Some Ice Fishing Pictures

John Fraser

John Fraser

Well-known member
I've been ice fishing in New York and Pennsylvania since I was in middle school. However, last year was the first time that I got to fish on a lake where people drove their trucks on the ice. It was on Sacandaga Reservoir, which is a couple hours drive to the east. Last year we opted to hoof it out to our fishing spot. As we all know this winter has been quite cold and the ice a bit thicker, so this year we drove out on Sacandaga.

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It was pretty cool as we had everything that we could need right in the truck. There was none of the usual loading up a sled to be dragged for 1/2 mile or more out onto the ice. It was like a having a tailgate party while ice fishing, and the weather was great for it too! That truck bed was Will's kitchen for the day, he can cook anything on a camp stove!

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I even caught a fish. The last time I caught a pike I had watched a friend cut out the y-bones. So I tried it on this one and we cooked it up last night. Delicious and not one bone! That tip-up in the picture is one of five that I bought as a teenager from the Ames in Montrose, PA. Although I've had other tip-ups since, those five are my favorites.

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Here are a few more pictures from a trip we took with the kids a couple of weeks ago.

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Nice! I'm planning a pike excursion this weekend and now you've got me really fired up. That's a pretty funky paint job on the fish the kids are holding up. Never seen a pike like that anywhere I've fished.

Great pictures.

Mike
 
Mike,
That's a chain pickerel the kids are holding. A smaller cousin of the pike.

Good luck on your trip! Be sure to post up some pictures.
 
John, Great pictures, looks like fun. I've never driven out on the ice, how bad was the pucker factor the first time you took your truck out? I've been getting out on the ice most every weekend and Sunday was by far the thickest ice of the year. Hope it holds up a few more weeks.

Scott
 
Nice pictures John. I love icefishing as well, and drove out on The Dead Sea (Sacandaga) last month during a tournament. I regularly use atv's, snowsleds or a Wilcraft, but driving a car on the lake gives me the creeps. Did it a lot in northern Maine, but can't get used to it. Great ice this season. Nice to see the kids out.
 
Thanks Scott. It was a little freaky driving my truck out there, but not too bad as everything was frozen up hard and we stuck near some established truck paths. What also helped was the fact that my friends had driven out to fish the day before and said there was 24" of good ice. Last year up there people were driving all over the lake on 20" with crusty slush on top.

Have you had much luck fishing?
 
Nice pictures Mike. In the last two photos I posted, there was a foot of fluffy snow on top of a foot of ice. When you pushed the snow aside the ice was black. That is freaky because you look right through it and can't really tell how thick it is, even though you know it's strong ice.

I like seeing those frozen beaver farts. Although I enjoy the ice fishing, I'm hoping things will break here soon so that I can get out trapping again. Most of my beaver spots are on streams, so I don't go after them much through the ice.
 
Thanks SJ. Funny you call it the "Dead Sea". My friends have done several trips up there and that pike has been the only fish caught through the ice. Will's got a camp nearby and it's more about the get together than the fishing.

Although the fishing reports make it sound like some of the locals do very well.

You're right, there has been great ice this season. Some places here at home have up to 18". Haven't seen it that thick here in a long time.
 
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Great stuff! Really cool to have enough ice to fish on (let alone drive on) close to home this season. I love ice fishing but never drove out to the spot, very nice. Love having a gas auger this season.



Tom

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Great pics!

When driving on ice, keep your windows down and seat belts off.

The wicker trout basket adds a nice touch of class to your photo. Looks a whole lot classier than a 5 gallon pail!
 
Boy you sure are brave to drive that truck out there. You can tell that I have a "thing" about ice. The lake we used to live on, Big Stone Lake, had many springs and lots of rigs used to go through.

Sure enjoyed those pictures, John. Glad you were successful. Looks as if the kids really had fun.
Al
 
Very cool!
my brother still has three tip-ups our great uncle made back in the 1970's. They still work just fine!
 
John,

Thanks for posting. Most of my ice fishig was done when I lived in NW MN. We would drive out on the ice. The pucker factor isn't too bad when there are already 20-30 trucks out on the ice.

The one time I did get a little freaked out was when a buddy and I went out early one week day morning. It was predawn but moonlit morning. We were the only ones out there. As we drove out on the ice there was a clear spot that reflected the moonlight, it looked like open water. I slammed on the brakes and started skidding. That freaked my buddy out. We didn't catch any fish. And, we had trouble getting back up the boat ramp. The early sun started to melt the ice on the ramp and made it slippery. I eventually got a long enough head start to make it up.

We went up to Zippel Bay on Lake of the Woods several times. We would always use the hand crank auger at home to drill holes, two feet of ice isn't too bad to hand crank through. On our first trip we start drilling a couple of holes just to see if there were any fish biting. Well, the ice up there wasn't two feet thick. When we finally broke through on the first hole we only had three inches left on the ice auger. Needless to say we didn't drill any extra holes and the power auger made the next trip!

Going up to Zippel Bay was something else. The local lake we fished would have as many as 50 people fishing on it on weekends. When we went to Zippel Bay we paid our $3 to use the boat ramp and drove out the the creek to the bay. As we rounded the last curve there were 5000 ice houses on the bay. The bridges across the pressure cracks can be a little unnerving too. But, the fishing was always great. We would catch lots of 1-2 walleye and the biggest was 10 lbs, barely fit up the hole!

Tom
 
Thanks Tom R.. I'm glad to have my gas auger this season too. Had the carb rebuilt in January, but it's been worth it.

Where do you ice fish around NYC? I grew up on Long Island and we did do some ice fishing on the Twin Lakes in Wantagh, but a lot of my ice fishing back then was up in Pennsylvania.
 
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Thanks for the tip Rob.

The pack baskets are really nice when you walk out to a spot to carry the rods and tip-ups. I still carry a bucket to sit on and to (hopefully) carry the fish on the way out.
 
Thanks Al. The kids do enjoy getting out. You can't tell from the picture, but my youngest got his foot wet (stepping in a hole) twice that day. Each time I took him in the tent with the heater and dried him out a bit.
 
Thanks Carl. I thought it would be cool to build my own tip-ups or tip-downs. Someday I may find the time.

Hang onto those tip-ups from the '70's. Pretty soon you could hang them on the wall as an "antique".
 
Thanks Tom W.. That Zippel Bay sounds cool! Although I don't know about crossing a bridge over pressure cracks.

You mention almost burying your auger. A friend told me that recently the ice on Erie was too thick for his auger. Ever use auger bit extensions in Minnesota?
 
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