Three firsts! Honeoye Lake, NY, 10 Jan 2010

[BlueDaksi]

My son and I finally got our ice fishing gear put together and went out for a couple of hours late this afternoon to do some jigging on Honeoye Lake. This catch represents three firsts for me. It was the first fish that I've ever caught through a hole in the ice, it is the first fish that I've ever caught in the month of January, and it is the first fish for me this year. I'm even happier that it was a bass! There was 6" of ice with a cover of about 5" of snow. We were using Jigging Raps tipped with fathead minnow heads.

[AUFred]

Awesome catch for January in winterland.

[TN_Bassin]

Nice one. I would be scared to go out on the ice because of recent experiences...

[BlueDaksi]

Originally Posted by TN_Bassin

Nice one. I would be scared to go out on the ice because of recent experiences...

Thanks! Well, we weren't chasing a calf across the ice... But trust me, it took us awhile to work up the nerve. Seeing cargo-laden four-wheelers and snow mobiles driving across the lake boosted our confidence some.

Since we moved up here from Oklahoma six years ago, we've attempted ice fishing briefly three other times with tip-ups with no success - we were on our own and not real comfortable out on the ice. We've since gotten to know some more folks up here and we are learning the ropes. Jigging through the ice is a bit more entertaining and you can catch some pretty nice fish doing it as it turns out...

[brushhog]

Whoo.... I'm a northern boy born and bred and I just can't bring myself to try ice fishing. Congrats on the fish though.

[bamabassman]

Just couris here, but how long do you have the fish out of the water with freezing temps. Not saying oyu are gonna kill it or nothing. I just wonder how long oyu can have a bass out of water before it starts to freeze ya know. Very nice fish for this time of year pal.

[nofearengineer]

It can't take long, Bama. I haven't ice-fished before, but considering that bass are cold-blooded, and probably come out of the water at about 39 degrees, it wouldn't take long for their skin to start to freeze.

I have set pots of water out for pets before, and it seemed like within 2-3 minutes, the water started to ice over.

[MallenManson]

Nice fish!

[BlueDaksi]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

Just couris here, but how long do you have the fish out of the water with freezing temps. Not saying oyu are gonna kill it or nothing. I just wonder how long oyu can have a bass out of water before it starts to freeze ya know. Very nice fish for this time of year pal.

Originally Posted by nofearengineer

It can't take long, Bama. I haven't ice-fished before, but considering that bass are cold-blooded, and probably come out of the water at about 39 degrees, it wouldn't take long for their skin to start to freeze.

I have set pots of water out for pets before, and it seemed like within 2-3 minutes, the water started to ice over.

Good question. Actually, most of the evidence points toward increased mortality with increased temperature, not decreased temperature.

Of greatest concern with respect to freezing is the softer tissues of the eyes, gills, and fins. However, in colder temperatures, fish metabolism is so slow that they aren't as apt to be injured via violent attempts to escape and their oxygen requirements are much decreased so they are also less susceptible to oxygen deprivation when out of the water. Because they are poikilothermic (cold blooded and their body temperatures follow that of the ambient external temperatures), they are able to survive very low temperatures so long as their cells don't freeze solid and rupture.

Because I didn't know the exact answer to this question, I did a little bit of digging because I wanted to know more about this topic as well. I found this...

http://www.wildtroutstreams.com/Catc...guidelines.pdf
"Temperature
Evidence suggests that catch-and-release mortality is directly related to water temperature, with mortality increasing at extreme temperatures. In a seasonal comparison ofhooking mortality of bluegill, Muoneke (1992b) found that mortality was greater in the summer when water temperatures were highest. However, this study did not account for other variables,
such as differences in feeding rate or reproductive status, which may have increased mortality during the summer. Similarly, mortality in cutthroat trout has been shown to increase from 0 to 8.6% as water temperature increased from 8°C to 16°C (Dotson, 1982). In a meta-analysis of
black bass mortality associated with tournaments, a strong relationship was found between water temperature and both pre-release and post-release mortality (Wilde, 1998). Research from walleye tournaments indicates that mortality increases with water temperature and suggests that tournaments should be limited to the spring and fall (O’Neil and Pattenden, 1992), or when water temperatures are cooler than 15.6°C (60°F) (Boland, 1994). Wilkie et al. (1997) examined thepost-exercise physiology of Atlantic salmon at 12°, 18° and 23°C, and found that physiological recovery was slowest at 12°C, however, there was significant mortality at 23°C. This result suggests that warmer temperatures facilitate recovery but that extremely high temperature increases mortality.

