Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Ice Fishing -Darwin Award contender

And some minor corrections to your perceptions.

Ice augers can be handled by one person tho 2 isn't too many - even through 5 or 6 feet of ice. It is interesting because it bites well until the last 6 inches or so, where the sea ice has more salt content and is more plastic. One definately can feel when it's about to break through. Me - I didn't have an auger, but I borrowed one from someone out there sometimes- usually they would even drill a hole for me. Most times, I just used a used hole - look for the bloodiest one...

Dunno about freshwater ice, but probably not on the break-through thing.

Shee fish (tom cod, and maybe some others up the rivers) are jigged, or caught in under-ice nets. The traditional Eskimo jig-stick is a curved spruce root 12-14 inches long. I just cut a piece of plywood and notched the ends. - works just as well. Jigs are usually "Docktor" spoons about 5-6 inches long. I used 50 or 80 lb dacron line, as do most. No need for a leader, but a swivel or swivel snap is necessary. Preferably a locking swivel snap.

But when they are biting, anything works, from a Daredevil, or generic knock-off, to a halibut jig of about the same size. I experimented. When they aren't biting, nothing works. a co-worcer made a jig out of a table knife handle. Worked.

In between....it varies.

This was one of those "you should have been here yesterday" days. Neither of us caught anything in 6 hours out there, but the ravens were cleaning up the leavings from the day before. A bad day of fishing beats the best day at work....