Take your Ice Fishing Equipment on an Adventure
By Tom Keer
Jan 28, 2015
All of our ice fishing equipment was set up in what we considered the best places to ice fish. The sleds were empty, the tip ups were set, and we were jigging and jigging and jigging.
All of our ice fishing equipment was set up in what we considered the best places to ice fish. The sleds were empty, the tip ups were set, and we were jigging and jigging and jigging. As the sun started to set we began gathering up our gear with only a perch and a few panfish on the stringer.
“I wish it was summer,” Bob said.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because we could launch the boat, zip across the lake and fish Walker’s Cove. We hammer ‘em every time we fish there.”
Great idea, I thought, but there are no roads that run over there. The only way to access the cove is by boat, and we won’t be able to launch for a few months. But when helping my son with his homework, I quizzed him on the three forms of water: solid, liquid and gas, and it hit me like a ton of bricks that a boat is to the liquid as a snowmobile is to the solid. I made some calls, we got a pair of snowmobiles, and made plans for Saturday morning.
The lake wasn’t terribly big but, I figured it’d take us about an hour to get across. We’d drag the sled with our gear and that would slow us down a bit. Since we had fished Walker’s Cove all summer we knew the drop offs, the inflows, and the springs. Come Saturday morning and we were ready!
It didn’t take long for the first flag to fly and after that it was all that we could do to keep the hooks baited. No jigging rods made it out of the sled, no one pulled out the skates to pass the time, as we were too busy catching fish. It was a far cry from our last trip, and as we loaded the sleds onto the trailer, Bob left us with this thought:
“Maybe next weekend we should camp out?”
You know, that’s not a half bad idea….
“I wish it was summer,” Bob said.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because we could launch the boat, zip across the lake and fish Walker’s Cove. We hammer ‘em every time we fish there.”
Great idea, I thought, but there are no roads that run over there. The only way to access the cove is by boat, and we won’t be able to launch for a few months. But when helping my son with his homework, I quizzed him on the three forms of water: solid, liquid and gas, and it hit me like a ton of bricks that a boat is to the liquid as a snowmobile is to the solid. I made some calls, we got a pair of snowmobiles, and made plans for Saturday morning.
The lake wasn’t terribly big but, I figured it’d take us about an hour to get across. We’d drag the sled with our gear and that would slow us down a bit. Since we had fished Walker’s Cove all summer we knew the drop offs, the inflows, and the springs. Come Saturday morning and we were ready!
It didn’t take long for the first flag to fly and after that it was all that we could do to keep the hooks baited. No jigging rods made it out of the sled, no one pulled out the skates to pass the time, as we were too busy catching fish. It was a far cry from our last trip, and as we loaded the sleds onto the trailer, Bob left us with this thought:
“Maybe next weekend we should camp out?”
You know, that’s not a half bad idea….
Tom Keer is an award-winning writer who lives on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He is a columnist for the Upland Almanac, a Contributing Writer for Covey Rise magazine, a Contributing Editor for both Fly Rod and Reel and Fly Fish America, and a blogger for the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation’s Take Me Fishing program. Keer writes regularly for over a dozen outdoor magazines on topics related to fishing, hunting, boating, and other outdoor pursuits. When they are not fishing, Keer and his family hunt upland birds over their three English setters. His first book, a Fly Fishers Guide to the New England Coast was released in January 2011. Visit him at www.tomkeer.com or at www.thekeergroup.com.
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