It's a blast getting onto a big school of them through the ice.
zcm82; Good evening to you, I trust the weekend was a good one for you and you're well.
A couple years back a long time friend - the same very same one who I helped pack a sheep out for this fall - finally got me to get back out ice fishing with him after a 20 year hiatus.
He said more or less, that he "couldn't have wiped my smile off with a frying pan", which is BC redneck speak for me having a wonderful time.
Here's that day and what I looked like a couple winters back. I'll note the beard is mostly grey now, but one can tell it was an excruciating experience for me.
I went out and bought an auger, a couple rods and a tent the next week. I already had the dead sled for hunting, but here's a daily limit of 20 from the first day on the ice this past winter.
Sometimes we catch stocked trout in the same lake too, nothing huge but as you mentioned, it is indeed "a blast".
All the best and good hunting - and fishing - to you all.