As I sat in my chair thinking it was too cold to do anything, thinking maybe I could review what needs work in my ice fishing box before I get out there, the phone rang. It was my son-in-law, Jeff. “It’s too cold to trim hooves, so I cancelled for the day. You want to go ice fishing? I will be there about 9:30.” We decided to go to Red Wing to the Harbor, and fish inside the docks. It wasn’t as cold when we got there, it rally was, but we were protected a bit from the wind. I also brought my Frabill shack, and the heater, so we were alright. Jeff caught a nice 10″ crappie right away. Well, not right away. His rod tip was dancing like an Olympian while he was waiting for the hit. I finally convinced him that the fish had the waxworm, so he could reel it in. He was shocked! As he dropped down again, the big brother of the first fish did the same thing! This one released itself at the top of the hole, and we watched the 12-13″ slab turn and slide beneath the ice. “You can dive for those nice ones!” He was still in shock. We expected more action. But after a few minutes of jigging to entice the bite, we moved, started drilling more holes—-12 more through the six inch ice in various hot spots along the docks—– and struck out in all but a couple. Nothing more was caught, but we did have three or four moves up to take the bait. We left around 1:30, because had a meeting at the Ranch. We survived the cold, and found that everything worked like it was supposed to. If only I had a picture of the big one that got away! Now, I am ready to try again!
December 1, 2014 at 6:44 pm
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