Did anyone see ABC News?

[Stew]

They had a story about the ice-fishing cabins that people tow onto frozen lakes in northern Minnesota. Talk about plush! One had a satellite dish and indoor restrooms along with surround sound stereo! All of the nicer ones had sleeping accomodations. The price on one of the cabins was $20,000 :shocked:
I've never ice fished so I don't know anything about it but the fish they showed being caught seemed pretty small. Am I missing something here?

[emptynet]

I have always wanted to try ice fishing but the fear of falling through the ice ends it quickly.

[stl_hd]

That's what a fish addict has to deal with when their water freezes. Thank God the rivers don't freeze here! And with all the fishing we have around here who wants to ice fish? Well, Ok, I would try it but I wouldn't buy a shack for it? http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[ampersat]

hey, fishing is fishing. to them, it's an alumaweld with the cabin front end option.

[biederboat]

I have been fortunate enough to try this back in Minnesota in both the open and a relatively modest cabin. It is a quite relaxing way to fish. You can watch TV, play cards, BS, cook, have "fun" with the wife if she comes along, whatever. I would call it relaxing as opposed to exciting, that is until you feel the ice shift for the first time! Typical catch is panfish but there is the occaisional muskie or pike or whatever it is they catch with all the teeth.

If we could do it out here, I definitely would. The closest thing we have (excepting eastern Oregon) is anchor fishing but even that requires more attentiveness for large fish, releasing the anchor, nice guys that anchor too close, barges, etc.

Biederboat

[ 02-21-2003, 07:45 PM: Message edited by: biederboat ]

[Stew]

I've seen some pretty nice plunking shacks years ago on the North Coast but nothing like what I saw on the news tonight.

[AuntyM]

When I visited Minnesota in the dead of winter a few years back, my son took me out on one of the popular fishing lakes. There are actual neighborhoods set up. Folks fish with other friends and family members like it's a camping trip.

Just another excuse to fish and party. :cheers: They use those cute little boxes with flags that set your hook and trip an alarm that you when you have a fish!

Yeah, I would do it if I could stay warm. :dance:

[Da Bank Maggot]

According to an online friend of mine in Minnesota, the movie 'Grumpy Old Men' graemlins/icon_argue.gif with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau showed a fairly accurate picture of what ice-fishing out of those cabins is like.

She also said the two big targets for these folks are perch and walleye...in that order

Da Mag'

[SandySteel]

Here is why you shouldn't go ice fishing.... Thanks to Doc Spratley.

Why ice fishing is a bad idea (http://homepage.mac.com/neiwert/IceFishinginBarrow.mpg)

[luguando]

Hey Stew,

You can go out and buy a new sled equipped with side and drop curtains. Then take it out on the Columbia during a cold front and button down your side and drop curtains and you can almost get the same effect. ... at about the same price tag! A lot of people I know think I'm nuts! The things we do for fishing!!!

[Penobscot]

I've ice fished many times and mainly for walleyes and northerns(pike). They are called ice houses and they stay quite warm. A good way to relax, listen to a game, play cards etc. The fishing is usually pretty good.

[Mr. Fisherman]

I miss ice fishing :depressed: . I still have my gas power auger and my Minute man Ice fishing shack as well as about 30 IceFishing rods.
I can't seem to give them up...
My new shack is 22' long but it doseen't have any holes in the floor to fish from, only one to throw money into... :wink:

[pdxkevin]

I learned to drive on the frozen lakes in Minnesota. Ice fishing is 1,000 times better in an ice house.

Sitting out on an overturned bucket, or worse yet a pile of snow, window blowing in face.... man it doens't take long before you are ready to get inside.

The ice houses I have used were not much more that sheds with holes in the floor. In one, we sat with out backks together in the middle and a hole in each corner of the floor. Another had us sitting in the corners with a long midway along each wall and a heater in the center.

The big one was some 10 foot wide and 15 to 20 feet long. Half the floor was missing and a big chuck of ice was removed. This was a sear house. You lured the fish to the surface and speared them.

As for what kind of fish?.... we fished for perch, bass, and walleye.

Check out ice fishing for wallyes over here (http://www.walleyehunter.com/icefish.html)
http://www.walleyehunter.com/graphics/wintereye.jpg

[straightweave]

Ice fishing, for those that have never done it, is well worth the effort. Depending on how early in the season you can get on the ice, the fishing can be absolutely fantastic.

