A Child's First Time Ice Fishing

A Child's First Time Ice Fishing

My son Gavin was finally ready to go ice fishing. He said “I am seven now and I can carry stuff and I am strong” So we planned a family outing to a pond I have been fishing for 20 years. Once my 12 year old daughter learned her brother was going she decided she was coming along too even though she turned down 200 trips previous to the intel that the little brother was going. She decide she wanted uncle Al to go and made a call. We were all set.

If you want your child’s first ice fishing trip to be fun there are a few things you must do.

First you should know how to actually ice fish! (big help). Safety is paramount. If you have not ice fished your self, it is your responsibility as a parent to learn how to be safe on the ice. Research, study, watch videos, what ever it takes. Even ask a seasoned friend or hire a guide either for yourself or your kids. For a podcast on the subject CLICK HERE

Second now that you know how to ice fish and be safe the next thing is to keep them warm. If their hands or feet get cold your trip is over before it starts. Just as in adults good layers matter. I like a couple of thin layers before any bulky stuff. A decent pair of snow pants, good knit hat, good gloves not the cute knit super hero ones, and warm socks. They actually sell kids wool socks, I found some at target. They are not as thick as adults socks so toe warmers are a must especially since kids boot are crap. You can get good boots online but for the price you better hope they are going to wear them a lot.

Third if you own a shelter use no matter how nice it is outside. If it 30s out it will be like your living room in the shelter. Warm kids are happy kids.

Fourth take them somewhere with a high number of fish. Size does not matter to new fisher people. Success is a major key to get them to come back. 20 tiny blue gills trump that bass you have been chasing.

Fifth have entertainment. Many kids have devices now days. A game of mindcraft or a cartoon can buy you a couple more hours on the ice. Now don’t be mad if they want to play on the ice or in the snow. In fact bring a sled or skates. You may already have a sled take your stuff out and let them have some fun. 

Sixth and most important point is snacks and food. On a short trip some small snacks and juice boxes will do the trick. On a full day we always start with hot chocolate and doughnuts holes. On special occasions like my little mans first trip we order a pizza!

So how did it go you ask? It was the perfect day. It only took a couple holes to find the fish. It was not terribly cold which meant the shelters were very warm. My daughter started catching gills on every drop and did not stop for an hour! She only stopped to teach a young girl how to ice skate while the rest of us mixed catching, eating doughnut holes, and drinking chocolate milk.

My youngest Gavin enjoyed video game fishing watching the camera and catching his first ice fish. We laughed, listened to music, caught, and missed fish. Both my kids stole my otter sled and played with that for quite some time. We ordered a pizza caught a few more and called it a day. We caught most of our fish on small jigs with Magic Maggies and spikes. An adventure I will remember always.  

     

Behold the Yellow Bass

Behold the Yellow Bass

In the 90s The Fox Chain and Fox river were loaded, I mean Loaded with yellow bass.

What's a yellow bass?

" the yellow bass or barfish, is a species of temperate bass native to the south and Midwestern United States. It is an inhabitant of lakes, ponds and areas of large rivers with reduced current such as backwaters and pools. This species can reach a length of 46 centimeters (18 in) TL though most are only around 23.9 centimeters (9.4 in). The greatest recorded weight for a specimen of this species is 11 kilograms (24 lb). This species is sought after as a game fish.[1]

Though sometimes confused with white bass or striped bass, it is distinguished by its yellow belly and the broken pattern in its lowermost stripes. It can also mate with the white bass."

It was the best ice fishing I have ever witnessed. They were the species of my first ice fishing trip! 100-200 fish days were common place. This was with dozens of fisherman! They are all muscle, the size of decent bluegill but twice as strong. It is my opinion that they are the best fighters of all the pan fish. 

Then the fun came to an end. A massive die-off like nothing I have ever seen. Thousands of dead fish lined the fox river. Gone were the fall days of wading for the yellow brutes and destroying my cheap ultra reels I bought when i was young. What happened? This is the best explanation I have seen:

"Yellow Bass and White Bass – The yellow bass decline continued from it’s high of 54% of the catch in 1988 to 4.3% of the catch in 2001. This dramatic restructuring of the population has reduced competition with other species and benefited the overall fishery in the Fox Chain O’ Lakes. Ice fishermen enjoyed the fast paced action of the late 1980″s and early 1990′s but their over-abundance was not sustainable and resulted in poor condition (a starvation state) which opened the population up to naturally occurring pathogens and the massive die offs."

So now to current day, a great winter group on Facebook, ICE JUNKIES OUTDOORS had some members that live on a 300+ acre private lake that had been over run by yellow bass. They asked for volunteers to come and fish them!!! With memories of the good old days I was not going to miss this. The first occasion was a casual group fishing for fun, the second a mini tournament with most fish winning, and the third was a full blown derby with raffles, chili, and hot dogs!!!!! I had a blast and caught a ton of fish with fellow dupageangler.com members Sooner Bass well as members from the Kayak Bass League and Aurora Lures.

Most ice fishing tactics worked on the fish. Jigs tipped with waxies, spikes, and pieces of yellow bass belly work well. JC(my buddy Chunsum) caught everyone of his fish on Magic Maggies from Aurora Lures. I used small spoons of all kinds tipped with the baits mentioned above. Minnows also caught their fair share as well as a bunch of crappie.

