Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Ice Fishing

Ice fishing has an allure all its own. Some say it's peaceful. Some say it's relaxing. Some say it's invigorating. Most say it's crazy. But there is nothing like walking on a frozen lake, carving a hole and pulling up elusive fish from the mysterious depths below. Pennsylvania state parks have many lakes for ice fishing and the days of sitting on a bucket, staring at a hole in the ice, with frozen snot hanging off the end of your nose are over. Today's angler is highly mobile, efficient, warm, and most importantly catches more fish than ever. Due to recent breakthroughs in clothing, tackle, heaters and electronics, they say it has made ice fishing down right enjoyable and these hard core anglers waste no time at all getting out there to spend an entire day on the ice.

The lake was busy today with at least 10 fisherman that I could spot. It was a good day for fishing because the sun was shining brightly and the temps reached the mid 40's. According to the park office, the thickness of the ice ranged between 4-5 inches today.

I only wish I had the guts to walk out to the center of the frozen lake to take a closer picture of these brave souls. Unfortunately, I only have an 18 zoom on my camera, so these pictures taken with me standing about 15 feet from the shore line on top of the icy lake will just have to do! So, please click on any image to enlarge.




If you are a smart and wealthy ice fisherman, you would own one of these (pictured below). I imagine he had a heater inside, not to mention snacks, cooler, tv, radio...you name it . Notice the ice drill next to the shelter. Casey and I were too chicken to walk out to the center of the lake to take a peek inside.






The park always cleans the snow off a section of the lake for the ice skaters (below). And, by the way, the ice IS monitored in this area.



5 comments:

The Freedom Writer said...

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Anonymous said...

Hee! I am COLD just looking at that! Great pics though. I also wanted to say Hey to my fellow Metallica fan! Thanks for your comment! I have often thought that if someone wanted to make a movie about my life (you know, to help insomnia sufferers), they could use the music of Queen and Metallica for the soundtrack :-)
TGIF and have a great weekend!

Anonymous said...

Great photos, looks soooooo cold to me. wonder if those fishermen caught any fish! Seeing Case walking on that ice made me very very nervous!!!!!

Tracy said...

I agree, those ice-fisherman are die hards. Everytime I ride past and I see them out on the ice in the middle of the lake, a rush of anxiety passes through me.

Tracy said...

I agree, those ice-fisherman are die hards. Everytime I ride past and I see them out on the ice in the middle of the lake, a rush of anxiety passes through me.

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