IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Media => Ice Fishing Pictures => Topic started by: SKIFFLAKEJIMMY on Feb 08, 2022, 06:44 AM
-
This is my equipment from 50+ years ago.
(https://i.postimg.cc/nM73xfKf/FISHING-22-001.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/nM73xfKf)
-
yup thats what i was taught on too. built in spring bobber with the line kinks. ;D
-
;D
-
Started with a stick with a notch on both ends, a had line and an axe. 60 years ago.
-
I’m 60 years old but just started ice fishing two winters ago.
I started with fancy new plastic stuff: iFish Pro’s, Jigging Jawjackers and Garmin Livescope.
I’m hooked!
(https://i.postimg.cc/fSkXKKtn/8-FEE18-BE-9-D45-49-DA-8690-7-DF20-CEC61-DD.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/fSkXKKtn)
-
A broken shovel handle with a nail driven in one end and sharpened so I could stick it in the ice to stand it up. Two nails driven in the side to wind line on. The rest was an axe and a shovel to get the ice chips out of the hole.
-
A broken shovel handle with a nail driven in one end and sharpened so I could stick it in the ice to stand it up. Two nails driven in the side to wind line on. The rest was an axe and a shovel to get the ice chips out of the hole.
Did you ride a horse down to the lake, too? :roflmao:
Those old jiggin sticks are handy, sometimes though. I still have a couple.
-
Homemade rods made from broken long poles, a spud bar/ice chisel, scoop made from a kitchen laden, and a “sled” made from an old tool storage box with skis and brackets to hold a wind break made from a army surplus tent flap. After chopping and clearing a hole, I’d set up the tent flap attached to aluminum tent poles, move the box to the proper location, put a lit Coleman lantern between my legs, drop a yellow 1/2 ounce jig down baited with sucker and hope for a bite! Fished this way for many years, this starting in the late 60’s, early 70’s!
No electronics or power auger. Thought I was in heaven when I got my first Mora hand auger at a garage sale. I’ve come a long way since then! Lol
-
Was bored out of my mind one winter as a broke teenager and said "the hell with it, I'll try this whole ice fishing thing."
So I got my dad to drive me down to the bass pro in foxboro MA so I could spend a little of the cash I had saved up on a store brand 6 inch hand auger. I then got my uncle who was headed up to the cabin in NH that weekend to give me a ride to the local pond.
My equipment consisted of the aforementioned hand auger, my 30 dollar bass rod/reel combo that was my freshwater rod, a lawn chair, two jigging lures, a package of nightcrawlers, and a slotted kitchen spoon in place of a dipper.
I only caught a few perch the first day, but persisted. Caught a bass the second day, and been trying to go farther ever since.
Then one day I read about some fish I'd only vaguely heard of called a lake trout. Obsession followed, with madness. That didn't pay off until recently.
-
Similar to another post. My Dad cut a piece of tongue & groove floor so we were able to wind line near the handle. Placed a piece of old fishing pole in the groove and fastened it down. Still have one somewhere.
-
I’m 34. Been ice fishing for almost 30 of those years. My big brother is 10 years older than me. Since I could remember up until just recently, my uncle owned a party store in mid-Michigan (Dave’s Lake 13 Party Store) which sold gear and bait. He always did outdoor stuff with my brother when he was growing up. Our dad was in the Navy our entire childhoods and gone 50 weeks out of the year. We moved from Flint to Farwell when I was 5 and began ice fishing and hunting with my brother. My brother is old school when it comes to ice fishing and he taught in the same fashion. We never had electronics but one year my uncle gave my brother a bunch of gear for his birthday. Half a dozen schooley rods, 6” mora, suitcase style Shappell shanty, propane lantern, a whole bunch of jigs and tipups. The works for a 15 year old kid. I remember always going ice fishing with him after that. He was pretty die hard and I wanted to be around my big bro so it made me die hard. We’d go out in any condition. Drill two holes for our rods, four holes for tip-ups. Set up the shanty and sit there for hours and hours just being brothers. It never mattered if we caught anything. Catching a fish was just a bonus. My brother is a fantastic ice angler also. And bow hunter. A real outdoorsman.
What he taught me about ice fishing was how to read the water column with your jig. We used those fat clip-on lead depth finders to find depth. Tied on a vertical lead teardrop with a wax worm and set out schooley’s to 6” off bottom. With the schooley’s sitting on the ice stationary on their integrated rod rests, we’d “jig” by pushing the spring bobber up and down but it was mostly dead sticking. If nothing happened after 5 minutes we’d ascend the water column another 6” until we got to the top. Do that a handful of times and if nothing then we’d move but that usually took most of the day so we didn’t move often. When we did find the depth the fish were at, we’d set our schooley’s at that depth and hand line everything in. The good thing about that is that your jig goes right back to the exact depth you were catching fish at. Fish, catch, repeat. Hand-lining coupled with “trolling” the water column on a rod that really didn’t have a real taught me how to use the rod itself to ascend/descend the water column which in turn taught me the very subtle, but constant, ascending/descending technique that mimics that natural movement of micro fauna through the day.
