Has anyone started ice fishing?

[mcfly]

Went out with 2 buddies, checked 3 lakes. 1 had thin and dangerous ice. 1 had 2" of ice (fished for 25 minute before I was too freaked out to keep trying). Spent most of the day on a nice lake with 4-5" of black ice, felt super confident. Although only 1 hookup for the whole day for the 3 of us.

I had a decent pike on but coincidentally I was using my ultralight setup for panfish so within minutes, the pike easily out did my 4lb test mono! The line came back with abrasion on the end so I'm guessing the pike just swallowed my whole jig + minnow whole. Then when he dived back down fast, his teeth cut my line. I was using a center pin so line pressure was very gentle.

Was really cool first ice fishing experience in over 10 years and very cool to drill our own holes instead of renting out a commercial hut. Very awesome that the Pike I hooked into came up and slammed the top of the ice just to show me the size and beauty of the beast before he got away!

You can't always go home with a fish, but being on the ice really made my day. I look forward to going out again soon! If anyone has an auger and drives a car - TAKE ME WITH YOU!!! lol