Chances are you’ve lost a fishing pole

I was out for coffee a week ago and joined a group of guys; the conversation was ice fishing. The group was talking about vehicles going through the ice. The focus was on the expense involved with retrieving the vehicle. I did a little research and found out insurance will cover the vehicle under a comprehensive plan, but the work involved in getting the vehicle out of the water typically isn’t covered.

Terry Roemhildt chimed in with an ice fishing story with relatives on Lake Winni. The group set up their portable, put down holes, and prepared to fish. Terry's son-in-law took off his coat, and out of the pocket popped the truck keys–right down an ice hole. It was the only set of keys and they needed to somehow get them back from the lake bottom. Terry had received a new underwater camera for Christmas. The lake was clear, so the camera spotted the keys snuggled down on the bottom just to the side of the ice hole. One of the members of the group had a magnet. (Who goes fishing carrying a magnet??) They tied a piece of string to a long stick with the magnet attached. The person with the longest arm put the contraption down the hole all the way up to his shoulder. The magnet recovered the keys on the first hit and the hero headed to the heater to thaw out his arm. A happy ending: the keys had been recovered and the truck started. I'd like to share some of my stories and experiences with things going down ice holes.

Years ago my young daughter Katie wanted to go ice fishing. She invited a friend and we were off to Clear Lake. I'd made all the preparation for the young, inexperienced anglers. Warm clothing, a nice heated shelter, and a basket full of munchies and beverages. After setting up, I instructed the girls to clean out the ice fishing holes and I'd go out to the truck to bring the goodies. I opened the fish house door and saw Katie – dropping the ice strainer down the hole. The other strainer had already disappeared. Both of the girls were all smiles and giggling away. It wasn't about catching fish, the fun was watching things go down the holes.

My friends all tell me that I still live in the twentieth century when it comes to technology. My big purchase was a flip phone which I acquired so that I could call my wife from the lake and let her know I'd be late for supper when ice fishing. Sure enough, the fish bit late, we packed up, and I decided to make the call still standing on the ice. The phone flipped out of my pocket and–you guessed it–down the ice fishing hole. I was once again late for supper and never did make a call on that cell phone.

I was fishing on Madison Lake with Terry and his son Chad. I hooked a nice crappie and was boasting about the catch, taking the fish off my lure. I was bending over the hole and off came my $400 glasses. I watched them disappear down the hole and on down to the bottom 17 feet below. Chad used his camer to locate the glasses, half buried in mud. Terry headed to Menards in Mankato and purchased a couple of magnets. I tied a magnet to the end of a fishing line and down to the glasses went the magnet. I pounded the frame of the glasses and nothing happened! My glasses frames were made of absolutely nothing magnetic. The water had now become murky and the picture on the camera was lost. Getting my glasses back was now a hopeless situation. Chad tied on different fishing lures with giant treble hooks and fished for the muddy specs. He fished for an endless amount of time, never giving up. Then the miracle happened, Chad said “I think I have them.” He bent over the hole, reeling ever so slowly. Up they came, barely hooked on the side of the frame. Chad Gilbertson will forever be my hero.

If you do a lot of ice fishing, chances are you've lost a fishing rod down an ice hole. I was fishing on Reed's Lake with a friend. We were fishing on the ice. It was a cold, windy day and nothing was biting. We were using the old fashioned stick poles and left them on the ice next to the holes with bobbers and bait in the water. We sat in the pickup to warm up, watching the bobbers from the pickup window. We saw some movement, but before we could open the door, both of the poles disappeared down their hole. We concluded a school of bass had swum through, bit, and were now carrying our poles around the lake. On modern day rods, most fishermen have an open face reel. If you are jigging with a lure the bail is closed. If you dead stick, fish with a bobber, you open the bail or put your rod in a rod holder. I was fishing on Red Lake and catching nice walleyes jigging with a slending spoon. I put my rod down on the ice house floor and reached for a beverage. In the blink of an eye, my rod disappeared. It happened to be my most expensive outfit. We were fishing in a rental and the house 30 yards from us shared their story. They saw a nice fish swim through under one of their ice holes carrying a pole behind it. I wonder whose pole that was???

Not everything goes down a hole: Sometimes something comes up. I was fishing on an area lake, jigging away, and hooked something, thought it was a fish. Turned out to be some fishing line. I reeled a ball of line up the ice hole–attached to it was an ice rod and reel. I experienced redemption and karma for the outfit I'd lost on Red Lake. I was fishing on Madison Lake with Jim and we walked out to fish near the south end. There were twenty fishermen in the area, so we knew the bite was on. We fished in the group and caught a few fish. Everybody left and we decided to fish into the evening. Unoccupied ice holes were everywhere and we sat on our buckets jigging away. It was a quiet evening and suddenly there was a splashing noise and commotion in a hole in between us. Up the hole popped a 5 lb. dog fish. What the fish was doing we will never know. As it flopped on the ice, I grabbed it and showed it the way back down the hole. We wished it would have been a walleye–that would have made for an even better better story.

Enjoy your fishing on the ice, don't leave your pole unattended, and may your bobber go down: way way down.