Although not my first time it was the first time i went with the expectation of catching fish. Went to Mille Lacs for a buddy's bachelor party in 2014, stayed in sleeper shacks. Asked the lady who checked us in how the walleye bite was, she said that we might as well forget about catching any walleye and that the bite had been real tough. long story short we had 1 vex for the five of us and we drank more beer than anybody should, we didnt catch a single fish the entire weekend. When i came back to iowa i was determined to catch fish through the ice. I got a vex and an auger, used my hunting blind a shack, froze my ass off most days since i really had no idea what i was doing. Since then I have acquired tons of equipment and maybe some knowledge too. I really don't open water fish that much anymore, ice fishing is way more fun but because i live on the edge of the ice belt winters are a bit unpredictable and the past 3 winters have been pretty poor for ice fishing.
Here's to a good hard winter!!!!