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My childhood memories include tagging along on ice fishing expeditions with adults who drove vehicles loaded with gear onto the surface of a frozen lake. Christopher Smith, an avid ice fisherman profiled in a new episode of

 today as part of All Things Considered, prefers to park on land and walk.

Christopher likes to fish alone but he was happy to host me for a couple hours. Usually his goal is to get away from the mayhem of meetings, email and phones.

Christopher swore me to secrecy on naming his favorite lake; it's barely more than a mosquito pond of 55 acres in a northern Twin Cities suburb, but deep enough at about 26 feet to avoid freeze out and be home to decent size crappies.

Other ice anglers seem to be happiest in a crowd, if the number of 'hard water' fishing festivals is any measure.

Ice fishing is old.  You've seen the pictures.  People for thousands of years have chopped a hole and waited for a fish to take a baited hook. Or they've stood silently, with their spear at the ready if they see a shadowy form move in the water.

Those approaches still work, but if everyone fished through the ice that way gear manufacturers would go broke.  Thank goodness many ice anglers love to shop for the very latest gadget that will certainly, without fail, guarantee their piscatorial success.

Christopher is no exception.  He's lost count of the short, light-weight ice fishing rods he owns.  He jokes his artificial bait bag contains ten containers...because it won't hold twenty.  Yes, he has a hand auger to make a hole in the ice, but, yes, his four-cycle gasoline powered auger is much faster and more convenient.

Curious about this relatively unusual winter outdoor activity?  The 

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

 is your first stop.  Be sure to check on the dandy article by Chris Niskanen explaining the sport.

 for some is meditative, even mystical as chronicled by my colleague Euan Kerr.

Minnesota News

The Cities Blog

Dan Olson

Author

Ice fishing is old.  You’ve seen the pictures.  People for thousands of years have chopped a hole and waited for a fish to take a baited hook or with their spear at the ready if they see a shadowy form move in the water.

Minnesota ‘hard water’ anglers love ice

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