I fully understand these guys wanting to thin them out to protect the other species, But I personally would love there to be a couple lakes with a yellow bass problem. Lakes I could go to every winter and just crush these under rated yellow fin fighters. I would like to thank all the guys from ICE JUNKIES for letting me experience the gold rush once more.

If you want to experience ice fishing adventure or learn to fish, you can contact me at DuPage Fishing Guide Service

March Ice fishing for Panfish

Jason and I arrived at a private lake in the darkness just before dawn.

Jason’s ION electric auger was the perfect choice for a lake surrounded by house at 5:30 am. We drilled in 5ft, 6ft, and 8. we expected the fish in the 8 foot hole the only one on the lake. But the fish were in 6 around the outside of the hole.

DupageAngler.com member Dark Star (Jason) caught a gill in the 6ft, so we set up shop.

The fish came in waves and we caught fish at a steady pace. The day started at 3 degrees and ended in 20. Fishing was nice and comfortable once the sun came out.

We caught the trifecta of this lake, Bluegills all big as or hand, crappie all 10 inches or better and a couple bass! Changing presentations was the key for me. Fish were caught on Swedish Pimples, Slender Spoons, jigs of all sorts, Little Atom Plastics, Aurora Lure Maggies, wax worms and spikes.

It was a great day until a nice but concerned homeowner came out to check our permission. We talked everything was fine and discussed fishing for a while. Another homeowner thought we were out there arguing and called the cops. Thank god we were talking to the family I know when two cops showed up thinking were fighting with an home owner were trespassing!! Then we talked fishing with them as the admired Jason’s equipment

All in all it was a great especially after some great fishing and meeting the local law enforcement!

The Attack of The Freeze Beast and the Slush monster

I like many of you got the flu, But I and missed a weekend of ice fishing. I was ticked. Monday night after work I decided I was going. My wife told me I was still pale and should not do it. Well she was right by the time I carried my auger down the hill to the pond and drilled, I was spent. So I went home and died on the couch.

Tuesday again my first thought was that I am going to get out on the ice tonight.  Right off the bat I ran into problems, I brought my hand auger this time and reopened the holes I had made the night before. The problem was the slush from my holes was frozen in to tiny ice mountains in the single digit weather. I tried to sit my shelter up on them and it was like trying to stand on one foot after an epic night partying.

Now things went from bad to worse. I have seen slush layers between the ice and the snow before but not this watery. There was a foot of snow, then 3 inches of wet ass slush, then two feet of ice. Usually I see this during a warm up, but it had been no higher then 8 degrees all day. It was now 1 degree and my doom was sealed. When the slush layer met the heat of my lantern it turned my shelter into a smoking Indian sweat lodge and I could hardly see to fish. What the hell? So tired, hot, and out of breath thanks to the flu and my asthma I conceded defeat and started to pack up. My retreat was terrible as well. Anything the slush had splashed on was immediately encased in ice. My boots, legs, auger, shelter, and everything in my otter sled!!! As I pulled everything to the van, I was out of breath and could not figure out why it was sooo heavy. I took separate trips up frozen hamburger hill. When I just had my empty sled it STILL weighed a ton. I flipped it over to find a 5 inch thick layer of frozen slush!! Finally I was back in my vehicle cover in sweat, legs burning, and hitting my inhaler wondering what just happened. I thought this sport was my relaxing stress free escape, I guessed wrong….

Sub Zero Ice Fishing in the Suburban Midwest

Sub Zero Ice Fishing in the Suburban Midwest

WOW cold enough for you? Here in the Chicago area we are no strangers to cold weather or winter or really good beef sandwiches.  Jason Darkstar and I both took the day off for fishing. What an awesome plan for a Monday in January right? There was only one problem, it decided to be well below zero with booger freezing wind chills. With schools cancelled and life at a stand still it was decided we would venture out in the afternoon.

I had a ton of layers on as I got out of the van, I was not pleased with the constant 20 mph winds burning my eyes because that was the only thing I had uncovered.  Another DA member Crankin King showed up to fish with us and helped me fight my shelter as I screwed in my new Eskimo ice anchors, which I must say after using some of the earliest designs of anchors, work awesome.

Once DS and I were barricaded in our shelters the fish started coming in at a steady pace. Nice fat gills and bass, some on jigs and Maggies and others on dead sticks with minnows.

Funny things happen in this kind of cold. We Midwest guys are used to cold temps, but in the Chicago area double digit below zero temps and high winds are not the norm. The first thing I noticed was the iron bear claw ice cleats I have had for years have a tendency to loosen and fall off. After drilling my holes I look down at my boots and cleats and they are completely encased in ice! I didn’t have to worry about them falling off!  I had a lantern and a heater running. When I stood up there was no frost from my breath however as I bent down for anything I smoked like a steam engine. My ice holes steamed like mini hot tubs (that’s new I thought). Ice formed on my lines as if I was not even in a shelter. I switched rods and five minutes later went back to the rod I had before, the spikes were frozen solid. As the sun set my propane tank and lantern were starting to ice up on any exposed metal. IT WAS TIME TO GO!!! Pulling my sled back to my van the cold air burned my lungs and I had to stop twice to get my breath and heart rate down when in most cases I would not need to stop to rest and would have gotten to my vehicle in half the time.

Did I catch fish, hell yeah! Should I have been out there, hell no! Will I do it again some day when the feel of the cold has faded in my mind, probably?