Looking back to the old days Of Ice fishing.... Share your stories.

[SALMONEMIA]

Ice fishing has changed tremendously over the years, especially the high tech equipment reels, rods, jigs, tip up styles, abundance of bait shop's, electronics, etc...... It has come a long way since I was a kid. I am 41 yrs old, when I was a kid I grew up a short walk from Canobie lake. I came from a family of non fisherman, so I had to go it alone. I would sneak off to the lake and hit the ice with my hockey skates, look for some ice fisherman and head over. I was always fascinated by ice fishing. I probably drove the old timers crazy but they never told me to get lost. I had lots of ?'s for them. Fortunately they were kind enough to answer them. What I noticed mostly was that they all had spud bars, I hardly ever saw someone with an auger. They all pretty much did the same thing,  sat on a 5 gallon bucket holding a very basic jig stick, and all of them jigged a Swedish pimple, back then It was the only ice jig I ever heard of. Some guys had a few tip ups but nothing like you see today. I never saw too much running and gunning. The other thing they all had was an old metal bait bucket with a bunch of holes on top. No aerator, but I do remember the old oxygen tablets.....
I was lucky enough to ice fish a few times with friends but mainly I was a spectator asking ?'s a few guys actually let me skim the holes, that was a big deal to me. I learned a lot just watching and I am grateful they were willing to answer my  ?'s 
 I wonder though if anyone knows what it was like back then buying bait getting ice gear etc..... back then I remember only one bait shop in Windham NH its long gone now, it was near Windham nursery and had a huge shiner tank inside. As far as tackle for ice fishing, where did people go to buy it? I recall buying open water gear at K mart but I never saw any ice gear for sale. Im guessing mail order was a big thing back then for everything? Today with the internet and abundance of bait and tackle stores throughout NH, its pretty easy to find whatever you need. If anyone remembers what it was like back then to find bait and ice gear can you please chime in? Thanks,   

[fishingidjit]

We grew up jigging for perch(early 60s') with homemade jig sticks whittled out of wood with a place to wrap your line underneath. My grandfather was a machinist and made us flashers for a lure out of flat stainless.He trapped his own bait and had bobs to catch fish,I never saw a real tip-ups until the mid 70's.Bobs were basically two pieces of wood bolted together with one end stuck in the snow ,the other stick had the bait and was pulled down when you had a bite. No augers just ice chisels to cut holes ,needless to say you didn't move much after cutting a few holes through a few feet of ice. The hole would start out about 12 inches across and by the time you broke through it would be 3-4 inches. I'll take todays technology anyday but would give it up to fish with my granddad one more time !

[SALMONEMIA]

Nice story, thanks for sharing. I never heard of Bobs before. How did is flashers work?  Did they produce?

[winnisquam guy]

in the old days, i used a spud bar and bounced around alot with a single jig rod

[airplanejig]

I can remember  my dad   45 years  ago taking me and my brother  to horn pond in Woburn   We went into the little  bait shop muses  was the name on sturges street  he sold  Swedish spoon augers  us line traps  black ice line  sounders  metal buckets   even the newfangled  rapaligging rod   called the thrummer  it was  black and red  and had a button thqt ou pushed with your thumb and ould  jig or thrum the rod   das  bought me one  And I looked on the lure wall  there was  als gold fish  sedish pimple and  the red and white dardvle  I bought a darvle.  We  walked across the street on the ice loaded with anglers   and dad started spudding hole  througha foot of ice  Wehad real winrers back them.  My brother would skim  and I set he traps  with chubs that we boght. Isaw guys running to flags  one guy pulled out  a 6 lb bass   then a few minutes later  I noticed he pulled in 2 of his traps  and put them in his sled  soon  an official running the derby goes up to him and asks himhow many traps he has out  I think he said 5   The official said he saw him pull in the 2 traps  aeralier and that he over the limit and he and his fish were disqualified.  I learn  about being a sportsma that day.   Any way  I caught  2 perch on the chubs  and I jigged  a pickerel on the dardvle that day.  The rest si history. Back then it was a lot simpler  not electronivs  just  warm hat glove wool soc spotbooys   You walked out found  a  spot and  talked to the oldtimers,  Now iam the oldtimer

[fisherhawk55]

