Yup, you're right, at this time of the year I have a one track mind.... ice fishing. Fishing, for me, starts next week.

This time of year is always long and boring for me. Open water fishing has been done for 6-8 weeks. Ice fishing doesn't happen, for me at least, until the ice is safe. Say 6 inches. Six inches means that, except for a few exceptions, the ice is safe everywhere. The time from "safe" ice to great ice is from 6 inches to 12 inches.

Four to six inches is not safe enough to drive the truck on so the approach is different. Without a four wheeler or snowmobile the only alternative is walking out while pulling your gear.

The first few trips are the early shakedown trips. Bringing to much gear or not enough. To much gear means dragging lots of unnecessary weight. To little gear and you might need to make a trip back to shore for....say the ice auger.

Once the ice is "safe" to drive I fish with one simple gear related rule "bring it all, use what you need and take it all home for tomorrow".

Tomorrow, in this case, will be get the gear ready day. Find it all, sort through it all, check it all, start what needs to started, charge what needs to be charge, fix what needs to be fixed, fresh batteries all around and of course pack the early ice gear sled. Now lets see....where did I put those jigging rods?

Videos from on the ice coming right up. Hopefully videos from on the ice with fish. One step at a time... WHERE ARE those jigging rods?

This photo was shot from the S curve looking SSE toward Ashland.