06 Feb Ice Fishing on Lake Lida

Growing up, I had very little desire to do anything outside in the winter. In elementary school, when recess was indoors because the temperature was too cold (and too cold by Minnesotan standards is colder -10F), I would silently cheer in my head. I would even offer to do cleaning projects for my teachers just to get out of going outside in the cold. Sure, I enjoyed sledding, ice skating, skiing, etc., but never for too long and not too often. It wasn’t until we moved to Florida, when I was 26, that I finally began to enjoy winter activities—mind you, that doesn’t mean I enjoy the cold, but rather I can now tolerate it if we are doing something fun outdoors.

Now that you know that tidbit, you can imagine how sitting out on the lake to go ice fishing never appealed to me. I had absolutely no desire to deal with the cold even though everyone assured me the houses were warm. I wasn’t having it and never went out. Ice fishing was a pretty common activity in high school—especially for weekend parties, but it never interested me.

This past Christmas, I finally decided to participate in the winter activity so beloved by my fellow hometown friends and family. And what did I think? It was a good time, and I actually enjoyed it! Except for driving the truck out on the ice…that has and always will make me feel a bit uneasy even when the ice is well over a foot thick.

During the winter, Micah’s dad practically lives out in his fish house, so we decided to tag along with him. His fish house is out on Lake Lida, which is a short drive from our hometown, and before I knew it, we were pulling up to his fish house.

Fish houses range from a tiny pop up tent to larger trailer like houses with heaps of amenities and things like beds, mini kitchens and heaters to keep you warm—we even know some people who have satellite TV! Our digs for the day were simple, and more focused on fish catching, and we got to work right away when we arrived. Micah’s job was to re-break the ice that had frozen over in the holes, and my job was to scoop out the floating ice chunks.

Once we had the four holes clear, it was time to get fishing, and ahem, the game of cards going!

Micah’s dad and I decided to teach Micah and his sister how to play whist—a card game that I have been playing with my family since I was young. It’s been years since I’ve played and it was so much fun to get back into the swing of it.

In between card lessons, we actually had quite a bit of activity on our lines. They have a camera that drops into the water to see what’s going on below the surface—it was fun to see what fish were around and which fish were interested in our hooks. We ended up catching around 6 or 7 fish and had about 13 bites in total. For a few hours of fishing, that’s not too bad in my book. And, now I think it’s about time to have a fish fry!

Have you ever been ice fishing?