I came from a non fishing family also I use to sneak Down to the Merrimack river on my bike ,during ice time I would go to mystic pond and use an axe and Zebco kids pole set up to jig lots of trial an error learning back then the Merrimack river was a great fishery except for the pollution back then it's a shame ,forest lake my grandfather would take me to ice fish with homemade traps that I still have and gave me the book tight lines by roger aziz we caught  trout and some nice bass came from there .now I fish by myself more than I'd like but better than staying home .my son goes once and a while this year it looks like the hardside will stay in the yard.i do miss the old days fishing I use to trap my own shiners in the Merrimack river stream inlets tons of them in there when I was young

[SALMONEMIA]

Cool I had that book too. Forest lake is in methuen right? I used to go there too. I agree the river is a good fishery, not much ice ever on it though I have seen a few offshoots of it in Concord that freeze over.

[fisherhawk55]

Yes forest lake in methuen it has nice trout in it I would like to go there this year and nail some trout

[fisherhawk55]

Wayne I think you can get that book at Barnes and noble still not sure I will check its a great read also the fishermans bible is another great book

[SALMONEMIA]

Thanks for the story airplane jig.

[dickbaker]

   Yup!  I can remember feeling old when I turned 41     But as I vaguely remember it most of our present ice fishing equipment was easily available prior to the 60s.   My first cheap tipups and chisels came from Sawyers Mills outlet, in Dover,  during that decade.  My first hand auger was a 6" spoon auger.   When I moved to the White Mts. in 69 I found that the local sports shop carried everything that I needed including great tipups made by an old fellow in Berlin NH.  I still use those tipups.   During my first years in the north country we would hand chisel our holes until the ice got thicker than 20".   We took turns with the chisel until we had a ragged hole about 6" wide.   Four holes was a big day on a pickerel pond.  We loved fishing the big trout lakes because we only needed two holes.   Those were the days when bob houses were really popular because you only needed one or two holes that you popped open every morning!   
Believe Me!   I don't wish for the old days      But!  I loved it at the time?
Dick

[OldCaveman]

  Yup!  I can remember feeling old when I turned 41     But as I vaguely remember it most of our present ice fishing equipment was easily available prior to the 60s.   My first cheap tipups and chisels came from Sawyers Mills outlet, in Dover,  during that decade.  My first hand auger was a 6" spoon auger.   When I moved to the White Mts. in 69 I found that the local sports shop carried everything that I needed including great tipups made by an old fellow in Berlin NH.  I still use those tipups.   During my first years in the north country we would hand chisel our holes until the ice got thicker than 20".   We took turns with the chisel until we had a ragged hole about 6" wide.   Four holes was a big day on a pickerel pond.  We loved fishing the big trout lakes because we only needed two holes.   Those were the days when bob houses were really popular because you only needed one or two holes that you popped open every morning!   
Believe Me!   I don't wish for the old days      But!  I loved it at the time?
Dick

  Dick would that old fellow in Berlin that built your tip ups be Roland Patry by any chance?

[dickbaker]

  caveman!  How did you know that??
Dick

[Kibbymaster]

Great story's guys was a good read!

[jibbs]

  Yup!  I can remember feeling old when I turned 41     But as I vaguely remember it most of our present ice fishing equipment was easily available prior to the 60s.   My first cheap tipups and chisels came from Sawyers Mills outlet, in Dover,  during that decade.  My first hand auger was a 6" spoon auger.   When I moved to the White Mts. in 69 I found that the local sports shop carried everything that I needed including great tipups made by an old fellow in Berlin NH.  I still use those tipups.   During my first years in the north country we would hand chisel our holes until the ice got thicker than 20".   We took turns with the chisel until we had a ragged hole about 6" wide.   Four holes was a big day on a pickerel pond.  We loved fishing the big trout lakes because we only needed two holes.   Those were the days when bob houses were really popular because you only needed one or two holes that you popped open every morning!   
Believe Me!   I don't wish for the old days      But!  I loved it at the time?
Dick

not suprised you still use the same traps... you can tell someone is from Berlin because we all run the same kind... my first traps can in the 70's by my uncle who copied Roland's patrys pattern... My uncle used a spud bar but can't recall where the bait came from..probably trapped...all jammed into a metal bucket...I have two if anybody wants them...fun times

[fishingidjit]

Nice story, thanks for sharing. I never heard of Bobs before. How did is flashers work?  Did they produce?

The flasher was about an inch wide and 6 inches long,  made of thin stainless steel.Your hook dangled below it and it was just an attractor.

