Winter Play: Get out your 10 gallon bucket seat, it's time to go ice fishing!
MPR News reporter Hannah Yang (C) records video as her father in-law Travis Robertson (R) and husband Aaron Robertson (L) skim holes on Roberds Lake in Faribault, Minnesota on January 22, 2023.
Stephen Maturen for MPR News
As part of our new series called Winter Play, we're turning the winter doldrums on its head in a celebration of all things snow and cold.
We sent our reporters out around the state to revel in the weather that makes living in Minnesota so unique.
Hannah Yang is our MPR News reporter based in Worthington, Minnesota. She is a solid angler in the summertime, but she decided to try her hand at ice fishing for the first time.
And she joined Cathy to talk about tips and tricks for first timers.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: As part of our new series called Winter Play, we're turning the winter doldrums on its head in a celebration of all things snow and cold. We send our reporters out around the state to revel in the weather that makes living in Minnesota so unique. Hannah Yang is our MPR News reporter based in Worthington, Minnesota. Now, she's a solid angler in the summertime, but she decided to try her hand at ice fishing for the first time, and she's here with some tips and tricks for first timers. Hey, Hannah. Thanks for being here.
HANNAH YANG: Hey, Cathy. Thanks for having me.
CATHY WURZER: I love ice fishing so I'm excited to talk to you about this. My dad and I would fish in the winter on Lake Nokomis, in Minneapolis, on overturned 10 gallon buckets so I'm excited gave it a try. So how did you decide you wanted to give this a shot?
HANNAH YANG: So I've been fishing during the summer, but ice fishing was something I never tried in the eight years I lived in Minnesota. So I'm not a big fan of cold or snow. With ice fishing, I had this vision of sitting on a bucket the wind, and that was kind of the image I had my entire life about the sport so I wasn't completely excited at first. My father-in-law, Travis, always offered to take me ice fishing, just to try it out, and this series gave me the reason to finally take him up on this offer.
CATHY WURZER: I have to tell you, the bucket in the wind is not necessarily, bad, but did you have a little ice house? Did you go out on the ice in a truck? I mean, what did you do?
HANNAH YANG: Yeah. So my father-in-law took my husband, Aaron, and me out on Robert's Lake, in Faribault. And he took us out on his truck, and that was definitely nerve-wracking. I know that the DNR says that you need at least 4 inches of clear ice to safely walk on it, but there's just so many factors. And the one thing I did learn was that, there's no such thing as 100% safe ice, and each lake is different.
So we were on a truck, and I was, pretty much, silently praying that I wasn't going to be taking an unexpected swim at any point, but for the most part, at least, I made it out OK.
CATHY WURZER: Good. OK, yes. So did you have a little portable ice house that you used?
HANNAH YANG: Yeah. So my father-in-law had a tent. Surprisingly, it was-- so he assembled it and all of a sudden, it just grew into this pretty-- it was, like, a medium size to a large tent, and he just set it right over the ice holes, and I was just amazed by how quick he was actually able to assemble it. So we just popped right in, and it was surprisingly, warm inside.
CATHY WURZER: And, of course, you were wearing proper clothing.
HANNAH YANG: Right. So I got away with wearing a thick sweatshirt, sweat pants, waterproof boots with thick socks. Inside, we had a propane heater going so I recommend to anybody, the best bet is probably to wear layers because it could get pretty warm inside, but it probably helped that we had a propane heater. So it really just depends on how you set your ice fish house up or if you're sitting outside, how you plan to stay warm.
CATHY WURZER: Now, did your father-in-law drill the holes? I have to say, my dad--
HANNAH YANG: Yes.
CATHY WURZER: --made me do it by hand. Not attractive, very difficult. I hope he had-- did your father-in-law have, like, a power auger?
HANNAH YANG: Yes. He had an auger drill, and that was pretty cool to watch. I don't know what it is, but I had this vision of, when I was a kid, when I watched ice fishing cartoons or something, the ice or crack or something like that. No, he had a power drill, and I was amazed how quick it was to just drill several holes into the ice, but yeah, he had a drill so luckily, I didn't have to do what you did and do it by hand.
CATHY WURZER: OK. So tell us about so once your holes are drilled and you have your little miniature tip up, is what they call it-- your little miniature reel-- tell me what happened? How does it compare to fishing during the warmer seasons?
