Since I started writing this column back in 2007 I have literally written hundreds of them. When Jim Cumming, then publisher of the Fort Frances Times, reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in doing it, he said I could write about whatever I wanted, outdoors related. Shortly thereafter, the Miner and News in Kenora picked the column as well and I’ve been doing it ever since.
While I do enjoy doing it, I would be lying if I said it was always easy. Some weeks, writing the column feels like a homework assignment. When I get on the road, fishing tournaments or visiting new places, it’s easy to write about my experiences or results. Providing recaps of the fishing tournaments around home or the annual moose hunting trip my friends and I take, is a piece of cake.
This week it was a grind to come up with a compelling topic. I have covered ice fishing over the past few weeks and I’m preparing to get out on the road and start my new fishing season soon. The cold weather over the past week has taken away my motivation for ice fishing so I’ve been spending most of my time in my garage working on my fishing tackle and rigging up my new boat.
Sometimes when I’m struggling to come up with an idea to write about and I don’t have much going on, I’ll look through the photos I have saved on my computer and sometimes a photo will stand out and generate an idea. I was doing that this week when I came across a picture my wife Shelby took while I was packing up after a recent ice fishing trip.
Most of our trips on the ice are by snowmobile. Usually we leave right from our house and pull a Frabill Predator portable shelter behind the snowmobile to carry all of our gear and pop up if it gets cold. Inside the sled I have several buckets that have a number of uses for me. When I thought about the photo she took of three of my “ice fishing buckets”, it prompted me to think that everyone who ice fishes, needs to have a bucket.
A five gallon bucket, the most popular size, works great for putting fish into if you plan to keep a few. It seems to me that most of us keep fish more often in the winter than we do in the summer. I know I usually like to bring dinner back when I hit the ice but in open water I usually let most of the fish that I catch go, unless I’m planning to eat a few that day. Pile some snow inside with the fish and the bucket helps to keep them from freezing.
Many of the manufactures of ice fishing gear know that these buckets are popular with anglers and they actually make their products to fit perfectly inside them. Frabill makes the Thermal Tip-Ups that I use. These round discs cover the hole to help prevent them from freezing over and they stack up nicely in a bucket. It’s a great way to store them and travel with them.
The Humminbird flashers that I use also fit perfectly into a bucket and I find that putting them in these buckets, then in my sled, keeps them from bouncing around and getting roughed up while traveling on the ice.
When my Dad ice fishes with me he usually brings a bucket with a couple of rods, an ice scooper and a small assortment of tackle in the bottom of it. It’s simple, yet practical.
Finally, Frabill makes a bucket with a padded lid called the Sit-N-Fish that is comfortable to sit on. I have a few of them that I’ve decorated with decals from some of my fishing sponsors and I can tell you that my buddies always try to steal them all the time. They’re cool! If you don’t have your own ice fishing bucket, it’s time to get one and make life easy on the ice.