[Riverat]

I started ice fishing about 55 years ago as a kid and had a father, several uncles and a brother in law that used to go fishing regulary. All the kids in the group wood start gathering wood for the fire as the grownups would start chopping holes(up to 30") at times. The traps were used and pass down even at that time, mostly comprised of a slat type board with a steel coathanger type rod where you would sound your depth and make a loop put one end of the trap in a hole made with the spud and pack snow around it, put the loop on the extended rod and bend flag over and attach to the end of the rod. We would take turns chasing flags and hanging by the fire and eating hotdogs and the grownups would drink beer. Lots of good times and fond memories.

[Roccus]

 there's nothing like nostalgia... My ice fishing "career" started about 52 years ago on the banks of the Concord river ( long before there were pike in there)... my Dad was an avid fresh water (open water)  fisherman that dabbled in ice fishing.....he  would cut holes in the ice  with an Axe  to access the yellow perch and pickerel  he so loved to eat... being a farmer, he had green houses that were perfect for keeping worms...he also caught golden shiners  in the fall and kept them in the "drum" of an old washing machine he floated, half suspended  on a raft of logs in one of the rivers back swamps... the gear was simple home made tip downs and thin willow branches with 'cat gut" line suspended above the ice ...baited with worms or shiners and his favorite Aberdeen style hooks... my mother stuffed news paper in my "snow packs" for insulation..  looking back... those old cotton "long johns" were pretty much useless.... and all those layers of clothes (wool over cotton" did just as much to make me cold as keep me warm..

by the time I was a teen ager I had made my own "real" ice fishing "traps" from an article I saw in popular mechanics... I made a ice chisel from a tire iron that I pounded to a flat edge with a sledge hammer and shaped with a file... then spent 2 days( in my spare time) cutting with  a hack saw ( and about a dozen blades)...  I bolted a block of wood to an old shovel handle for a "stop" and  used a bunch of hose clamps to secure the "chisel" to the handle.. to this day I swear that devise is responsible for my aching bad shoulders and elbows.... around that time I made an ice fishing sled... lacking the knowledge or skills to make round curves( and being too stubborn to ask "Dad for help) or understand drag coefficients... I made a flat bottomed  tin lined sled that should have been pulled by the Budweiser Clydesdales and hoisted over obstructions by Charles Atlas... youth and determination is a wonderful thing....I learned how to trap and keep my own bait and around the age of 20 gave up on that bone jarring "chisel" and  welded a section of broken leaf spring  to a length of black iron pipe.. the lower section filled with melted lead.. it cut well and easily... It's a devise that I still use to this day...  I started using my flasher form my boat   by wiring  a pair of  6 volt lantern batteries in series.. it was heavy, expensive to operate and didn't last long in the cold.. but it served a purpose... I built better more reliable ice fishing tip ups... bought topo and bathometric maps ...  at age 40 I gave up  on cutting all my holes with a chisel( there was a brief stint with a cup style auger, but my chisel was faster and less work)...and bought a Jiffy model 30... my ice fishing sleds were redesigned for my comfort.. I carried a hand held Polar depth finder....when turned 55  I bought a Marcum  LX3.. made yet another light weight sled.. changed out the heavy Jiffy 30 for a ,lighter Jiffy.. the last of the 2 HP Tecumseh engines and first of the new "composite" gear cases... I now wear  a light weight 2 piece Artic Armor  "ice fishing " suit and artic pro muck boots and never am cold or uncomfortable...last February...one year shy of my 60th birthday... I bought a Polaris sportsman 570 EFI... my gear never leaves the wheeler.. I never lift a thing...A "deck " mounted GPs has replaced the old topo maps( I still have them for reference, as my memory gets worse)...ice fishing is not the   survival test it once was... do I miss the old days... yes and no... I just wish I still had the strength and desire I had back when I used to drag that old flat bottomed "snow plow" about a mile from the house to my fishing spots and back...

[Guinea]

Very cool stories, guys!

[Coffin Dodger]

Thanks, for all the old stories.
Roccus, was hoping you'd share as I knew you must have some good ones. 
Great topic, Salmonemia. 

[OldCaveman]

  Dick would that old fellow in Berlin that built your tip ups be Roland Patry by any chance?

caveman!  How did you know that??
Dick

  Dick I have a buddy of mine that lives in Jefferson. He had a set of Roland's traps that I fell in love with. The next time I came to visit him we took a road trip to Berlin to get some traps. They have served me well for some time now and are my favorite traps in my arsenal. It's cool that you and Jibbs have the same traps.