HANNAH YANG: I mean, honestly, it wasn't too different. I guess, like, the only differences that I experienced while being out there was the fact was, obviously, during the summer, you're kind of out there in the open air, you have to cast your line, but with ice fishing, since we were, at least for me, I was inside so there's no casting. I just dropped my little bobber down the hole, and that was, pretty much, it. And it was a little harder not being able to see where my bobber was going so we had to rely on Travis's fish sonar to see where exactly the bobber was and to see if any fish were kind of swimming around it. So that's probably, the one difference.
CATHY WURZER: So I know he gave you some pointers. I believe, we have a clip of him talking to you. Let's play that.
TRAVIS: You'll see your bobber go up and down, but you don't want to really do anything until it kind of really slowly goes down. That means, they got it in their mouth really good.
CATHY WURZER: OK, that's good. All right. And, of course I'm sure, did you get a fish? I have to ask you, did you get a fish? Yes?
HANNAH YANG: No, unfortunately, we did not catch a fish. What I hear from my father-in-law is that getting skunked, which means catching no fish, happens a lot. So it's kind of one of those things where, I guess, that one time we went, no fish were biting so unfortunately, we didn't catch anything.
CATHY WURZER: That's OK. That's OK because it's still kind of fun to hang out and joke around and talk and that kind of thing. And, of course, the problem with ending your day on the ice is that you have to pull up your gear and clean it up, which I'm sure, I bet you probably had-- what-- a worm on the hook, is that right?
HANNAH YANG: Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's always been my, I guess, favorite part of ice fishing, I guess. So I do have a little clip of that if you want to listen. Oh, God. It's gross.
TRAVIS: Yeah, just pull.
HANNAH YANG: OK. Ew, ew, ew, ew.
TRAVIS: You want to do the middle on mine?
HANNAH YANG: Nope!
[LAUGHING]
CATHY WURZER: OK, obviously, you're not into the minnow or the worm or anything else. That's OK.
HANNAH YANG: No.
CATHY WURZER: That's all right. That's all right. No worries about it. You know what? You gave it a try. It's good. So big question-- would you go, again? Was it worth it?
HANNAH YANG: Yeah, I would. I definitely enjoyed it. I think, overall, ice fishing just served as a way for me to spend time with family so I wish I had done it sooner.
CATHY WURZER: Well, you know what, Hannah, I will always take you out. We'll have a good time. And I promise, I won't have you just sit on the ice with me on an overturned bucket. We'll get a little tent. It'll be OK. Good job. Good job.
HANNAH YANG: Thank you.
CATHY WURZER: I'm glad you did this. Thank you, Hannah.
HANNAH YANG: Thank you so much.
CATHY WURZER: Talk to you later. That is Hannah Yang. She's one of our intrepid reporters, who got out and tried something new this winter. It's called Winter Play. There are videos and images and how-to's on our website. So if you want to try ice fishing or any of the other winter sports our reporters are trying this month, check it out by going to mprnews.org.
HANNAH YANG: Hey, Cathy. Thanks for having me.
CATHY WURZER: I love ice fishing so I'm excited to talk to you about this. My dad and I would fish in the winter on Lake Nokomis, in Minneapolis, on overturned 10 gallon buckets so I'm excited gave it a try. So how did you decide you wanted to give this a shot?
HANNAH YANG: So I've been fishing during the summer, but ice fishing was something I never tried in the eight years I lived in Minnesota. So I'm not a big fan of cold or snow. With ice fishing, I had this vision of sitting on a bucket the wind, and that was kind of the image I had my entire life about the sport so I wasn't completely excited at first. My father-in-law, Travis, always offered to take me ice fishing, just to try it out, and this series gave me the reason to finally take him up on this offer.
CATHY WURZER: I have to tell you, the bucket in the wind is not necessarily, bad, but did you have a little ice house? Did you go out on the ice in a truck? I mean, what did you do?
HANNAH YANG: Yeah. So my father-in-law took my husband, Aaron, and me out on Robert's Lake, in Faribault. And he took us out on his truck, and that was definitely nerve-wracking. I know that the DNR says that you need at least 4 inches of clear ice to safely walk on it, but there's just so many factors. And the one thing I did learn was that, there's no such thing as 100% safe ice, and each lake is different.
So we were on a truck, and I was, pretty much, silently praying that I wasn't going to be taking an unexpected swim at any point, but for the most part, at least, I made it out OK.
CATHY WURZER: Good. OK, yes. So did you have a little portable ice house that you used?
