Menu
![Picture](/uploads/1/0/1/4/101454400/published/ice-fishing-1904-norway.jpg?1494023615)
The illustration to the left was done by Nico Jungmann in 1904. It was labeled "Ice Fishing in Norway."
Ice fishing is a method of fishing that it used in the winter months. It is very important to those that live in colder places or locations in which the bodies of water freeze over. Ice fishing has changed over the years, it used to be just drilling a whole in the ice and then sitting there and hoping a fish came by. However, ice fishing is much more mobile now. Now the fishermen have sonars, they can scan the ice to see if there is any activity below. If there is not any activity, then they do not waste their time drilling the hole and sitting around it hoping for a fish to swim by. The new sonars can allow fishermen to drill up to 100 holes a day. Ice fishing can be done at any time during the day, but is typically done around dawn or dusk. The time of day a fishermen goes at depends on the type of fish they are hunting for.
There are some extreme dangers with ice fishing. Many of them have to do with the thickness of the ice. The typical, and Milwaukee County, recommended depth is six inches of ice. With the high winds and smaller depths of ice, it is possible for the ice to break off and for the fishermen to get stranded and need to be rescued. This happens at least once a year. In the past few years, there are times when up to 200 fishermen needed rescuing. These problems can be avoided if fishermen were less reckless.
The equipment for ice fishing can be very specific. There needs to be an ice auger to drill the hole. There are hand powered and battery powered augers. These fishermen also need a spoon with holes in it to scoop the hole out as ice starts to form in it. After the hole is made, there are two main types of fishing. The first is having a light fishing rod with colorful lures and bait. The fisherman will sit at the hole and every once in a while lift the rod to create the jig effect. The second method is spear hunting. The fishermen sits in a dark hut and places a fish decoy in the hole. He then waits to see a fish appear, when he sees one, he quickly thrusts the spear at it. With modern technology, ice fishing is changing. There are now underwater cameras that can track where the fish are and help the fishermen move his bait accordingly.
"Ice Fishing." Wikipedia. N.p., 24 Feb. 2017. Web. 5 May 2017. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_fishing>.