[Roccus]

Thanks, for all the old stories.
Roccus, was hoping you'd share as I knew you must have some good ones. 
Great topic, Salmonemia.

yes sir.. great topic... it's been a long ...long road....many an adventure... I've got a few of what that dammed old sled put me through .. best told in the comfort of a bob house or in front of a fire..... hard to sum up 50 odd years of it in a few paragraphs... I'm looking foreword to reading  others paths to where they are...

[Roccus]

I came from a non fishing family also I use to sneak Down to the Merrimack river on my bike ,during ice time I would go to mystic pond and use an axe and Zebco kids pole set up to jig lots of trial an error learning back then the Merrimack river was a great fishery except for the pollution back then it's a shame ,forest lake my grandfather would take me to ice fish with homemade traps that I still have and gave me the book tight lines by roger aziz we caught  trout and some nice bass came from there .now I fish by myself more than I'd like but better than staying home .my son goes once and a while this year it looks like the hardside will stay in the yard.i do miss the old days fishing I use to trap my own shiners in the Merrimack river stream inlets tons of them in there when I was young

we used to net them too.... I sold shiners I netted to Bill at Bills bait on Marston st..he also bought Tommy cods from me  I trapped in the tidal creeks around Plum Island.... On sunday morning the sluice ways from the mills would be shut down... we used to dip shiners by the thousands just by throwing bread balls over the net.... latter we netted at Bartlet brook when the ice froze over ...   a 4' X 4' hole cut with a chain saw is a scary thing on 2" of ice... Now a days if some one saw you cutting a hole in the ice that big.. you'd be arrested...

[halfhooked]

an ax and a chisel and some times a chainsaw when I would take my 3 boys  a brrother or 2 we would set 5 tips each very rare to have more than a foot of ice in southern ri when the snow was light we used a kick sled to tend the tipups  and gather wood for the bucket stove cook sausage or hotdogs  over the fire make hot chocolate  sometimes the kids would do some skating and the whole day would be spent on  the ice kids are grown brothers all live down south so no more 35 trap days but sometimes I get the chance to take one of my grandsons and sometimes they look up from their cell phone and fish  and as great as it is to reminisce   I cant wait till the next ice comes because  I still would rather walk on water than watch TV play video games go to work  or just about anything else you can imagine  there is just something almost mystical about pulling a fish through the rock hard surface of a lake

[fishingidjit]

  Dick I have a buddy of mine that lives in Jefferson. He had a set of Roland's traps that I fell in love with. The next time I came to visit him we took a road trip to Berlin to get some traps. They have served me well for some time now and are my favorite traps in my arsenal. It's cool that you and Jibbs have the same traps.

 I have a set of Charlies tip-ups from Berlin. I remember paying 10 bucks apiece for them 30 years ago. That was a lot of money back then but I still fish with them today and have only had to varnish them once and change leaders occasionally.

[SALMONEMIA]

The only video game I play is when I'm on the ice watching my jigs on my flasher connect with whatever lurks below. Great stories everyone. 

[Swampdonkey]

we used to net them too.... I sold shiners I netted to Bill at Bills bait on Marston st..he also bought Tommy cods from me  I trapped in the tidal creeks around Plum Island.... On sunday morning the sluice ways from the mills would be shut down... we used to dip shiners by the thousands just by throwing bread balls over the net.... latter we netted at Bartlet brook when the ice froze over ...   a 4' X 4' hole cut with a chain saw is a scary thing on 2" of ice... Now a days if some one saw you cutting a hole in the ice that big.. you'd be arrested...

Bills bait. I used to go there with my dad when i was a real young kid. I will never forget the cigar smell in that shop and the statues in his yard.

[Salmon Seeker]

I have a set of Roland's traps myself.   Suggested to me by Jibbs. Think he gets a cut outta what Roland sells.   LOL

[SALMONEMIA]

are these traps still made today? Also, what was the jig of choice back in the day say 60's 70's?

[Digs]

Only went ice fishing once or twice with my uncle in Maine when I was a kid and loved it. I lived in NY outside the city and never went ice fishing..... Now since moving to NH I've gotten into it a bit the last few years and looking forward to making some good memories and stories to tell with my two boys.