I've been trying to get out every weekend as time and weather allows. It's been a good way to get through the long winter. I took a buddy out a couple of days ago to a lake I've only fished once for pike. This time we were targeting char and trout. We didn't slay them or catch any big fish, but ended up catching four char, same for rainbows, and one burbot. Nice day on the ice!

No safe ice here. That looks good!

20" or so out there right now Wabi.

Is that a Ling?

Burbot, ling, cusk whatever you want to call it depending on where you live.

It should be good.

Beautiful fish… well except for the burbot.

It’s been a warm winter here. Hopefully the colder temps we have right now will last long enough to make ice.

May not be pretty, but far better eating than any walleye!

I just started ice fishing last year, so very much a novice. I haven't been out yet this year, but will be going out this coming week for Walleye and Pike.

No. Quit years ago.

The uglier the fish, the better it eats, they say. Trout are pretty, burbot are not.

If Wabigoon is short on snow cover,

Unsafe in Sebago Maine

Lawyer.

"Poor man's cod?'

I used to ice fish a bunch but we have had horrible ice this year. Lots of people have been stranded on ice that broke away from shore or fell through. I am sitting this year out. I am hoping the sub zero temps this week will finally make the Beaver ponds safe to get out on. I fell through 4 days in a row and finally quit for a while.

unsafe in NE Wi. as well... first time i can remember... it's finally gotten cold enough to make good ice, but the upcoming sturgeon spearing season looks doubtful? as well...

"Poor mans' lobster" Just boil chunks in sugar water.

It is the only freshwater cod. And it is a real cod.

I'm making my first outing tomorrow; haven't had any ice yet this winter until this weekend. It was still a bit too thin today, but it's putting on ice fast now.

Nice fish!

Hoping to soon, finally cold enough to make ice!

Burbot tacos, but I’m still not sold on them being better than walleye.

Hoping local ice is good to go in the next couple days, I’ve had to travel to fish this year.

Headed up to Northern MN for a four day weekend on Wednesday, hope the fish are biting.

After chainsawing new water holes in -40 temps for the cows every day, there’s no interest in cutting more ice for a damn fish.

Good luck! Either way it should be a good time!

Drilling one hole and catching a fish sounds like more fun! Give it a shot, you might be surprised.

The burbot is the brst eating of the bunch. Ugly don't matter on the plate.

Never mind the Eskimos call them "mud sharks"

There's a joke in there somewhere- you can figure it out.

Lake of the woods?

Definitely eelpout.

Love me some burbot.

Winnie, have a cabin on Cutfoot.

Nail their heads to the outside wall of the fish house and take out the "back straps". Cube it up in chunks, boil it and dip it in melted butter, like Torsk.

Freaking delicious.

OH!

And nice pants, Urkel!


LOL

Comfy!

First outing of the year for me... sloooooow day. The water was really murky from all the rain we got Friday before it froze up. Only managed one dink bass and a gill.

Ice fishing in Kentucky requires scuba gear.

Unusually, not yet this year !

The bite was a lot better today, but the wind was nasty.

Nice! That sure beats being at work! I'm hoping to get out on Saturday, depending on the weather. It's supposed to be zero in the morning, which isn't bad as long as there's no wind!

I took a couple vacation days to fish. You never know how long the ice will last down here (usually not very long most winters) so I always take a bit of time off when we get our first ice.

It's supposed to turn really warm again here next week, so the ice will probably be shot before long. 😕

No safe ice yet on my local lake. Maybe by weeks end.

Not yet, but we will be soon.

Huge warmup blew in Monday, and the ice is going fast with off and on rain all week. Didn't do worth a crap yesterday, and the ice was getting really soft around the edges. Today or tomorrow will likely be the end of the season locally, unless a big cold snap rolls in next month for a second freeze up.

They are better. IMHO. But so are yellow perch. Yellow catfish and a couple others. Walleye are ok, but not at the top of our list

Geez, that was a short season! I took my boys out on Sunday. Not much of a bite going on unfortunately. I had one nice fish break me off, and that was it. Temps around 5° and no wind luckily. About 24” of ice I’d say. No warmups in the near future here!

No question about that. Much better!

Ted

Poor man’s lobster is what most of our Alaska friends call them.

Ted

I'm on the tail end of the ice belt, so seasons are extremely variable, but they've been generally trending worse/shorter the past 10-15 years. It's been a few years since we had a real solid one that lasted very long.

Local ice topped out around 8.5-9" It was -4° Sunday... it's 40 and raining right now, and supposed to be pushing 50 by the end of the week. 😒

I use to have an ice shack that I would spend lots of time in, the best way to fish I found was cut a hole in they ice 2ft by 2ft then push they shack over the hole, and open the trap door over the hole then procede to pack snow all around the shack to block all sunlight from coming in, with the inside totally dark and they only light coming through the hole in they ice the view is incredible. You could see the bottom no problem and just toy with the fish it was almost an unfair advantage. When I was sick of eating fish I would go there just to sit and watch and take a nap.

Below zero at night here the last several day, and until Sunday, with highs in the single digits. At least the overflow has pretty much firmed up where I’ve been fishing. Looking forward to some highs in the teens and twenties again!

Took my niece last Sunday, about 18 inches of ice. My niece caught the first fish and everyone on the lake heard her scream with excitement.
It was just a practice run to see what instruments we needed.
Plenty of snow so ice cleats were not critical but I should get a couple extra pairs, and my wife voted to get a sled to pull the stuff in.

Have been researching the 40v power head for the auger instead of my drill. Wonder if a grinder as a power head would work? I don’t have much alternate use for a big big drill or the Eskimo power head during off season.

We JUST got ice! Damn global warming. How dare they!

judging by the open water on our closest reservoir, I'm guessing anything under 8k' elevation is open water or very sketchy.

read in the history section of our local paper this week that 50 odd years ago they had the same type of weather, had to cancel the ice fishing tournament at one of the bigger reservoirs in our county.

no ice fishing here this winter it would seem

Went out a couple hours after work again today... the bite was a lot better than yesterday, but the edges are just about shot.

where would be the closest serious ice fishing to Ohio? the UP?

I bought an 8" Eskimo pistol drill auger and use it with my cordless drill. The auger only weighs about 3#. Works great so far up to 20-24" of ice. May need an extension though by March!

Presque Isle Bay, Erie Pa, has ice for now.

The 8” pistol is what I got. Supposedly a little hard on drills, per the lgs. I am using a makita 18v. Just might upgrade.

I use a cheap Kobalt 24v one from Lowes that has 825 inch-pounds of torque. Got to have a minimum of a 4AH battery for ice thicker than 6-8" though. The 2AH doesn't have enough azz to get through the deep stuff without cutting out or dying quickly.

Pretty much.

Those are some well fed rainbows!

I looked at that on the map, I've never been up that way but other than its surrounding area location, that park looks pretty cool

Got my feet a bit wet yesterday... the ice is shot here. That's the end of my season unless we get a cold blow next month to freeze things up again. Around 75% of the shore was open water, and the sheet was 5" of soft garbage.