Ice Fishing Trips

Most anglers only go fishing on pleasant, sunny days. A lot of people go night fishing too, but there are not many people who have experienced the great fun of ice fishing.

Ice Fishing Trips

Nevertheless, ice fishing is a fantastic winter sport and ice fishing trips are becoming more and more popular in countries that have ice. Canada and northern America are some of the best Western venues for ice fishing trips.

The overwhelming majority of ice fishing trips are organized on fresh water lakes, but there are a few sea ice fishing trips too. These would mostly be in Alaska and Newfoundland. So how do you prepare for an ice fishing trip?

The first thing to bear in mind is that the weather will be cold. You want that otherwise the ice might be unsafe, but it also means that you will have to wrap up warm. It is far better to wear a lot of layers than one or two thick ones.

First of all, if you wear many layers, you will trap several layers of air, which, when warm, will insulate you better from the outside. You will also need a windproof coat. Ice is normally very flat, so the wind whips across it.

If there is likely to be a high wind or even a snow storm, you could take an ice fishing shelter with you. Such a shelter will make a huge difference to your local temperature and will probably allow you to take your coat off and boil water for warm soup or a hot drink.

Non-slip, waterproof boots are a must to prevent you from slipping and stop you getting wet feet. You could even wear boots with spiked soles for a superior grip.

Warm gloves are also a necessity. Woolen gloves are good, because wool will keep you warm even when it is wet.

Other indispensable items of apparel are a hat or balaclava and a scarf. Snow blindness should not be a problem, but you may get sunburnt from snow glare and this glare may hurt your eyes too, so wear sunglasses or tinted goggles.

s you can see, ice fishing does not require a lot more extra equipment than ordinary fishing does. In fact, ice fishing is a fairly cheap, family-friendly, outdoor winter activity. It is similar to skiing, but with the prize of fish at the end of the day.

If you go on an ice fishing trip, the company may have all the equipment you need for hire. This equipment might include a stool, an ice auger (saw), an ice fishing shelter and a short boat rod. The rest you will already have, if you are an angler.

The cold will make you hungry, so take a few flasks of soup and tea or coffee or a primus and some packets of soup and tea or coffee. Also take sandwiches or bread to dip in the soup.

You may find that items like Mars Bars become too cold to bite through, but thinner bars of chocolate are good and so are sweets to suck.

Alcohol is obviously up to you, but being drunk on a frozen lake near a hole in the ice when there is no-one to pull you out is not a good idea. Alcohol also lowers the body's core temperature.

Never go out on ice that you do not know. This is not a problem if you are on one of the ice fishing trips, because you will probably have a guide and will be given useful information.

However remember that ice needs to be six inches thick for walking on and ten inches thick for an ordinary car.