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our alarm clock goes off and it is Monday morning again. You slide out of bead, throw on some slippers and stumble down to the coffee pot to pour you a cup of joe and step outside to see what the morning is like before heading off to work. As you take your first sip you notice there is something different about this morning from previous mornings. There is a stronger nip at your nose, the breeze is cutting through your hoodie a little more and there is a sense of stillness around you. Instantly you know….it is almost that time. First ice is just around the corner! It is hard to measure the excitement of ice anglers as they prepare to venture back onto the frozen sheets of opportunity, they left behind last spring. Some say to themselves, “This will be the year I finally catch that monster that lurks in the deep” or “This year I know I can beat my personal best”. For some it is a chance to spend more time with their families in the outdoors, teaching their kids how to tie jigs on and read sonars. The passion for ice fishing that anglers have is hard to rival with most things. It is something special that only people who live in the ice belt will understand. Now something that we MUST remember though all the excitement and anticipation is that first ice is not only magical but can be extremely dangerous. Safety is often overlooked and ignored in order to get to that one spot or to be able to say “I was the first one out” but none of that matters if you’re at the bottom of the lake. No one wants to get that phone call from the sheriff’s department saying, “You’re not coming home”. Even if one person falls through and doesn’t survive throughout the whole season it is too many. We must keep each other accountable and safe. We must make it home to our loved ones after each outing. We must take first ice safety seriously. Here is a list of items that have 10 >> iceteam.com >> Ice Digital November 2022 Issue
