Some beautiful ice fishing pictures were entered! Big thanks to all who entered over the summer/fall months to get us all fired up for the ice season this year.
Tough for me to pick just 10 out of all the entries but here are the 10 iceshanty hardwater selections. Please take a min to vote for your favorite 3. Voting will run for 7 days
littlepineguy
First ice in northern MN last November, and among a few smaller fish, my buddy ended up catching a thick 25" walleye. The ice and water were so clear we watched the fish for the last 10-15 feet of the fight, really a neat way to start the season.
Quack
I finally thought I had a pattern down on the lake I was living on last winter so I went out about an hour before sunset to a spot I found some luck catching walleye at around sun down. I fished till about 15min after sunset with out marking any fish, and was getting ready to call it a night and rethink my "pattern". I was jigging with 2 rods, one with a small hard body rattle bait which I didnt have much confidence in and the other happend to have a slender spoon on it(one of my favorite lures!). So right before I started packing up I saw a big mark come up and I held the rattle bait still and was working the spoon assuming thats what the fish was looking at. all of a sudden I get a big hit on my other rod and it almost pulled it from my hand. I dropped my rod with the slender spoon and set the hook. I immediately knew I had something big and thought it was either a smallmouth or a big pike. after a great fight this chunky girl popped her head up my hole! She and I had a quick photo shoot and I gave her a kiss and sent her home. I then went on to catch three more perfect eater size walleye in the next 10 minutes and walked home as happy as can be.
Also just for the record december 3rd is my birthday, just sayin
IceCutterIon
Cascade Lake, Going for the Jumbos. "This is what true peace and serenity looks like."
HardH20Fishin
Flying the Shanty Flag on an foggy early morning on Cascade Lake, Idaho on my first time perch fishing with the guys traveling up from Utah.
Nessmuck
This pic just looks cold...-7 ....got the Beavah Hat on...somewhere in NH.
sploke
My daughter and I, her first time out on the ice (same pic in my avatar). We got out there early, and throughout the morning she managed to wet both legs past her knees by stepping in holes - the second time she actually moved the chair we had put over an unused jigging hole to prevent her stepping in it, and promptly dropped her foot right through it. She was getting pretty unhappy, and then we started getting some flags and she helped land this guy. She pretty quickly forgot about the wet feet.
Bigassbassman
It was a glorious day, bitter cold and sunny. There's nothing quite like that first day out on the ice...the anticipation, the excitement. Not just for that day, but for the entire upcoming ice season.
ianwuzhere
Waiting patiently for first ice, finally a good cold snap cold enuf to turn the soft water into hard water. It didn't take long to put a good layer of solid ice- a few inches is all I need. Tried drilling many holes in the shallows looking down under the ice at the fish which were easily spooked as we walked towards them. Drilling hole after hole was easy with the thin ice but the fish always wanted to spook and "trolling" around wasn't working as well as I hoped in my day dreams. Staying in the same spot jigging finally I was able to lure in a lunker and turned out to be a Beautiful Blackwater strain Rainbow Trout here in British Columbia.. 8 pound range, was setting the bar pretty high for first ice, and it looked just like I was hoping while daydreaming at work all week.
waterfowl_warrior09
If you drill it,they will come! Snuck out on some early ice after some perch in the shallows and happened to catch my buddy nose down scoping the scenery. Can almost see the shipping channel in the background,always a little goofy feeling when you're catching perch through the ice and can hear boats fishing walleyes and see freighters roll through.
Brochet
My 6 yr old daughter's 1st time ice fishing:
Poll