Ice Box Ice House

Went ice fishing Sunday morning with my dad on Forest Lake. It was the first time I'd been in the house, which is made out of an old walk-in cooler that you'd find in a restaurant. Although it looks odd, it's actually quite functional and quite cozy! It's also large enough to allow for 4 holes, so with just the two of us fishing we had plenty of room. I'd never fished in a house before that had a full-size door, window, television, shelving, chairs, rod holders etc. It was pretty neat.

We fished from about 7am - 11:30am, and the action was pretty good early on and then slowed down by the time we left. I think I caught about 15 small crappies, none large enough to be considered keepers.

Crappy Weather Is Crappie Weather

(click to enlarge)

Had an absolute blast on the lake last weekend ice fishing. I left work around noon on Friday, picked up Mike and hit the road before the snow started. It wasn't bad driving at all until about Danbury, when it started to snow pretty good. We made it to the cabin just fine and geared up and headed out to the lake to fish with Jeff around sunset. The crappies were lighting up the screen on our Marcums and biting pretty good. I think we ended up with around 12-15 keepers the first night.

The second night Don, Jeff, Rick and myself all had a great time during primetime again. I think we had around 25 keepers. Jeff ended up with the biggest crappie of the weekend that night, but we all caught numbers and the action was steady.

Sunday morning I got up early and went out by myself before sunrise. It was a little chilly at first, but after I saw all the fish on the screen I warmed up pretty quickly. I caught 24 small crappies and 1 keeper, but the action was fast and furious. Just about the time Don came down to the lake and I was about to go in for breakfast, I reeled in a large Northern Pike. I didn't have my camera with to take a picture, but it was definitely the largest fish of the weekend. I decided then it was a good place to stop and call it a day.

Despite the 24 inches of snow at the cabin and below zero temps, we loaded three ziploc bags full of crappie filets. Jeff mentioned it was one of the most successful ice fishing weekends ever. The trip home was a little scary at times, due to the high winds and blowing snow. I figured the best way to unwind was to have a fish fry and a cold beer, a great way to end a great weekend!

Ready, Set, Freeze, Fish!

The Cabin Forecast

In just over 24 hours I'll be picking up Mike and heading up to Loon Lake for ice fishing weekend. Despite the forecast of frigid temps, I'm really excited to get up there and do some fishin'. I even picked up a new Marcum VX-1 flasher yesterday on craigslist, using some of my birthday cash.

Marcum VX-1

A flasher is cool little device that uses different color led lights to indicate the bottom of the lake, the location of your lure, and alert you to fish, when and where they appear. With this valuable information, you can adjust your fishing presentation (bait), style, speed, depth, location etc. allowing you the best chance to land fish. In addition to helping you ice more fish, they are just plain fun to watch when the fishing gets slow.

Whether fishing on ice or water, summer or winter, it's not all about catching fish, though. I really look forward to spending the time outside, slowing down and enjoying the great company.

In a way, ice fishing for guys is a lot like girls talking on the phone, neither one seems to understand why the other enjoys it so much.