Every night I walk around a lake by my house, which is still mainly frozen. The weather is warmer now, but you can still see some signs of the ice fishing that went on this winter. Yesterday afternoon, I chuckled when I noticed a couple of lounge chairs on the frozen lake by my house (Figure 1). The idea of lounge chairs on a frozen lake strikes me as funny. Anyway, the ice fisherman had left their chairs by their fishing hole for the last few weeks. Unfortunately, the shore ice has started to melt and now they cannot get out onto the ice to recover them. I guess they will need to wait for the ice to completely melt and then try to recover their chairs from the lake bottom. At least it wasn't any of their ice fishing gear that ended up stranded, as I imagine they paid a huge amount of money for it, especially the drill. They always had something new each time I saw them, whether it was a new rod, a new reel, or even a new fishing suit to keep them warm. I must say, I am looking forward to seeing them out there again next season!
Unbeknownst to many, ice fishing is actually quite popular. It just offers you something different than what fishing on a normal lake does. To be honest, it's quite hard to explain if you've never taken part in it, or witnessed it before. Surprisingly, you have an extended list of equipment that you need to get before being successful at this downtime activity. It seems to me like those ice fishermen knew exactly what they needed to increase the likelihood of them catching the fish. Obviously, they would need to find a way to break the ice first, and I overheard them saying that they think it's time to look for a new ice auger, and how they are thinking about having a look at something like these Outdoorempire ice auger reviews to find the best one. All ice fishers want is the opportunity to catch some fish and they need the best quality equipment to make this happen. I can't wait to see if they did decide to buy a new auger; I'm practically on the edge of my seat just thinking about it. Roll on next season.
Figure 1: Lounge Chairs on a Frozen Lake.
The Boy Scout units in our area do an annual clean up on a local lake after the ice houses are (supposed to be) off the ice. The idea is get all the junk left behind before the ice melts and it falls into the lake. This year we collected about 1800 pounds of trash. Is it so hard for people to clean up after themselves and not leave this stuff to pollute our lakes?
Hi Dave,
Long time no see -- or hear.
Sigh ... I have to clean up after the ice fisherman at my cabin every year. From their leavings, you would swear they must spend most of their fishing time drinking. I stepped on a whiskey bottle a few years ago that resulted in a rather nasty cut. So I now carefully rake the area where they ice fish -- I could not stomach a child hurting themselves in that area.
Mark