It's looking like a weekend the bait shops ain't gonna be able to keep a box of wax worms in the ice box around these parts. Git em whilst ya can folks! :D

Saw some boys playing pond hockey yesterday on my way home... I might just go dust off the skates... not every year we get enough of a freeze to get the ice thick enough...

You planning on doing some ice fishing Oz? All my ice fishing gear except the jigs and bobbers disappeared several years ago. I think today would be a good day for ice fishing too.

yep Life, the boy been pestering me for some tome to go ice fishing. youngsters don't understand you need not only ice, but enough to hold you up! LOL!!!

So I reckon this weekend we'll give it a go. Looks like Sunday ay be the pick day. Kinda hate going when it's much below the mid 20's...hard to keep your ice-hole from freezing. :D

It takes quite a bit of equipment to ice fish too. Used to be the rods were cheap and had a very basic reel since you don't do any casting with it. Now most of them are pretty fancy. Do you use a hand crank auger? We used to use a spud, basically a heavy chisel about 6 - 7 foot handle for digging through the ice, then moved up to hand cranked augers. Then there's the skimmer to keep your hole clear and a sled to haul your gear and some kind of shelter. It's a lot of fun though, if you're dressed warm enough.

The pond is about 60 yards out the back door. Yep, got a manual auger, bought it several years ago. Don't use nothin fancy for the rod/reel. I need to pick up some ice flies and I reckon some wax worms and we're set.

When I used to ice fish in Michigan we used what we called mousies, a kind of larva that looked kind of like a mouse because of its tail.

Saw a guy ice fishing on Crab yesterday off one of the docks, he did not stay long.

Today (Sunday) there are a number of people fishing on the ice just off the bridges at Crab Orchard.

Went sunday and had 16 keepers and went yesterday and
caught about 50. Caught several 1lb. bluegill and the rest
were a little smaler and also 1 channel cat about 5 lbs.
This was on a private pond so it may not be the norm
for the public places but still had a fun time. The best part
was that I took a guy that had never been before and he was
the one that caught the cat and now he is hooked for life.
Wanted to go back today but just can't take the chance
of thinning ice. I'm sure it would hold us but err on the the
side of caution when it comes to ice and cold water.

Closest I've come to ice fishing is watching it on TV...LOL. It looks like a blast. Some of the huts you can drag out there to sit in can be elaborate to say the least. Like Bob said we don't get thick ice around here often in the winter to take advantage but this January changed that.

I don't think it's going to be cold enough for the next week or so.