In Minnesota and many other states in the upper midwest, winter is a time when you either sit inside all day every day or brace yourself against the freezing air, wet slush, and inevitable frozen extremities. I personally have stayed inside most of my winters, aside from the times as a kid when everyone went out in the snow to play. I tend to not make it a habit of being outside when it’s freezing and the wind chill makes me want to stick my hands in the oven, but this winter I decided to step outside my warm circle of comfort and take a step into the world of ice fishing. 

For background, I have fished before, and I do know how to fish. That wasn’t the issue. It took us longer to get all the supplies we needed than the amount of time we actually spent out ice fishing. In one haul we managed to get three ice fishing rods, lures, line, and a hand auger, and I myself got a nice little pair of clam waterproof gloves.

After our shopping trip, we drove to the lake to get everything set up. I then stuck my hand down to get all of the frozen ice off of the surface of the hole we made, and got water inside of my waterproof glove. Waterproof gloves don’t do much to help once the water is inside the glove, in case you were wondering. At this point, we were only about 15 minutes in. There was no heater, no nice clam-pull over the ice house, and we never caught a single thing. Not one bite. I’m not sure which part stings the most: the fact that I was actually quite excited to go out and try it and we didn’t catch anything, or the fact that I even went at all.

 Either way, I will be going again, because I will catch at least one crappie or something of the sort, and while I will be freezing, it will be worth it. Hopefully.