In Michigan, where I grew up, you were allowed two rods and four hooks. That equals alotta fish. Most days, you couldn't keep both rods in the water. Limits on bluegills are 25 p/person, and that limit can be reached well before breakfast. Lake Michigan perch, which come into the inland lakes in the winter to spawn, are the best eating fish ever. Hands down. The limits on those have changed. Growing up, there was no limit, so you could fish until you ran out of bait. 100+ fish mornings were the norm. Now, w/ the increase in the hatchery programs and the increase in bass tournies and subsequent increase in bass, the limit is 50 per.

By early, I mean early. The old timers taught us that you need ice as thick as "a red fire brick" before it was safe to walk on. There are those guys that slide out onto their favorite lakes on inner tubes, on 2-3 inches of ice, for early season bluegills that absolutely slay em. Never did that, thanks, but, man they catch fish.

W/ the four hook rule, you can fish for perch w/ one rod and set tip-ups (those flagged doo-jobbies w/ 50lb test) for northern pike, walleye, and the occasional steelehead. Most of the walleye and pike are caught by jigging swedish pimples, jigging rapalas, etc., but w/ a big shiner minnow on the end of 1/0 hook, you can add to the daily take. Limit on Pike use to be 5, although we never got more than 2 or 3 thru the ice. Northern pike are as tough as they get. They can be on the ice in sub-human conditions for hours, take em home, and they flop about on the cutting board like you just caught it. Britches-soiling potential is high when you have an 8lb pike come to life in your hands after watching it die 6hrs earlier.

The lake that I grew up on had a shipping channel that connected it to Lake Michigan. In the late 1800's, the lake was dredged all along the west end to support the timber ships. Fishing along that dropoff was the place to be. The "shanties", as they are called, were tooo inhibiting to getting late season fish. Plus, if you get warm weather, they sink into the ice and it is a MOTHER to chop those things free. They are Ok early, but the fish either wise up or spread out later on. Working the dropoff, cutting holes in the ice as you went, was/is the best way to get late season fish.

In late winter, when the pan fish quit biting, we trolled rapalas in the channel between the two lakes for steelehead and brown trout. Big, bad, lake Michigan brown trout. A few times, when the wind shifted and sent ice bergs floating around, it got downright Washington-crossing-the-Delaware sketch. Didn't do it alot, but when we did we were well rewarded.

And of course, if the fishing was really slow, there was always ice golf!!!!

[Thumper]

O.K. --- I'm convinced. This ice-fishin' idea sounds great. Spent all week makin' my ice house, got it all ready to tow up on the lake. Just waiting for a night where the temp drops below freezing to get it out on the ice!!! :tongue:

[ultralight]

SandySteel,

Love that video :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[Norski]

Sandysteel,
Where do you find those video's
I said to my wife to take a look at this person ice fishing, she was watching with content and than jumped back 5 foot. GOT YEA!!
I am stell in stiches. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[fishchaser]

Sandy Steel,

I have not laughed so hard for a long time. Even the kids liked that one. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[fishitis]

OK, I'll tell the other side of it.
I lived in Iowa for three years, going to college. Now, we didn't have much money so no shack for me. Plus the ice isn't as thick in Iowa so there isn't as many shacks or as big.
But, I was desparate to get out. I rented a hand auger and went quite a few times on local lakes. Typical event was to go drill a hole, drop your line in with a maggot for bait, and sit on your lawn chair. Usually around 10 F and 10-20 mph winds. I'd bring styrofoam blocks to put my feet on. Wear about 6 layers of clothes. And on good days, catch a few small bluegill and once in a while a bass. Sound like fun? It was better than staying inside all the time.
Now, I'm sure it's a lot more fun to be in a shack and catching walleyes. And just like a hogline, it's a great community to be with other people fishing. But I made my back to Oregon and this is one great state. Mountains, ocean, moderate weather, snow where you want it, no tornados, and LOTS OF FISHING & HUNTING :grin: You'll have to drag me out of the northwest next time.

[The Bad Fish]

i used to ice fish when i lived in spokane, wa. we mostly caught trout 16- 18 inches long ,, some days all we caught was a buzz.. funny how designated driver and ice fishing go together... kb

[1pump]

I iced fished quite a bit when I lived in AK. I went with two brothers who were from upstate Minnesota. It was a sacred ritual to those two. To me it was an excuse to ride my snowmobile 70 miles back into the woods and check out the backcountry. I'd help auger thru 3 foot thick ice, get their shack set up, and then I'd scoot off for the hills and leave them sitting around and staring at a hole in the ice. Never did understand the appeal. But I'm not from Minny-sota. :wink:

[emptynet]

SandySteel, love the video. I have that saved on my computer. Use it whenever I am having one of those bad work days. I just picture whoever I am mad at sitting there fishing. Makes me feel better instantly to watch them get eaten. :grin:

Maybe I have issues... :whazzup: