stiff memory prone monofilament from two foot uneven pieces of tree branches. You throw on a couple split shots, stick a minnow through the mouth, drop the line in the hole and repeat the process. With set lines in the water you dig out the newly designed ice rod cut to fit from an unfortunate open water casualty and tie on your favorite jig. The bucket flips up and down you sit, your jigging!

Time goes by and the wind starts to eat through your bulky layers of clothing. You sit, staring at nothing but the hole and occasionally glance at the frozen bobbers lying near your set lines. The fingers stiffin as you continually dip your hand for another minnow but the cold fingers are not a factor, instead you are more angry at the fact the pole you made is too flimsy to feel a bite. Disgusted as another fish goes uncaught you get up to walk around creating friction for heat. While walking in circles pounding your hands together you gaze over at the distant point and say to yourself, "If only I could move more quickly."

I'll spare details on gear retrieval as darkness begins to fall because we all know how miserable it can be even today. But seriously, can you imagine ice fishing in those days? Could we handle it? I'm sure there's some of you reading this that have done plenty of the "rough and tough" ice fishing. Actually, in my younger years I can testify to much of it but it's a whole new ball game today.

Today we have modern and well equipped four wheel drive pickups, reliable ATVs and snowmobiles, power augers, awesome fishing gear, unbelievable electronics, unthought-of portable and permanent shelters, lightweight and wind/waterproof clothing, to efficient heaters. Bad or good? Well, I think it would be difficult to get anyone to answer bad, me included, because all the advances we enjoy today opens the door for more people to enjoy ice fishing. It allows for families to go out and enjoy the sport together instead of it continuing as a "rough and tough" man's sport. With that said, I encourage each and every one of you to take a kid, your wife, significant other or whomever with on your next outing. There's simply no excuse today not to! I bet there's a lot of grandpa's out there that wish they had the luxuries we have today not to catch more fish (they didn't need any help in that department); instead, to have the ability to take whomever as company on the lonely ice and pass down yet another outdoor generation.

Remember, all the goodies can't catch fish for you! Fish hard and fish safe, see you on the ice...

Editor's Note: Photo 1 - Me arriving by snowmobile at one of my favorite hot spots. Photo 2 - My brother Tanner and good friend Matt posing with northern pike. Thought I'd share this photo because it brought back memories of an awesome year for big northern pike. This day was a slow one compared to our average of about seven a day near the size shown in the picture, regardless, a great time! Photo 3 - Here's one of my uncle's buddy and myself posing with a couple dandy northern pike. Hal was quite the character and from that day on we've shared other outdoor events. The fish I'm holding happens to be the top fish in the "Guess the Weight" photo located in the gallery. Photo 4 - A dandy limit taken in an evenings time. Adam, myself, Matt and my dad Jay really tore into them that night. It was the greatest ice fishing day I've had and will probably be the greatest year. But I'll keep going each year with hopes it repeats itself because ya just never know. That's what it's all about anyways isn't it?