A Look Back At The Season

Now that I have officially called it quits for the ice fishing season I am wondering what I will do with myself until my summer work starts up. I began the unpacking process of all my gear today. Mainly, I had to bleach my buckets and cooler to stop the spread of the horrid fish stink before putting them in storage until ice up in the fall. Hopefully, that is in November but I’ll settle for mid December. Ha! I have been dreading this day for the last couple of weeks but with the temps we are experiencing and seeing how fast the ice has been going, it didn’t come as a surprise. So that helped!

One of the first big tasks I have to tackle is my vehicles. I know that both of my cars need a serious scrub down – inside and out, a wax, and a few days with the windows down. The stink of fish has worked itself further and further into every corner possible with each trip. The last few weeks of warmer temperatures have produced some near gagging car rides home; especially, in the forester with everything only a few feet away from me! After that, in no order of importance, I need to load up my open water gear, check on trail cameras, get the bow set up for the fall, and even out my ice fishing tan (look at my hand below). I sound like a woman right?

So, I knew throughout the season that I was putting some hours in but up until now I didn’t realize the quantity. I was on the ice fishing for 524 hours and spent 145.5 hours in a vehicle. Lots of trips to the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain! Fortunately, for me and both of my rigs, I didn’t have to drive every trip. Each trip out averaged just under 9 hours on the ice and a round trip drive time of 2.5 hours. I think if you were to add up the time spent preparing, talking, and thinking fishing over the last 3 months, you may find a few minutes that were fish-free. I hate to admit it but I think that might be the definition of an addiction…

I learned some great stuff this winter, caught some fish to be proud of along the way, and made some new friends. I was able to get a good grasp on the basics of “panfishing” through the ice and gained a huge appreciation for the little guys of the lakes!