Ice Fishing Experience - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Ice Fishing Experience

The past couple of days we've headed out on the ice for a popular outdoor North Dakota winter activity.

Ice fishing draws countless people out onto frozen lakes and rivers in North Dakota each year.

And as Shaun Sipma concludes his reports the sport can be as simple or extravagant as a person wants, but it's one thing in particular that keeps anglers coming back.

Ice fishing, all it really takes is a frozen lake, and an auger or chisel

(Greg Gullickson, ND Game & Fish Outreach Biologist) "With a good bar maybe you can get around making that initial investment of buying an auger until you're sure that ice fishing is for you."

with a bucket and a fishing pole a little bait and your set to go.

The serenity and simplicity is enough to keep people hooked on the outdoor winter sport.

(Greg Gullickson, ND Game & Fish Outreach Biologist) "You can still sit on a five gallon pail and catch fish with a broom stick but it's nice having all these comforts out here."

"There's a lot of evenings where, what would I be doing at home? Probably sitting on the couch watching TV well here I can sitting on the couch, cooking deer sausage watching TV and have the chance to catch a fish."

While winter may come too quick for many outdoorsman, the ice house services as more than just a fishing shack.

(Greg Gullickson, ND Game & Fish Outreach Biologist) "For many of us we extend our camping season."

With growing number of outdoor enthusiasts, the experience can be anything you really want it to be.

(Greg Gullickson, ND Game & Fish Outreach Biologist) I was in a group of five houses a few weekends ago and you go from one ice house to the next sampling dip and some has this deer sausage and so and so made bars and we even exchanges movies, DVD's on the ice the other night."

Whether the fish are biting, or it's just a quit day or night on the lake, the outdoor experience on the ice continues to draw fisherman to the great outdoors even in the dead of winter in North Dakota.

At Broken Lake, Shaun Sipma KX News.