Nuhfer and Alexander (1992) found that mortality increased with water temperature in brook trout that were bleeding from the gills or throat area as a result of hooking. Mortality has also been found to increase with water temperature in smallmouth bass (Cooke and Hogle, 2000), largemouth bass (Gustaveson et al., 1991; Meals and Miranda, 1994) and striped bass (Nelson, 1998). Interestingly, Bettoli and Osborne (1998) found that catch-and-release mortality in striped bass was linearly related to air temperature but not water temperature, suggesting the temperature during air exposure may be more important in determining survival than actual water temperature. These studies demonstrate that catch-and-release mortality increases with temperature and special care should be taken with fishing during extremely warm weather.

There has been a similar concern with releasing fish that have been angled during icefishing and exposed to cold temperatures. It has been suggested that eyes and gills can be damaged from freezing on extremely cold days. However, studies examining catch-and-release survival of walleye during ice-fishing found no evidence of damage or mortality caused by exposure to cold temperatures (Ellis, 2000). Thus, while brief exposure of fish to cold temperatures may not cause mortality or damage, it is best minimize the time that fish are kept out of the water when ice-fishing."

Suffice it to say that I did my best to minimize the time that I had the bass out of water - just long enough to snap a photo of my first ice fishing success. Although a seeing a fish swim away upon release is no guarantee that mortality won't soon follow, this fish that I caught and released seemed to have all of its faculties in place when it swam away.

[bamabassman]

Thanks man, that is very informative. Glad to read it swam away too. Good sign it will survive.

[MallenManson]

Man, I might have to take up ice fishing next winter! Between cabin fever, you showing us a bass you caught, and the shanty displays at Gander, I'm starting to re-think this

[nofearengineer]

Ice fishing looks like fun...well, as much fun as you can have while you're freezing.

[MallenManson]

Originally Posted by nofearengineer

Ice fishing looks like fun...well, as much fun as you can have while you're freezing.

SUPPOSEDLY a small shanty can be adequately heated with a lantern. If that's true, I will probably take it up next year.
The shanty at Gander seemed really nice, although I didn't bother to look at the price tag.
Had a couple comfy lookin seats and I'm guessin' the whole kit-n-kaboodle folds up and stores in the heavy plastic box that the chairs were restin on.

[MallenManson]

Here we go!


http://www.gandermountain.com/modper...5&merchID=4006

[riverfisher]

Blue nice goin!! I have yet to get out this winter, I might be hitten Saratoga lake or the Upper Hudson this weekend. It's just been to damn cold and miserable here up north!!

[danielbasspro]

I would kill myself if i lived up north, unless i had enough beer and ice fishing equipment and knew how to use it ")

[MallenManson]

Originally Posted by danielbasspro

I would kill myself if i lived up north, unless i had enough beer and ice fishing equipment and knew how to use it ")

I have the alcohol covered, but no ice fishing gear

[paul]

that's great man. real cool. i would have to want to catch a fish very, very much to do that.

[BlueDaksi]

Thanks and good luck out anybody else who is going out on the ice this season. There is one possible benefit to braving the elements.

The benefit that I discovered for myself about jigging on the ice is that it forces you to really focus and concentrate on what you are doing out there. I think that it will ultimately translate into making me a better angler. After the ice is gone, I will hopefully have develope some sensitivity and "muscle memory" with respect to slowing down and having better bait presentation and detecting very subtle bites. Afterall, there's really no other information coming into your senses other than what you feel through the rod - no waves, no boat movement, no reeling, no structure, no cover. It removes most of other extraneous variables other than what you are sensing via a very light line and rod. It's just a small hole in the ice...

[MallenManson]

Whenever I think of ice fishing, Grumpy Old Men comes to mind
"The catch!"
"What a catch!"
"The release!"
"The release!...wait a minute! What release? There's no release!"