Ice fishing never really intrigued me until moving to New England. Folks here take the sport much more seriously than I had been exposed to growing up out west. I love fishing, but I hate sitting and waiting. I like the kind of fishing where I am working my way up a stream, constantly reeling, jigging, snagging, etc. Thus, icefishing didn't seem my cup of tea. I wanted to give it a shot though, before I passed any final judgement and I had my opportunity this last weekend. A co-worker had invited me to come with him and a couple of guys that work at a neighboring planning commission to Crystal Lake, near the NH-VT border. The experience was not altogether unpleasant and we actually were pulling up some fish every now and again. The top 6 inches or so of the ice was just slush, which made for some soggy boots and rather chilly down-time, but I have to admit it is quite a thrill rushing to your tip up, pulling in that line hand-over-hand, and yanking out a big fat large-mouth bass. I might be tempted to try it again if the conditions were right.
5 comments:
Love that last photo, Dan. Looks like you didn't pack a lunch and it had been a long day on the ice.
The first photo of you and the catch of the day is pretty impressive. I'm glad you had a good time in spite of the unpleasant sounding slushy conditions.
Looks freezing! Glad you caught some good ones :)
What you do is go above the inversion where it's beautiful and 30 degrees warmer, and then you play frisbee on the ice while waiting for fish to bite (and that day, they never did). Or, a slightly less pleasant experience, lie down on the snow and ice in the middle of Strawberry Reservoir and try not to get hit by lightning from a thunder snowstorm (I don't remember if we caught anything that day). But your experience looks fun, too! :)
Well done Dan. You may, perhaps, ALWAYS have that one on me. :) Thanks for sharing.
I remember how cold it was on the frozen lake....I think I will pass. It was beautiful for sure!!!!
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