# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Fishing >  Boots on the ice

## rebel

Anyone else doing a little ice fishing?

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## crimescene450

Me and my dad are gonna try this for the first time this weekend probably.



Anything i should know?

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## LowKey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Vfz_Mf9gs
 :Stick Out Tongue: 

Just can't bring myself to go ice fishing. They have tournies on the lake but I'm not a fan of sitting out in the wind (or in a hut) on a frozen block of ice waiting for a flag to tip. I'll stick to warmer, more uh...active...types of fishing.
Would be a good survival skill to have though... Should look into it more.

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## crashdive123

Still waiting for temps to drop a little.  Until then, I guess the ice in the beer cooler will have to do.

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## tipacanoe

The ice here just isn't safe at this time.  The snow we had last week, weighed the ice down, then it turned warm to boot.  It is in the mid 40's today, we need a good five day's of teens to firm it up.  I am ready to go as soon as it does.  The warden service has put up warnings about thin ice even up north in the state.

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## flandersander

I spent a couple hundred hours converting an old camper into an ice shack. I got all finished, but I cheaped out on the wood stove, and the paint on the outside of the stove caught fire. Burned the whole thing to the ground. $300 shack, and about $1000 worth of tools, not to mention my ice fishing camera... Gone. So I guess the short answer is no, I won't be ice fishing this year. Maybe next year...

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## Rick

Thankfully, you weren't in it. Sorry to hear about the shack. That would definitely put me in a bad mood. 

No ice fishing here. No ice.

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## crashdive123

> I spent a couple hundred hours converting an old camper into an ice shack. I got all finished, but I cheaped out on the wood stove, and the paint on the outside of the stove caught fire. Burned the whole thing to the ground. $300 shack, and about $1000 worth of tools, not to mention my ice fishing camera... Gone. So I guess the short answer is no, I won't be ice fishing this year. Maybe next year...


Was there a Cold Steel Knife in there?

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## mountain1

i'm planning on getting out with a couple of friends in the next week or two. we go quite a bit every year. 
we mainly just catch a buzz!! :Smile:

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## wildWoman

> The ice here just isn't safe at this time.  The snow we had last week, weighed the ice down, then it turned warm to boot.  It is in the mid 40's today, we need a good five day's of teens to firm it up.  I am ready to go as soon as it does.  The warden service has put up warnings about thin ice even up north in the state.


A quick, easy, and accurate way to test the thickness of ice is with a cordless drill. Mark however many inches you need to be safe on the drill bit (take a long one, obviously) with a piece of duct tape and then just keep checking the ice.

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## rebel

> I spent a couple hundred hours converting an old camper into an ice shack. I got all finished, but I cheaped out on the wood stove, and the paint on the outside of the stove caught fire. Burned the whole thing to the ground. $300 shack, and about $1000 worth of tools, not to mention my ice fishing camera... Gone. So I guess the short answer is no, I won't be ice fishing this year. Maybe next year...


Dang, I'm sorry to hear about your shack!

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## rebel

> Me and my dad are gonna try this for the first time this weekend probably.
> 
> 
> 
> Anything i should know?


Wear good boots.

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## rwc1969

Not yet, planning an overnighter at the end of the month though.

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## crimescene450

What type of tackle or/and bait should i use? Just the same as the summer stuff?

We're gonna be fishing on a lake (pymatuning on ohio/penn border), with crappie, walleye, and perch, etc..

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## flandersander

> Was there a Cold Steel Knife in there?


K, crash, settle down about that, I'm getting another one.

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## tipacanoe

WM, using the cordless drill sounds like the best idea I have heard of for checking the depth.  I would think it is the quickest as well.  Thanks, I'm going to mention it to the guy's at work in the morning.

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## rebel

> What type of tackle or/and bait should i use? Just the same as the summer stuff?
> 
> We're gonna be fishing on a lake (pymatuning on ohio/penn border), with crappie, walleye, and perch, etc..


How much do you want to spend? What do you have for ice fishing? As you can see this can be as complicated as you want to make it.  You could start with what is available to see what you may want:http://search.gandermountain.com/?cn...Ne=1000&N=1518

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## rebel

To CS 450:

At a minimum an auger, http://http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?i=419243&pdesc=StrikeMaster_Mora_8_Adj  ustable_Hand_Auger&aID=504C16A&merchID=4006

An ice fishing pole, http://www.gandermountain.com/modper...C&merchID=4006

Some lures / jigs, http://http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?i=432332&pdesc=JB_Lures_Glitter_Glow_L  ure&aID=504C18&merchID=4006

Some bait,  http://http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://lifeandlawns.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/grubworm.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lifeandlawns.com/2008/03/03/grub-worms-in-your-lawn-this-spring-are-not-a-concern/&h=306&w=308&sz=42&tbnid=ZXj0FZcraLtv_M:&tbnh=116&  tbnw=117&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgrub%2Bworm&zoom=1&q=grub+worm&usg=__  yXS6_SkwqXv9WZPxnwngwuLALGo=&sa=X&ei=nFMhTcvTIIOBl  AeT972-Cw&ved=0CCEQ9QEwAA

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## skunkkiller

ratfingys and grubs the best baits but any small jig with a grub will work but you have to try different colors minnows also work

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## finallyME

I was hoping to try it this last week.  But it has been too warm here lately, and none of the spots I went to had ice.  :Frown:

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## NightShade

Cant wait for ice fishing!...... unfortunately there has only been about a 5 min window of safeice time on my water so far this year....
As for what do you need.... depends how much you wanna spend.... I definetley reccomend an auger.. sure power ones are nice, I just use a hand crank one though... its still pretty easy, much cheaper than a gas auger... and so so so much better than ax and pick! 

