BAUDETTE, Minn. _ The thought of ice fishing on a morning when the air temperature is 26 below zero might seem like insanity to the uninitiated, but this wouldn't be a day spent outside sitting on a bucket.
Besides, as people up here in Lake of the Woods country like to joke, it's a dry cold.
The 2016-17 ice fishing season _ an event driven by safe ice and not a date on the calendar _ was just getting started Dec. 18 when a small fleet of lightweight SUVs towing heated trailers idled in the parking lot at Ballard's Resort. The trailers would soon haul a small army of anglers to heated fish houses set up on the big lake north of Pine Island.
The blue-and-orange horizon just beginning to appear on the Ontario side of the Rainy River had the look of a cold day, and exhaust fog filled the air.
A brisk wind added to the chill, but cold is a minor inconvenience when walleyes and saugers _ and heated fish houses _ await; early reports were favorable.
Joining me on this inaugural ice fishing foray to the big lake was friend and frequent fishing partner Brad Durick of Grand Forks and his 6-year-old son, Braden. Most of Braden's ice fishing to date has involved tip-up fishing on Devils Lake for northern pike, a "hands-off" style of fishing that offers more time for playing and running around on the ice.
The first-grader at East Grand Forks Sacred Heart describes tip-up fishing this way:
"When a pike hits, you yell 'flag,' run as fast as you can to the hole and pull in the fish."
Jigging for walleyes and saugers and spending the day cooped up in a warm rental house would be a first for the boy, and a charged-up Kindle was on standby just in case.
So was a full box of Little Debbie Cosmic Cupcakes, an ample supply of fruit snacks and enough Sprite to stem the thirst between bites.
Bring on the fish; we were ready.
