Living on the lake shore has its benefits, and for me, ice fishing is one of them! This year the lake in front of my house froze completely over on the 13th of November. People actually start walking out onto the ice when the thickness is 4 inches or better. By the time there is six inches, you will see light mechanical traffic with snowmobiles and 4 wheelers. They say 8 inches is enough to support a vehicle but not for me! LOL I don't venture out until there is 11 to 12 inches of good solid ice. Well, yesterday that was reached and its the earliest that I can ever remember being able to venture out onto the ice.
I fish in a vehicle called a Sno-Bear for a lot of different reasons. My age is the number one factor, since I am not able to physically handle a lot of the physical demands of setting up a portable shelter and taking it down every day. The Sno-Bear allows me the flexibility of fishing in all kinds of inclement weather and doing it in 65 degree comfort. It also allows for travel to just about any part of a frozen lake that you might want to venture on to. It has made ice fishing so comfortable, that it has become my chosen activity for the 5 months of winter that we normally experience here in North Dakota.
Yesterday the ice became thick enough in front of my house to safely venture out there and my fishing buddy and I spent a couple of hours making sure everything worked properly so we wouldn't encounter any problems as we moved from lake to lake. Everything checked out perfectly and today we ventured about 25 miles to the northwest for some ice time on a shallow lake that had frozen over a bit earlier. There was a storm front moving thru and the falling barometer must have affected the fish, because it was really slow all day long. We did manage to pluck 5 nice walleyes from the frozen depths, so it was still an enjoyable day!
Just thought I'd give some of the rest of you a small glimpse of what some of the more northern members do to pass the long winter! Gas & Oil gets the second chair this time of year! LOL

Dang! and I thought I was styling with a tent. I expect you get quite a bit more wind over there than here. Be safe, I know bears can swim but don't know about sno-bears.

Richard

Looks like your set to have a banner year on the ice Kevin. Every year we say we’re going to try the ice fishing deal up at our cabin but still have never done it. I love your reports and the SnoBear is an awesome piece of equipment. We have started winter catfishing this year and it’s a lot of fun without quite the extreme conditions you have to deal with up there. Have a great season!

Cool beans Kevin, that's the way to do it.

Do Sno-Bears float?

LOL Sno-Bears actually do float to some extent! The engine being the heaviest part of the machine, will cause the machine to float in a half submerged position with the nose portion pointing down into the water. There is an escape hatch on top of the machine and a door on the rear. Its no easy trick to retrieve one from the water, but it has been done before. The inside gets half full of water right away because of the circular access holes for fishing thru. They aren't lockable and will allow water to come into the cabin in case of submersion. They also allow water to escape when rescuing one from a submersion event, but the skis tend to get in the way and can hook on the edge of the ice, so removing one from water can be a little tricky. We have a couple of outfits that specialize in removing submerged vehicles from the water, as it seems that every year, someone drives a vehicle where they shouldn't and it enters the water. Pickup trucks are the worst because of the weight and the heavy footprint placed on the ice in a small area like the bottom of the tire. The weight on a Sno-Bear is distributed over 2 large skis out front and twin 18 inch rubber tracks that run the length of the machine.

Love the Sno-Bear. A first class way to do ice fishing.

I need to get over and fish with you one of these days. Looks like fun!

Looks fun, got to do something to pass the time.

Got to admit,I've always wanted to try ice fishing.Especially now in a Sno-Bear,which looks like would really knock the experience out of the park.
I grew up with German blood in my veins and have always preferred North over a Southwest climate.

Just to keep all of you up to date--its been a little slow going with the start of a new winter ice fishing season! We have been putting in quite a bit of time with pretty sketchy results. We have been catching a few keeper walleye and perch at times, but it has been very slow. Every once in a while though, a fish comes along that really spurs you on again! December 4th, about 5 pm , was one of those times when a big fish comes along and just renews all of your interest in the sport! Here is a picture of him/her before it was released!