Take a Kid Fishing
We are on the 2nd winter in a row of sketchy ice conditions. Not only has the been frustrating because it has really limited the fisheries available but it has kept me from getting Mabel out ice fishing. I've been patiently watching for a window with some aggressive fish and really safe ice. I mention window because the local ice is in constant fluctuation so far this year. Safe ice for me is very different than safe ice for taking a kid. Anyway we finally got our chance!
Snack packing was a high priority on this trip. We had oranges, goldfish, granola bars, and duck snack sticks. I didn't intend to be out there long but I knew snacks and hot chocolate would make things more fun. I have a canal that is always loaded with fish first ice. There are a lot of small ones but if you weed through them you can get a pretty nice perch limit some days. The best part is these fish always bite with reckless abandon, so I knew it would be the perfect spot to introduce her to ice fishing. Plus it is a super short walk and usually no one else is fishing there.
She was all decked out for this trip with her Clam Outdoors hat, sweatshirt, and pink Lady Ice Buster fishing rod. Regardless she was going to look like she knew what she was doing. It's funny how attached she is to that rod. If I tried to get her to use a different one she asked for her pink one, she's also taken it to school for show and tell. Right away she was a fan of being on the ice and how slippery it was. She could "skate" around outside and we took some breaks from the action to do that and explore around.
It was warm out but I brought the shanty so she could stay warm and get the full experience. The action was as fast as we could get a bait down. It was mostly perch but we did get a few pumpkinseeds too. Catching, snacking, exploring, on repeat for this trip. She had a lot of fun and we called it quits before we started losing interest in being out on the ice. With about 15 "keepers" on the ice and a lot of throwbacks we called it a great trip and headed home. It was cool to see her excitement about catching fish for dinner every time we had a keeper. 15 that were on the small side weren't going to be enough for dinner but I had a limit of gills/pumpkinseeds and few bonus perch from a scouting mission. The fish were big and cooperative on that fishery but there was open water too close for me to take Mabel on her first trip.
She was pretty proud to have contributed to the fish fry and is looking forward to her next trip. I'm watching everything melt as I'm writing this so who knows when that is going to happen but I'm hoping it will be soon. Check out the Instagram feed below to see a video of one of the catches.
