February 6, 2020
Bite the Ice
By TYSON SMEDSTAD
bhgnews service
The alarm went off at 5 a.m.
The truck was already packed and ready to go the night before.
I was surprised at how much “stuff” you need for four hours; a house, chairs, equipment and the most important of all, the cooler for refreshments.
This is only the third time my life I’ve gone ice fishing, so imagine my surprise when Marcus Matthews asked me to be in an upcoming Bite the Ice Tournament with him.
We roll onto the ice around 7 a.m., about two and a half hour too early.
I thought the lake would be crowded, but the houses were in little groups of friends scattered around the fishing boundary.
It was a record breaking year with 723 participants in the tournament on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The weather cooperated an unseasonably warm 46 degrees with bright sunshine.
It’s 10 a.m. and it was go time.
You could hear augers firing up across Lake Sakakawea. This is where things get serious, for a few minutes. Holes were being drilled at what seems an alarming pace, with water coming back up flooding the house a bit. Four holes per angler. Seems excessive to me, the uneducated fisher-person, but when you have such small area to work with you need to get as many lines in the water as you are allowed. Matthews drills three inside the pop-up fish house, five outside with tip ups.
The bite was slow.
The truck was already packed and ready to go the night before.
I was surprised at how much “stuff” you need for four hours; a house, chairs, equipment and the most important of all, the cooler for refreshments.
This is only the third time my life I’ve gone ice fishing, so imagine my surprise when Marcus Matthews asked me to be in an upcoming Bite the Ice Tournament with him.
We roll onto the ice around 7 a.m., about two and a half hour too early.
I thought the lake would be crowded, but the houses were in little groups of friends scattered around the fishing boundary.
It was a record breaking year with 723 participants in the tournament on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The weather cooperated an unseasonably warm 46 degrees with bright sunshine.
It’s 10 a.m. and it was go time.
You could hear augers firing up across Lake Sakakawea. This is where things get serious, for a few minutes. Holes were being drilled at what seems an alarming pace, with water coming back up flooding the house a bit. Four holes per angler. Seems excessive to me, the uneducated fisher-person, but when you have such small area to work with you need to get as many lines in the water as you are allowed. Matthews drills three inside the pop-up fish house, five outside with tip ups.
The bite was slow.