HANNAH YANG: Yeah. So my father-in-law had a tent. Surprisingly, it was-- so he assembled it and all of a sudden, it just grew into this pretty-- it was, like, a medium size to a large tent, and he just set it right over the ice holes, and I was just amazed by how quick he was actually able to assemble it. So we just popped right in, and it was surprisingly, warm inside.
CATHY WURZER: And, of course, you were wearing proper clothing.
HANNAH YANG: Right. So I got away with wearing a thick sweatshirt, sweat pants, waterproof boots with thick socks. Inside, we had a propane heater going so I recommend to anybody, the best bet is probably to wear layers because it could get pretty warm inside, but it probably helped that we had a propane heater. So it really just depends on how you set your ice fish house up or if you're sitting outside, how you plan to stay warm.
CATHY WURZER: Now, did your father-in-law drill the holes? I have to say, my dad--
HANNAH YANG: Yes.
CATHY WURZER: --made me do it by hand. Not attractive, very difficult. I hope he had-- did your father-in-law have, like, a power auger?
HANNAH YANG: Yes. He had an auger drill, and that was pretty cool to watch. I don't know what it is, but I had this vision of, when I was a kid, when I watched ice fishing cartoons or something, the ice or crack or something like that. No, he had a power drill, and I was amazed how quick it was to just drill several holes into the ice, but yeah, he had a drill so luckily, I didn't have to do what you did and do it by hand.
CATHY WURZER: OK. So tell us about so once your holes are drilled and you have your little miniature tip up, is what they call it-- your little miniature reel-- tell me what happened? How does it compare to fishing during the warmer seasons?
HANNAH YANG: I mean, honestly, it wasn't too different. I guess, like, the only differences that I experienced while being out there was the fact was, obviously, during the summer, you're kind of out there in the open air, you have to cast your line, but with ice fishing, since we were, at least for me, I was inside so there's no casting. I just dropped my little bobber down the hole, and that was, pretty much, it. And it was a little harder not being able to see where my bobber was going so we had to rely on Travis's fish sonar to see where exactly the bobber was and to see if any fish were kind of swimming around it. So that's probably, the one difference.
CATHY WURZER: So I know he gave you some pointers. I believe, we have a clip of him talking to you. Let's play that.
TRAVIS: You'll see your bobber go up and down, but you don't want to really do anything until it kind of really slowly goes down. That means, they got it in their mouth really good.
CATHY WURZER: OK, that's good. All right. And, of course I'm sure, did you get a fish? I have to ask you, did you get a fish? Yes?
HANNAH YANG: No, unfortunately, we did not catch a fish. What I hear from my father-in-law is that getting skunked, which means catching no fish, happens a lot. So it's kind of one of those things where, I guess, that one time we went, no fish were biting so unfortunately, we didn't catch anything.
CATHY WURZER: That's OK. That's OK because it's still kind of fun to hang out and joke around and talk and that kind of thing. And, of course, the problem with ending your day on the ice is that you have to pull up your gear and clean it up, which I'm sure, I bet you probably had-- what-- a worm on the hook, is that right?
HANNAH YANG: Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's always been my, I guess, favorite part of ice fishing, I guess. So I do have a little clip of that if you want to listen. Oh, God. It's gross.
TRAVIS: Yeah, just pull.
HANNAH YANG: OK. Ew, ew, ew, ew.
TRAVIS: You want to do the middle on mine?
HANNAH YANG: Nope!
[LAUGHING]
CATHY WURZER: OK, obviously, you're not into the minnow or the worm or anything else. That's OK.
HANNAH YANG: No.
CATHY WURZER: That's all right. That's all right. No worries about it. You know what? You gave it a try. It's good. So big question-- would you go, again? Was it worth it?
HANNAH YANG: Yeah, I would. I definitely enjoyed it. I think, overall, ice fishing just served as a way for me to spend time with family so I wish I had done it sooner.
CATHY WURZER: Well, you know what, Hannah, I will always take you out. We'll have a good time. And I promise, I won't have you just sit on the ice with me on an overturned bucket. We'll get a little tent. It'll be OK. Good job. Good job.
HANNAH YANG: Thank you.
CATHY WURZER: I'm glad you did this. Thank you, Hannah.
HANNAH YANG: Thank you so much.
CATHY WURZER: Talk to you later. That is Hannah Yang. She's one of our intrepid reporters, who got out and tried something new this winter. It's called Winter Play. There are videos and images and how-to's on our website. So if you want to try ice fishing or any of the other winter sports our reporters are trying this month, check it out by going to mprnews.org.
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