An ice fishing drive-by with underwater views

I told my friend who regularly ice fishes that we wanted to go fishing with her family this winter. I received an impromptu text from her while getting ready for a day of cross country skiing with the girls and decided to adjust our schedule so we could do both activities that day.

We had already loaded our usual ski gear and backpacks (with fleece-covered water bottles and lunch) in to the car and then added a few extra things for ice fishing. We had a key learning during last year's ice fishing trip...

It's all about socializing and staying warm while sitting around.

So folding chairs, an extra set of "little hotties toe warmers" (for toes that get chilly just sitting around in those chairs), hot cocoa thermoses (for socializing and staying warm in those chairs) and a snack (to share while sitting around in those chairs).

Truth be told, I'm not so interested in fishing. Actually, I have hyperactive tendencies and don't generally choose to just sit around so me and fishing aren't the best of compadres. But I like socializing with my friends and I like being outside in the winter. Plus my friend's husband, Josh, had just picked up an underwater camera and I was curious about how it worked.

The girls and I thought the underwater camera was super cool! Josh was determined to find a fish and he was dipping the camera in various holes all around the ice in hopes of spotting one.

We never did catch site of a fish that day but viewing the ice from the underside was really interesting.

We were also able to check out what the bottom of the lake looked like. In the summer I'm generally not so keen on seeing what creatures are swimming with me. But I wasn't going to be jumping in the water afterward so it was fun to get a close up view of the bottom.

The girls were interested in watching the baiting of the traps on the ice but then were quickly distracted by other things.

A fish was caught in one of the traps while we were at the lake but the girls were doing something else.

Maybe they were drinking hot cocoa.

Or maybe they were eating cookies.

Or maybe digging in the snow with their two-year-old friend.

In the end, the kids seemed unconcerned about missing the big event.

That got me thinking - ice fishing is just a drive-by event for us. It's about spending a couple of hours out on the ice with friends. If a fish is caught that's great. But it's not the whole story. Ice fishing is really just one of many things to do on a frozen lake in the winter.