The ice has no waves.

One does however, need the secure the shelter from blowing away to the far shoreline.
The morning started out well but has slowed down a bit.
That spot in the snow is where I emptied the oil from my tin of smoked oysters. That will draw in a mink tonight.

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Take care, Huntindave McCann SHELL ROCK IA. ,,,,,, "As sailors grow older, the wiser ones move to smaller boats." Thomas Firth Jones, Multihull Voyaging

Does your computer catch your fish for you too?

A nice pile of fish you've got.....

Looks pretty darn good Dave, glad you are keeping busy. Makes me hungry for a fish fry!

I'm suffering along here with soft water and oysters I had to pick and shuck myself (and they aren't even smoked).

The old Marcum LX-7. Great flasher. Nice group of fish. I've been out a few times and have caught my fair share but most not worth keeping and all were thrown back anyway.

Mark

Dani,
The camera on the left just out of the picture is a huge asset. One can watch the fish suck in a bait allowing me to promptly set the hook.
Other times I can watch a Northern move in and knowing he is there, I can quickly swap rods and drop a bait down that's more appropriate for him. Don't know how well this picture will be. That is a Northern which just moved in.

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Take care, Huntindave McCann SHELL ROCK IA. ,,,,,, "As sailors grow older, the wiser ones move to smaller boats." Thomas Firth Jones, Multihull Voyaging

WOW!!!! Ice fishing has gotten a heckuva lot more technological than I ever thought. Pretty dang cool and yup....I could see the northern....didja catch him???????

I'll have to ask my uncle if he has cool gadgets like that. What kind of camera is that?

That is one cool screen pic!!
Nice mess of fish, that's some big bluegills.

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Carl
Mobile, AL
DHBP Member since 1998

"Life is too short to drink bad beer."
Disclaimer: This post and/or report is not a substantiation of or reflection on the true accuracy of the present surveying methods. It is only a report on or comment concerning local observation and/or results. Your results and observation may vary based on your location, local water conditions, food supply, weather conditions and migratory patterns "

Is the thing in the middle of your camera pic your jig or just aquatic stuff?

Tod,

What you see at screen center is a steel split ring. The camera does a good job even in low light.

For the Northern, a size 3 ( about an inch long) Ultra Rap is 5 inches below that (out of frame) and connected by a thin steel leader to the split ring.



The Northern is lower left, leaving the scene. While it is nice to know just what is below you, it takes fairly clear water to see much. In this instance I am able see fish from about 6 feet away from the camera. I can usually see them react to my lure and sometimes come charging in.

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Take care, Huntindave McCann SHELL ROCK IA. ,,,,,, "As sailors grow older, the wiser ones move to smaller boats." Thomas Firth Jones, Multihull Voyaging

Dani,

My camera is a few years old but it's a Marcum VS825SD Real nice unit. The northern turned up his nose to what I was selling.

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Take care, Huntindave McCann SHELL ROCK IA. ,,,,,, "As sailors grow older, the wiser ones move to smaller boats." Thomas Firth Jones, Multihull Voyaging

Carl,
I really wish I had a new model which would actually allow one to record a screen shot or video. That would be much clearer than what I get, taking a pic with my phone of the display screen.

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Take care, Huntindave McCann SHELL ROCK IA. ,,,,,, "As sailors grow older, the wiser ones move to smaller boats." Thomas Firth Jones, Multihull Voyaging

Tod,

"I'll gladly trade you a tin of smoked oysters Tuesday for a plate of unsmoked oysters today"

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Take care, Huntindave McCann SHELL ROCK IA. ,,,,,, "As sailors grow older, the wiser ones move to smaller boats." Thomas Firth Jones, Multihull Voyaging

Wow, I can see it now as clear as day now that I know what I'm looking at, I was thinking the resolution wasn't that good if it was a jig :). You could identify individual fish with that setup. Wow.

No spearing in Iowa, right?

I'm going to start ice fishing in a few years when we leave this tropical paradise we live in now, so I'm paying attention!

I'll drop some off next time I'm through!

Tod,

Correct, no "game fish" spearing. Carp, buffalo and other "rough" fish are the only fair game for spear or bow/arrow.

