My First Time Ice Fishing in 20 years



 For the first time in twenty years I went ice fishing yesterday.  My last experience was not a whole lot of fun. I went with my friend Eric Meyer to a pond near some of his relatives house. We set up some tilts and caught a mess of pickerel and I think a couple bass. However I was not dressed appropriately. I was wearing sneakers. My winter coat was not warm enough, and I recall my hands freezing. Basically I was not prepared and froze my ass off.

Yesterday, my friend Dave called me up to tell me he was going to do some scouting to see if any ponds were safe and he would let me know if they were. I have been bugging him for a month to take me ice fishing. He uses a jigging rod, and I had never done that before. Also he has a chipper and an auger. I had no intentions of buying either until I found out if I would have fun.

Dave didn't know I had Friday off when he told me he was scouting. Some how I managed to invite myself to go with him. I met him at his house a half hour after we got off the phone. He took me to a pond in northern RI that freezes fairly quickly. It is also loaded with panfish ( perch, bluegills and crappie).

We dug a few holes. I used the auger while Dave used the chipper. We jigged a small Kastmaster tipped with a mealworm. We didn't get any, but some guys that were fishing the other side of the pond were leaving. They were using shiners . When they left we jigged in their holes ( they were there all day without a hit). We didn't get any at their holes so we went back to ours before we left.  I managed to get one little yellow perch. That was the happiest I have ever been catching a six inch fish. It was my first fih ever jiggingwhile ice fishing. It was the only fish we caught on this slow day.

Surprisingly, I had a great time. My new boots kept my feet warm. I wore ski pants over my sweats. I stayed very comfortable even though the high was around 22 degrees at best. I can't wait to go again. I am even sad that the weather forecast is for a warming trend. Thanks for taking me Dave!