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HOWDY
DAVIS
Chief-Factor -
Staff Writer |
Smoke Signals
Jul./Aug. '09
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SURVIVAL
ICE FISHING
After putting my wife on a
plane to Hawaii, I spent the rest of the day sitting over a
hole in the ice at Steamboat lake, enjoying warm temperatures
hovering right around 29 degrees F. In this country, for that
time of year, that's really mild. However, by three p.m. Mariah
showed up and I don't know where the temperature went but it
was snowing so hard that I had to work at finding my way back
to the wagon. Other that catching fish (yesterday we'd had our
limit in the first hour. Today we didn't hit a frenzy like
that but we did catch fish all day - restrained by a
limit of four, we put back anything under two pounds - by
three o'clock we had our limit, including three fish of around
five pounds each), the day wasn't wasted: while sitting around
the ice-hole I had a few thoughts I thought worth sharing.
For fishing companions I
have a professional fly fishing guide and his son (who claims
me as a grandpa), both of whom I can bounce ideas off. This
being the off season they are mine! So as I continued to sit I
thought about how I would do this in a survival situation. You
have to remember that in fishing at any time of the year
natural bait is the number one food source of the fish. That
is any type of fish food that lives below the surface of the
water, be it lake, pond, or stream. The best success I have
had is with nymphs and stone flys. After that comes anything
the fish will recognize that may blow into the water. Worms
will resemble a leech and meal worms will resemble different
stages of insect development as they mature. It is always good
to take the time and call local bat shops to find out what
type of bait is most popular in the area you are planning to
trek in. This will give you a fighting chance on catching fish
in survival situations - or just for practice and fun.
If you are doing primitive
ice fishing, or think you may be going to, you will do well to
carry waxed meal worms with you. They work even if they are
dead. Picked up from pet stores and bait shops they will keep
in a cool place. I like to feed them chopped up carrots and
they seem to last forever.
For jigging you must chop a
hole in the ice of at least five or six inches wide. From your
primitive fishing can (which should include at least six
hooks, some line (it's not so primitive but I use Johnson and
Johnson dental floss, which is at least somewhat period
because it is made of silk. Bill C says he uses the non waxed
but hits it with some of his bee's wax bowstring wax), some
waxed linen cord, (the floss can be used as a leader if you
are using the cord) a few different weight sinkers (you can
cut some lead off ammo for your rifle but believe me,
pre-shaped sinkers are better). If you absolutely have to look
totally period or primitive, you can take you hooks and trim
the barbs off them, heat them a tad and beat them with a
hammer until they are flat, cut off the eye, file them to get
rid of sharp edges, (you can even dip the shank end into hide
glue or pine tar to prevent it from cutting your line or
leader. I often leave the barb on as it can mean the
difference between eating or starving - Bill C says he just
says to hell with it, he leaves the eye on too), and trust
them to bring in your all important food when you desperately
need it.
You will need to know a few
knots - especially if you are going with eyeless hooks. Knots
are hard to explain so I'll leave those up to you to research,
practice and grow proficient at. Look in your fish stores and
you can pick up a knot card that will show you the way.
Remember, it's a terrible thing to get a nice bite and pull
your line up and find nothing but coiled leader where you hook
used to be.
Now that you have hook,
line and sinker and have chopped or knocked, or beat a hole in
the ice find yourself a nice bendy bow stick about two feet
long. Put a lightweight sinker on the end of the line. Drop it
into the hole and let it sink to the bottom to determine the
depth of the water. Mark your line about a foot above the
hole. At this point you have several options. You can leave a
baited hook down there with the sinker or; you could tie
another piece of line with hook and bait about six to
eight inches above the sinker and leave the sinker on the
bottom. Or you can gang tie more hooks along the line. Tie you
line to the pole with a few half hitches and wrap the excess
line to the back of your pole. prop it up on a forty-five
degree angle, weight the back end so it doesn't fall over, and
you are fishing.
Keep an eye on your pole. I
have had my pole nearly pulled through the ice hole, so don't
turn your back on it. The most success I've had is just
sitting and jigging - that is just bouncing your bait up and
down a half inch at a time, then letting it hold still for a
bit to see if anything has been attracted and will bite. Fish
will take a bait into their mouths and if it doesn't feel
right they will spit it out. The instant you feel anything,
set the hook but don't yank it up so hard it would lift Moby
Dick.
Just in case you aren't
going to be able to sit and watch and jig, try getting a stout
stick at least twice as wide as the hole, tie some hooked and
baited line to the center and let it down for the fish to hook
themselves. Don't put too much weight on the end because if
the fish feels too much resistance he will spit the bait right
out. Now go and chop another hole. If you are using just a
bendy stick, concentrate as you hold it, close your
eyes to more closely feel what is going on under the ice. At
the slightest feel, set the hook. If the fish begins to really
tussle with you, stand up and pull the line straight up out of
the hole - hopefully with the fish firmly attached.
I feel sorry for those who
don't have ice. Take some time off and come visit and I'll
introduce you to ice fishing. Remember that the greatest thing
you can do is to introduce a kid to any phase of our sport. It
is something that will affect their lives (and yours) forever.
Howdy
Davis
 
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