Curious if any of you are really into ice fishing. I fish the NAIFC Tournament series during the winter and it appears my partner for this upcoming season has bailed on me. The series has tournaments in MI, WI, MN, IL & VT. It is a 2 man team event with total weight for 2 species winning. The top teams from the series will qualify for the series championships. If anyone wants more info or are interested in fishing let me know!
Where in VT? I'm assuming Champlain? I grew up ice fishing and love it. I just don't have the time for all of my expensive and time consuming hobbies. If I have to pick that time of year, I'm usually doing home improvement projects, and shooting indoor spots. Someday when I have an opportunity to do so, I'd love to do some more ice fishing.
I haven't been ice fishing in years.... I bet 16 years I remember walking out on Mosquito lake and being about 100 yards from the shore.... The ice did a stress crack or something and I could hear and feel the crack as it went on for miles.... It was an erie sound and feeling as it echoed (lake is long and skinny)and from that day forth I have never been on ice with water more than waist deep underneath. I'm a when it comes to walking on ice.
I used to do it all the time. LOVED it too. Had alot of fun growing up on a lake in winter hanging out with tons of other fisherman all night long who'd give you a beer when your like 13 years old. Some of my greatest early drinking moments are out ice fishing.. standing around a fire on the lake.. and trying to be older... and just catching fish until 1 a.m. on a Friday night. I miss it sometimes when I pass by and see them all out there late at night.
I love being out on the lake and watching and hearing the cracks start at one end of hte lake and you can just watch it travel all the way across. And sitting around a fire drinking is definetly a great activity regardless if you like to fish or not. The tournaments that I fish are a little different then that. They are two man teams. You fish for 2 specific species in a 4 hour event. You have to cull your largest fish and top weight wins. You have to be within 30 feet of your teammate at all times and you can't be closer then 50 feet to any other team. This is totally run and gun fishing. I will never fish a hole for more then 2 minutes and will fish a total of 200-300 holes in an hour if the fish are not biting. And the best part is we fish for over $20K in prize money at every event! Duke let's plan on getting out this winter. We have a derby up at my cottage the weekend before the superbowl. It is really just a big party on the ice like you described. We usually have 30-50 people in our group. Grills, beer and bonfire. And sometimes fish but who cares. My place is only 20 minutes or so north of you. We are actually fishing like Bomoseen in VT the weekend of March 8th.
Forgot to mention that T came out to it last year. And I would expect that he will show up again this year. Frankly I don't care if he shows up or not as long as Frog Slayer comes again!!!
You have to be kidding. Bomoseen is the lake I grew up fishing, both through the ice and on a boat in the summer. I grew up about half an hour from there. It's really a very diverse fishery. What species of fish are you after there? There is just about everything you can imagine in that lake.
We will be fishing for 8 perch and 8 Sunfish. I would love to make it to that event but I don't really see that happening. It is the farthest event from the midwest in our series. Check out the site at www.naifc.org
Well Christine when we have our derby like I mentioned above you should come up and give that a try! I will punch all the holes you want! LOL
Just remind him to bring his swim suit this year and he will be fine!!! I haven't checked the calendar yet to see if I have my girls that weekend or not. But eitherway we are already talking about making it much bigger then we had it last year. Envite everyone that you want. We are probably going to have over 80 people in our group this year! Will definetly be a blast!!!
Yeah, it's definitely a hike for you. If you do go though, let me know..........I can at least tell you where to go for some monster perch. I've caught countless numbers of 12-14" perch in that lake over the years. There is a slate slide on one side of the lake that creates a lot of structure between that slide, and an island out in the middle. Between those two spots, the perch hang out all year long in huge schools.
I would love to go fish that event. Several things will have to happen for that to take place. I first off need to find a dedicated partner who wants to fish all the events with me. I have had partners in the past who just think this is drinking and bs'n all day. I agree most ice fishing is. This isn't. And to make it out to VT I would definetly have to be in a new job. I won't be able to make it if I am still at the same company come the new year. I am praying that both of those things happen!!
I am new to ice fishing, I moved to Wisconsin from Washington (where there is no such thing) and just tried it last year. What a blast. I have only had the chance to fish on the small lake near town but this year I plan on getting out there a lot more. So far I have only caught pan fish, so I will be trying to learn to get others, I would really like to catch Pike.
madhunter where are you from? I have a place in SE Wisconsin. I am sure your not far from me. I will have to get out on some great fish this winter!!!
