First Ice Adventures

After much anticipation and waiting for safe ice, I finally made it out ice fishing this weekend. On Friday I took the day off and went to the Fish Lake narrows, a spot that always has good ice early and where I have had good early season crappie and walleye fishing in the past. It was very cold and windy, so I took the bigger, warmer blue house. I don't use that house very often (I even tried to sell it) and after a few hours of fishing I remembered why-it is the most uncomfortable portable ice house ever built...it is short (can't even come close to standing up in it), and the built in seats are convenient, but uncomfortable. Getting in and out of it requires you to be a contortionist. My back was screaming by the end of the day. It didn't help matters that I only had two bites all day, resulting in a small northern pike and a decent walleye. To top it off, when I went to pack it up, two of the house poles suddenly snapped in half. Not good, but I was already leaning towards never using the house again. Fish Lake was awash with other anglers...tons of people...too many for my taste.

On Saturday, the forecast was for warmer temps, so I put my very small, mobile 1-man flip-over shack in the truck. As I packed the rest of my gear, I realized I couldn't find my new headlamp. I had used it the day before. I finally grabbed my old one. When I back out of the garage, I found my new headlamp. It must have fell out of my pocket in the alley and now it was in several pieces as it had by driven over several times. Argh. I drove an hour north to a little lake that I heard has big crappies. To get to the lake, a person must walk down a swampy winding creek. I checked the ice at the bridge and it had 6" of good ice. I reasoned that the current should be strongest where the bridge constricts the creek, and if the ice was good there, it should be no issue to get to the lake. Still, I walked carefully on the creek as I drug my gear towards the lake, pounding my heavy ice chisel ahead of me as I went. When I was nearly to the lake, I heard some odd cracking noises under me and so I pounded the chisel harder to test the ice underneath me. I discovered I was on about an inch of ice. The cracking continued as I did an about-face and went back to the truck. I am sure the water was very shallow in the creek, but I didn't feel like getting wet just for a couple crappies. So, back towards Duluth I went. I went to Wild Rice Lake, where the ice was much thicker (There were even some brave four-wheelers out there setting up permanent shacks). There were lots of people fishing on Rice. I sat in my tiny flip shack all afternoon and only had one bite all day, and I failed to see the fish. I also decided the small flip shack is not the fish house for me. It is fine for warmer days when you are moving around a lot and all you really need is a windbreak, but on colder windy days, it doesn't cut it.

On Sunday, the weather changed again and it was very cold with a brisk northwest wind. I went back to Wild Rice and set up a bit deeper and closer to the main lake. This time I took my ultra-portable 11lb tent that fits two people, but is a major pain to set up in the wind and doesn't heat up very well (especially if it is cloudy and windy). I had the TV with, and I watched the Vikings as I waited for fish. The Eager Angler joined me after noon and we never had a bite all day-not even a hint of a fish. It was very cold that late afternoon as we packed up.

So another first ice weekend has come and gone, and I can't say it lived up to expectations. I'll blame it on the unstable weather. I will now start my search for the perfect portable fish house. I'll get by on old ones for this year, but I will be examining all the options for next year.

Okay then.