A lot of new guys these days will never know what it’s like to slowly ascend a jig out of arms length and have to stand up to continue the ascension by hand lining almost up to the hole at a consistent pace because your rod doesn’t really have a reel on it. Or walking backwards after setting the hook because you haven’t mastered hand-lining yet and keep causing tangles in your line. Or fishing without any electronics (not even a cell phone). Or for that matter fishing without the internet.
I fished a lot with my brother growing up and it’s memories that I cherish and often think about. He had a son when I was 13 and pretty much stopped doing everything outdoor related with me and started doing all of it with his boy (which is now a very accomplished outdoorsman, I’m super proud of the kid). It always made me feel like he didn’t need a little brother anymore because he had son now instead. However, my passion for fishing has never gone away and now I get to have the pleasure of teaching my boy (10) everything that his uncle taught me. And my boy loves it! Except now he gets to learn on Marcum’s, TUCR rods, tungsten jigs, and proper winter clothing! The most important thing my brother taught me all of those years ago, freezing our butts off with bread bags on my feet, was that fishing doesn’t have to have anything to with catching a fish. It’s about having a good time with good people and if you catch a fish, awesome! If not, you had fun trying.
My brother taught me that my passion of fishing has nothing to do with catching fish. Rather, catching memories. The hard part is trying not to let the big one get away. :tipup:
-
Awesome story Ryan. I think the 4 of you should hit the ice together!
-
I ice fished a couple of times as a kid, but I don't remember ever catching a fish and I certainly didn't enjoy it.
I didn't really take it up again until my grandfather died a few years ago and I inherited his equipment. I am still using some of his tipups even though they're poor quality and probably more work to keep operational than they're worth. But they still catch fish!
(https://i.postimg.cc/2b8T5zX4/IMG-0080.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/2b8T5zX4)
I just wish I had picked up the sport earlier so I could have learned more from grandpa while he was still around. Nobody else in my family has any interest in it so I've been learning by trial and error.
-
Awesome story Ryan. I think the 4 of you should hit the ice together!
Thanks, I think we should too!
-
I ice fished a couple of times as a kid, but I don't remember ever catching a fish and I certainly didn't enjoy it.
I didn't really take it up again until my grandfather died a few years ago and I inherited his equipment. I am still using some of his tipups even though they're poor quality and probably more work to keep operational than they're worth. But they still catch fish!
(https://i.postimg.cc/2b8T5zX4/IMG-0080.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/2b8T5zX4)
I just wish I had picked up the sport earlier so I could have learned more from grandpa while he was still around. Nobody else in my family has any interest in it so I've been learning by trial and error.
Those tip ups are top notch man. I learned on the same style. 30 years later and my brother still uses the same ones every year. Unless the wood is rotting, they should last long enough to give your grandkids. They are super easy to maintain and replacement parts are readily available. And even if the wood is starting to rot…replace it! Great OG tip-ups. Strong enough for anything you’ll catch under the ice. Simple, easy, strong. Hard to beat. Clean em’ up and make grandpa proud! It’s never too late to pick up ice fishing and there’s never been an easier time in history to enter the sport. IceShanty has years of excellent information archived. Start searching and reading my friend. :tipup:
-
Been going out before I can even remember. It's a blessing taking my four-year-old out its an amazing experience. My parents got me these home made traps many years ago.
(https://i.postimg.cc/21JQ8FBk/IMG-20211217-075735.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/21JQ8FBk)
-
dont have a pick from old times but i was 13 or so that was 32 years ago we have a spillway with a back wash channel that everyone bobber fishes only 4 ft deep max guys were setting on ice that was only 30 yds across the backwash jigging up crappies. i took my long rod out and was jigging and one of the guys came over and said let me help ya kid he took the the end off my 2 piece rod rod and tied on 3 ft of line to the tip 3 ft and only a bare hook and the end of a chartruse twister tail and said jig this a little i watched crappies come in and miss and caught a pile then and there i was hooked thanks to those guys wherever you are
-
The first time I went ice fishing was with my Boy Scout troop back in the sixties. I still have that first tipup that my dad bough for me from a local hardware store. My first auger was a spoon auger and thankfully it is long gone. I have been hooked ever since.