Id say auger, traps, and some kind of sieve... other than that... its all in how much you either want to spend, or love ice fishing.

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## Pocomoonskyeyes3

Nope,not even if the ice was thick enough. Not unless I HAVE to am I getting out on ice. My luck I'd hit the only thin patch of ice for a thousand miles around. :sweatingbullets:

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## crimescene450

Well i went out today, but there wasnt really enough ice to go "ice fishing" yet.  Id say i went "winter fishing".  I caught a couple of ice cubes, but they werent big enough, so i had to throw them back.


This weekend im going winter camping though, and its supposed to be below freezing every day, so there should be thick enough ice by the time i go.

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## mountain1

i was suppose to go out today with some friends from town but the "weather was to shi$$ey", according to the wusses from town.
damn townies :Frown: 
here i (we) are living on a mountain in the middle of nowhere and they wuss out because the frekin' wind was blowing with a little snow... it's winter and ice fishing for god's sake. ugghghghg. and one of the guys is originally from MN. a city kid...

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## rebel

> i was suppose to go out today with some friends from town but the "weather was to shi$$ey", according to the wusses from town.
> damn townies
> here i (we) are living on a mountain in the middle of nowhere and they wuss out because the frekin' wind was blowing with a little snow... it's winter and ice fishing for god's sake. ugghghghg. and one of the guys is originally from MN. a city kid...


  It's a real PITA to set up my shelter in the wind.  I'm glad to have it after it's set up.

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## mountain1

we don't have a shelter we just sit on buckets.
and--we have a hand auger! yes i know; the stone age :Smile: 
we just like to sit out there and shoot the s%$t with a few beers and hope something bites. we generally catch a few things. trout,perch, with a pike thrown in here and there.
we just mostly catch a buzz

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## rebel

Here's a similar picture of mine.  I've got the cheaper non quilted version.  It's a typical chinese anything in that everything is made so conservative that it barely works.  I may get one season out of this.  After this year, I'll make my own shelter. http://http://www.cabelas.com/product/Fishing/Ice-Fishing/Shelters-Sleds|/pc/104793480/c/104735880/sc/104561280/Clam-Base-Camp-Thermal/1083150.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Ffish  ing-ice-fishing-shelters-sleds%2F_%2FN-1100505%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_104561280%3FWTz_l%3DSBC%3BMM%3Bcat104  735880&WTz_l=SBC;MM;cat104735880;cat104561280

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## rebel

> we don't have a shelter we just sit on buckets.
> and--we have a hand auger! yes i know; the stone age
> we just like to sit out there and shoot the s%$t with a few beers and hope something bites. we generally catch a few things. trout,perch, with a pike thrown in here and there.
> we just mostly catch a buzz


Ice fishing on a calm sunny day is great!

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## rebel

We've got 18 inches of ice.  I watched a big pike yesterday.  I first thought it was a log.  I should have had a spear.

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## mountain1

that looks nice. no doubt about it.
for me, part of ice fishing is just being out on the ice in the open air. i enjoy winter and cold. i think for me personally, a shellter would kinda spoil the whole 'being outdoors' thing. i don't know that's just me.
of course we see plenty of folks with shelters and sometimes want to go 'warm up' but thats just how it goes. we just have another beer :Smile:

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## mountain1

not sure excatly how much ice is up where we go. last i heard it was around a foot and a half or so.

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## rebel

> that looks nice. no doubt about it.
> for me, part of ice fishing is just being out on the ice in the open air. i enjoy winter and cold. i think for me personally, a shellter would kinda spoil the whole 'being outdoors' thing. i don't know that's just me.
> of course we see plenty of folks with shelters and sometimes want to go 'warm up' but thats just how it goes. we just have another beer


Me too.  I like to take my grill and cook wings.

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## mountain1

now your talkin'. i thought about grilling steaks on the ice with my sportsmans grill last year but never did it. 
this year will be the year.

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## rebel

My neighbor made some pickled walleye the other day.  It was outstanding!  I found a recipe.  Has anyone else done this and do you have a recipe?

http://http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1636,153175-227197,00.html

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## mountain1

i love pickled fish.
the wife and i pickled some trout a few years back just to see how it was; pretty good i must say. i don't remember the exact recipe though.
pickled herring is on of my all time favs. i'm sure walleye is delicious. hard to go wrong there.

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## crashdive123

Let me tell you - Rebel makes some darn tasty wings!

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## Supertramp

well i got out on New Years (barely).we also got the warm spell here and it took away most of the ice we had accumulated .we had planned to go out on Lake St Clair but when we got there it just wasn't good so instead of going home we found a little spot and fished.not what i would call a successful trip but it was an outing.if you are bored i made a video here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_V_XjrsfCU

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## crashdive123

You may not have gotten any big fish, but looks like enough small ones for a meal.  Did you get the chair back?

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## Rick

Thanks for sharing. That chair did scoot right on a cross there.

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## Justin Case

Great Video, Thanks,,,,

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## Supertramp

thx guys-yes i got the chair back and that was not the only time it left me either until i finally tied it to my sled

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## copybiz

Me and my little brother usually go for ice fishing but it is very tough to catch some.

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