Ice Fishing

Ice fishing can not just be a joke anymore. It is time that this wonderful way of spending quality time with loved ones makes it to the light as a serious and awesome sport. There is a surprising amount of information that you can learn about ice fishing if you have the time to read and think about and experience ice fishing for yourself.

There is such a wide variety of gear to choose from when you are thinking about going ice fishing. There is also lots of stuff that is not quite necessary, like an underwater ice fishing camera, but can still make for a fun and fulfilling ice fishing trip.

The first and also most important piece of kit that you are going to want is some warm clothes. This is for obvious reasons, cold wet weather for those that can't tell. You are going to want to dress in layers and bring something extra like a thermal blanket just in case you fall through the ice.

You are going to want to bring something to get through all of that thick ice too. This can be either an ice fishing saw or one of the two kinds of ice fishing augers. The two kinds of augers that I write about are human and gas powered ones. You are going to want to choose this option depending on how you are planning on getting to your ice fishing location. The gas powered auger can get quite heavy so unless you have a way to haul it I wouldn't suggest bring it.

There are also a variety of rods to choose from. Ice fishing rods are usually short and strong. You are going to need fishing line and hooks. Also you are going to want to choose whether you use bait or lures to entice those fish to nibble.

That is just the basics of ice fishing equipment, there is so much more that you can possibly think of.

It is extremely important to remain safe at all time no matter what you are doing. This is twice as important while ice fishing. The main reason that people die every year while ice fishing is simply falling through the ice and freezing to death because of hypothermia.

One way to prevent this terrible kind of death is to always check the ice that you are going to be walking, driving, or placing your shelter on.

- Four inches is safe to walk on
- Six inches is safe to snowmobile on
- Eight to twelve inches is safe for a car
- Twelve inches or more is safe to drive a truck on

This is just an example of the proper ice thicknesses. To properly check the thickness of ice you are going to need to cut or drill a hole in the ice. That is another reason to always bring your ice saw or ice fishing auger with you on every trip.

The golden rule for ice fishing safety is:
"When in doubt, don't go out"

Another way to get seriously injured is just plain carelessness. You are probably going to be in a secluded area and possibly hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles away from the local hospital. This might not seem to bad, but a cut might get infected and turn septic by the time that you can get to medical attention. You would not want to have to amputate anything because of a simple mistake that might have just needed a few stitches.

It is always wise to go out with a buddy. That way you can both take care of each other is anything bad happens. It is always nice to bring a pal ice fishing with you because sitting on ice for hours on end can get quite boring, and besides, you are going to want to have some help while dragging all of your specialized gear out onto the ice.

Ice Fishing bait and lures are just a simple as regular fishing bait and lures.

Live bait for ice fishing includes everything from worms to maggots and minnows. You can also use anything that you can think of like snails or other insects. The main thing to consider while picking a live bait is that the wigglier the bait, the better it will entice the fish to bite.

Ice fishing lures are the same as regular lures except that they are tied on the top and are designed for up and down jigging instead of trawling style lures.

If you want to learn more about ice fishing bait then check out my other lens at http://www.squidoo.com/icefishingbait