Romans: Should I Take Up Ice Fishing?
I’ve got a confession. I’m a fishing junkie. OK, well, that’s not the confession part. The confession is that as much as I love to fish, I’ve never plopped my bucket on a bucket in the middle of an iced-over piece of water, drilled a hole, and dunked jigs and bait in search of a mid-winter trophy.
In other words, I’ve never been ice fishing.
I hoped I would finally make it out for the first time this season, but weather patterns and schedule conflicts make the possibility of finding time on the ice more and more unlikely as the end of winter is rapidly approaching.
Watching Nate Dean’s ice-fishing video made the fun I’m missing out on even more obvious. If you haven’t watched it, you need to. He’s got some good tips and explains how to use some basic gear—and proves that it works by catching a few fish. A few of those panfish and some perch like he caught towards the end, and you could have yourself a nice fish fry!
So my question to the Generation Wild world is this: Am I missing the boat here? Who else out there is an ice fisherman? Hit me with your take on the sport and see if you can make me jealous. —Ben
Ben, its simple. I can catch a 6 plus pound bass on a super ultra light panfish rod and 2 pound test. Plus its something to do over the winter.
February 5th, 2010 at 2:14 pmBen, I’m with you. I’ve never been ice fishing in my life either. After I got all the gear I needed for christmas, I was really looking forward to going out. I still haven’t gotten a chance to go yet, but I really want to. If you got the opportunity to go, go.
February 6th, 2010 at 8:41 amIce fishing is awesome guys and if you havent tried you probably should. Yes it is cold and boring at times but me and my buddies solve this problem by clearing of a spot away from everybody and sooting a puck around. Jigging is fun especially when you are catching but even that is hard. Try it more than once if you are going to try it because you first time may suck but with experience comes a lot of good fish.
February 6th, 2010 at 8:52 amIn my experience ice fishing is pretty much a flop. BUT that should not deter you from trying. For one thing I didn’t have a flasher which is pretty much essential, and for another I didn’t have an ice house which is darn nice when the wind is howling.
February 8th, 2010 at 12:00 pmSo yes, do take up ice fishing. Something to do when winter gets boring!
February 8th, 2010 at 12:00 pmWhat’s happening? I hate when the website is stagnant for so long.
February 18th, 2010 at 5:58 pmI agree with TK what is going on?
February 19th, 2010 at 10:24 amExactly. That is the major problem with Gen wild. Not enough users. Not enough advertising to get many posts. its a great site, and Ben, I like your blog, but it needs some help.
February 20th, 2010 at 10:16 amYeah I love the posts but I do think they could be more often, especially with a pro staff. Field and Stream needs to promote it more.
February 21st, 2010 at 5:43 pmNow, I know for a fact that running a blog is a pain. i’ve done it. But seriously, 8 pro staff, and Ben. You can do it. If you need help, E-mail me Ben. I would love to help you out.
February 21st, 2010 at 9:14 pmHey Fellas–
Sorry about the lapse. Colin and I have been in one door, and out the other these days. . . Busy, busy, busy, so we’re sincerely sorry, sorry, sorry for the lapse of new content. We’ll get some new goods up ASAP and get back in the groove. I promise.
Again–my apologies.
February 22nd, 2010 at 8:28 amWell, I finally got to do some ice fishing yesterday. I didn’t catch anything, but my dad caught two perch. Including one massive one. I had fun though, even with the lack of production.
February 22nd, 2010 at 8:37 amDon’t worry about it Ben. We’re all busy. I run a blog with my brother and it is super hard to post all the time, so I know what it’s like.
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:06 pm