By Mike Roche

This past weekend, some time was spent on the ice fishing at a local pond. In spite of the cutting wind and real cold temps, it was a fun day with a gathering that included a group of family and friends hosted by a great friend and everyone, particularly the younger set, had a great time.

As soon as this writer headed out on the ice, he realized that he had not prepared well, as somehow in my mind the day was supposed to be “the pick of the weekend” with temperatures in the 30s. Dragging my Eskimo QuickFish pop-up shelter/sled, it was immediately obvious that in reality, it was very cold and windy. The last detail before leaving the house was gloves and there were plenty to choose from in the pile of ice fishing gear.

Since ice fishing involves a lot of activity like putting bait on tip-ups and jigs, fingers need to be exposed to the elements. Gloves and/or mittens need to be designed for that use. The two pairs in my coat included a light pair that was not great when wet and a pair of heavy-duty mittens that included glove fingers, but were cumbersome.

After finding a spot that was not occupied by the “early birds” who were out at dawn, the Ion electric auger drilled the first hole and after it was cleared with the skimmer, the Vexilar FLX-12 flasher transducer was plopped in the hole. The gloves had to come off to bait the Hali jig with a tiny “spike” (AKA house fly maggot) as bait. In the cold, it seemed like it took forever to get things done and the jig did not attract any interest.

So, an Igloo Thermal tip-up was to be placed in the hole. That meant more bare-hand work with a shiner being netted from the aerated bucket, lip-hooked, and lowered down to a foot or so above the bottom. The traditional way to accomplish that is to use a special lead ice fishing sinker which has a spring to lock the bare hook in place so you can lower it to the bottom. You then mark the line (old-timers used a button in the line or other markers like tiny bobbers) so you can return to that depth repeatedly. The Vexilar is great for that as you can see an image of the shiner and a tiny sinker and suspend it where hopefully it will attract a big one and not use the sinker.

It struck me that this first hole had taken a very long time to get rigged. Since my daughter Jen was going to be joining me soon, we could legally fish five tip-ups each and at that rate, it would take me all day! To speed it up, an additional four holes were drilled and then skimmed and baited one at a time. It took a while, but they got rigged with three more tip-ups and then the shelter was “popped up.”

The idea was that the shelter would break the wind, which had become an issue. The fifth hole was in front of the place where my butt sat on a chair in the sled and hopefully the fish would be there and hungry. Fish did appear on the flasher on the drop, and they drifted up to check out the jig. A soft tap led to a nice bluegill coming through the hole. After that, however, the fishing matched the weather for me, but others were having better luck with tip-up flags flying. The wind also proved strong enough to blow over the shelter so ice stakes were screwed in to the frozen surface.

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Jen arrived with some hot coffee, and she found me with hands that were not working very well. During my misspent youth, a winter day with not a lot of common sense had resulted in a serious case of frostbite and it has plagued me, both hunting and fishing. Both hands, but mostly my left, lose feeling quickly if left exposed. It is frustrating for me because, although not especially painful, it makes it painfully slow to do things like baiting hooks or straightening tangled lines.

The rest of me was cold but functional, although the fingers were not working well. Even so, jigging was possible and a couple more bluegills and a small crappie were caught as I hopped from hole to hole. Jen gave jigging a try and caught a nice bluegill once she figured out the timing. She had flown in from Charleston, South Carolina, where she likes to spend some time in winter, and had an event to attend that afternoon (Happy Birthday Jill!) and had to head out early. Given the amount of time needed by me to pull the tackle, we made an early exit.

The really cold weather seems to be behind us (where have I heard that before?) and this week we will give it another try. If you are a serious ice fisherman, you know that some innovative tackles are now available to rig jigging rods to self-hook fish and some even jig automatically. One company that has a line of the new tackle is JawBreaker and this writer may be giving that new gear a whirl. After all, you can’t have too many toys, right?

Mike Roche is a retired teacher who has been involved in conservation and wildlife issues his entire life. He has written the Sportsman’s Corner since 1984 and has served as advisor to the Mahar Fish’N Game Club, counselor and director of the Massachusetts Conservation Camp, former Connecticut Valley District representative on the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board, a Massachusetts Hunter Education Instructor and is a licensed New York hunting guide. He can be reached at mikeroche3@msn.com.