What is Ice Fishing?

Well, Ice Fishing is easy.... not!

Ice fishing is exactly what it says, fishing on ice. You drill a hole in the ice, put a hook and line down the hole, and catch a fish. Easy as that. Well it is not that easy, there is the problem of the cold, yes it can get truly cold out on the ice. There have been advances in science to get around such problems, ie, the Snow-Suit, the Shanty, and yes, let me refer you to Dr. Jack Daniels and his many warming perscriptions. There are many ways to stay warm as there are to fish. You can fish with a pole, or on the ice a shorter pole (called a jigging pole) is prefered. Or you can fish with a Tip-Up, in which there are many different styles and mechanisms that are named such. The basic idea of a Tip-Up is that when a fish bites the bait, and starts to swim away with it, the Tip-Up is triggered and a flag goes up, calling your attention to it, saying there is a fish here! Techniques in Ice Fishing are many. Ice Fishermen will claim it is the colour of the line you use, to the size of the hook, and more unusual, the way you drill your line. Drilling your line is the configuration in which you place your Tip-Ups. For example, some people place all their tip-ups in a circle, or maybe in one straight line. In the Holy Shit Ice Fishing Derby, everyone does a basic straight line placement, with a Star configuration from the shanty, the shanty is then the center of the star, and there are Tip-Ups everywhere around it. If you want to learn more about Techniques, click on the individual members to get an idea of their technique, type of tip-up and success rate.