What excites you the most when icefishing

[icejunky]

I thought about this today as I was watching the IF IceGuide tv show, they were showing a close up of a showdown fish finder so you could watch the jig fall on the screen....all of a sudden you see a fish line start to rise from the bottom to meet the jig as it fell, i caught my self saying "oh yeah". I was actually excited for them,

So it got me to thinking, what excited you the most when ice fishing...mine has to be seeing that line on my vex rising up to meet my jig...antiicpation....

Chasing down a flag has to be a close second

[mluther]

I don't have any electronics yet and i normally fish for pan fish so for me it's that "ting" noise when the spring bobber nails off the eyelet when you get a good hit. Even better when it's 2 or 3 jiggin rods making the sound non stop for an hour! I dream about that sound.

[Drifter_016]

Pinning the throttle on my 1000cc sled across a lake and trying to hold on as my sled tries to drive away from me!!! 

Second would be setting the hook when Laker fishing and having the rod tip get buried in the hole. 

[tip-uptwo]

The bell bite  

[mud_n_fun]

Mine also has to be the fish on the screen chasing the jig as well. Are they going to bite?Aren't they? just kills me.

[Tainterslayer]

SPRINTING up to a flag that is spinning like a top!

[Trooper Bri]

  FLAG !

I also 2'nd Drifter. I don't own a sled but friends have let me take their sleds (up to a ZRT800 triple) out for a grip across the ice over the years. Wooooo! Sweet Jesus, how can you stand to drive cars after a day on those?  Crossing a lake in 40 seconds rules !!

[~X~]

Definitely watching that line come up to the line representing your jig and then feeling the bite...

[jibbs]

loading up my gear at the truck and heading out onto the ice with quad and  a big old coffee

[ALASKANSS]

when my wife invites me in the ice shack

[Iceassin]

All the above

[Desperado]

One not mentioned yet . . .

Watching a bobber get pulled down the hole.

[fishinfiend]

Watchin the little bobber take off under the ice just before sunrise

[jigemin]

Puttin' in a fresh chew and yellin' flag at the same time.

[spam]

Getting on the ice after tearing down a bowl and drinking coffee starting that jiffy letting it rip threw the ice and as light breaks threw yelling FLAG!!!! man i can not wait come on winnebago

[MookieB]

When your kid catches a fish and is just grinning the whole time. Oh and to see the big fat black line on my Shodown coming up, that's a pretty good feeling too.

[bart]

Simply bringing the fish up to the hole, it's like the anticipation of opening a present on Christmas morning. Ice Fishing is magical!

[crappiekid24]

Seeing the fish come up to the jig on the flasher is probably my favorite. But also when you hook a big fish and it could be many different species the anticipation to find out what kind of fish it is, is also a another favorite.

[havejigwilltravel]

Darkhouse fishing in my portable and seeing a monster pike stop and look at my jig.

[John_Boy]

Just being out on the ice brings the biggest joy to me ,I love this sport and can never get enough of it.
                                                                                                              John

[Vexilar Prowler]

My favorite thing while ice fishing is when you can see your jig on the vexilar when all the sudden a large red mark appears and moves up to the bait.  You watch the tip of the rod in anticipation, and when the fish inhales the bait the tip of the rod just starts to arch. Unlike when you get a bite from small fish and the rod tip seems to bob or bounce. 

[mud_n_fun]

I have to say I get a little tickle when I round a corner a the lake comes in to veiw.

[brokenline]

the smell when you start mr. heater

[sport masterson]

when your fighting a fish and rather than it just coming up throuhgt the hole it makes a pass in front of it, when you see that flash before it dives back down i always get psyched up......

[fishfry]

[lake snake]

 I'll say the sound and smell of firing up the auger first thing in the morning.

[nyiceman23]

When you are perch fishing and you get a monster strike.  The moments trying to figure out if it a bass, pike, or hopefully a big walleye.  I had two snap offs when jigging last year and I still wonder what they were. Love it!

[Tecumseh]

  flag!

[Moosebunk]

When the bell rings, tip drops and reel screams.

Fish photoshoot can give me a wee woody too.

[adkbrookie]

jigging perch and getting them to come 10-15' up to the jig / the morning and evening bite, seeing the bottom ten feet of the water column is all fish, no spaces on the flasher , polar spinning like you've got a snowmobile on the other end , even better if it was set for salmon 8), midday perch on tipdowns, hand lining fish, sunrise, morning when it's -10 with no wind and you don't need gloves, multiple flags and they're all spinning, the 10' of perch disappear and you get one hard mark on the flasher that chases the jigs (laker), unless i had trouble finding the perch and the laker chased them away, solitude, walking on and off in the dark, doubles, looking over and seeing the person for whom it's their first time fishing  perch with the rod doubled over with mr. laker and the look on their face "**censored**, what's going on!", wind and sunburn, the tan mask and gloves that the sun and wind give you, jigging two rods and you cannot keep either of them in the water, the sound of making ice, a perch's skull crushing when it donates an eye, just about everything about it.

this thread has me way more pumped than any/all of the other ones combine. can't wait, thank god for steehead and walleye and hunting, have to pass the time somehow.