Yep, individual fish, species, size, can often pull the bait away from the smaller fish. The camera cannot be used in 100% of the waters, but it is a nice tool to have, when it can be used.

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Take care, Huntindave McCann SHELL ROCK IA. ,,,,,, "As sailors grow older, the wiser ones move to smaller boats." Thomas Firth Jones, Multihull Voyaging

No tip-ups deployed?

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Carl
Mobile, AL
DHBP Member since 1998

"Life is too short to drink bad beer."
Disclaimer: This post and/or report is not a substantiation of or reflection on the true accuracy of the present surveying methods. It is only a report on or comment concerning local observation and/or results. Your results and observation may vary based on your location, local water conditions, food supply, weather conditions and migratory patterns "

We can spear Northern in MN and I've done it a couple of times. Very interesting way to fish, Did it once at a work retreat and the ice shack was top end all the way. We all sat around on chairs and stared at an open rectangular hole in the ice. Oh, an we had fish decoys deployed in the water. When a fish came inbto view, spears were thrown.

And to be really spoiled, when we got thirsty or hungry, we placed a call and had whatever we wanted delivered. It was quite the treat to be sure.

Mark

Would have been nothing constant "wind flags" today.

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Take care, Huntindave McCann SHELL ROCK IA. ,,,,,, "As sailors grow older, the wiser ones move to smaller boats." Thomas Firth Jones, Multihull Voyaging

Mark,
You were NOT in my spearing hub,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, it does not come with any of those amenities.

Minnesota snow

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Take care, Huntindave McCann SHELL ROCK IA. ,,,,,, "As sailors grow older, the wiser ones move to smaller boats." Thomas Firth Jones, Multihull Voyaging

I'm off to hit the hard water this morning. Thanks for the motivational pics. My rig is way more primitive. No shelter, electronics or oysters, but should be loads of fun! I'm lazy and use old school tip ups while my buddy is a jigger.

Scott

Good luck and have fun.

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Take care, Huntindave McCann SHELL ROCK IA. ,,,,,, "As sailors grow older, the wiser ones move to smaller boats." Thomas Firth Jones, Multihull Voyaging

Tod,
remember hunting for brant with a member of the forum. Pulling the boat near the bank and found tons of oysters. Put a dozen on the deck, got set, pulled out my knife and proceeded to have breakfast. Never go out with basic survival tools, oyster knife, clam knife and filleting knife.

I was stationed at NAS Whidbey Island when I first heard the saying "when the tide's out, the table's set" how appropriate.


Pete


MOLON LABE [mo 'lon la 've]

Technology has it's place, hunting isn't it.

Life's a blink, never have to say ....... "I should have"!

"That human optimism & goodness that we put our faith in, is in no more danger than the stars in the jaws of the clouds." .................Victor Hugo

Just cause they say, pictures or it didn't happen:

Saturday, my daughter's father-in-law Mark & I headed out, across ice as the sun rose and quickly hid behind the clouds. Weird day for ice fishing, it eventually got over 50F with the ice melt flowing down our holes but the wind, well chilled crossing over the ice, sure didn't feel warm. The fish were fairly cooperative, I think I ended up catching 5 Large mouth, 3 pickerel & a large perch, The first pic is just showing the area as well as our set-up. I ended up only getting 3 tip ups in due to the constant flag action, unfortunately most were not hook ups.



I was trying to get the third tip-up down when the previous one flagged. And the first went off as I was fighting the bass. The first ended up with the pickerel. Back down the holes after the photo.



Below shows off my almost 40 year old tip-up for those of you who aren't familiar with ice fishing (I hear funny rumors that the ice doesn't get thick enough to hang out on, south of the Mason Dixon Line.) It also shows off my best fish of the day, 18.5" LM.



Close up that almost lets you read the tape.



My hope is that the cold will hang around a bit longer so I can fine some pan fish to fry up for fish tacos.

Best!
Scott

Scott,

Thanks for sharing your photos. Old school tip ups still bringing in the fish. Strange for me to be seeing bare ice this time of year.

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Take care, Huntindave McCann SHELL ROCK IA. ,,,,,, "As sailors grow older, the wiser ones move to smaller boats." Thomas Firth Jones, Multihull Voyaging