Frozen fish are no longer only available at your local grocery store. The winter sport of ice fishing makes it possible for Utah residents to hook their own catch of the day.

Opinions seem to vary on whether ice fishing makes for good times or merely frozen toes.

"Ice fishing seems like no fun - you sit there in the freezing cold fishing out of a small whole for hours," said Paul Nash, 21, an information technology major from San Jose, Calif.

Nash is a member of the BYU Fly Fishing Club but has never found the concept of fishing on or in ice appealing.

"It's not even a sport," he said. "It takes no skill at all. It's just for people who like to drink beer."

It seems the residents of Utah County wouldn't necessarily agree with Nash's statement.

"Utah County seems to have a pretty hard-core following of ice fishing," said Orem resident Mike Fisher, who has been an ice fisher for the past twenty years.

Ice fishing trends have raised in recent years, Fisher said.

"People are realizing it's not as cold as it seems to be," he said.

Fisher would know, since his co-workers at Sportsman's Warehouse in Provo regard him as the ice-fishing expert.

Students don't need to spend a lot of money to get started with the sport, especially those who already own fishing rods, Fisher said.

"Ice fishing doesn't require lots of special equipment," he said.

The ice should be at least four inches thick if you plan just to walk and sit on it, and eight inches thick for a snowmobile, Fisher said.

Fisher said you can use just about anything from an axe to a chainsaw to an auger to cut the ice. An auger is a tool designed specifically to drill a hole in ice.

Many people fish in the afternoon-that way you just use somebody else's spot, Fisher said.

Fisher's co-worker, Randy Haider of Evanston, Wyo., has been ice fishing for the past couple of years but has only come to really enjoy the sport in the last two and a half weeks, he said.

"(Until then) I never caught a fish, I just sat there and froze," Haider said.

Haider said it was the fish finder that made all the difference for him.

A fish finder is a small electronic device that helps detect fish, making them much easier to catch.

Fish finders will run you anywhere from $60 to $1,000, but Haider said they are worth it.

"If you don't have one of those you might as well not even bring your pole," he said.

Fisher disagreed. While it's easier to catch fish that way, he said, there are still plenty of fish to be caught without one.

One thing Fisher and Haider do agree on is that the best place to catch a fish is Fish Lake, about three hours south of Provo.

"When it comes to success rate, that one takes the cake," Haider said.

Other popular spots include Utah Lake, Strawberry Reservoir and Scofield Reservoir.



Copyright Brigham Young University 15 Jan 2003