A New Tradition: Ice Fishing with Kids Over the Holidays

January 01, 2007 at 9:46 pm

Christmas is all about traditions. Especially those of us who have moved to the Yukon with no family here, traditions are even more important. It is one of those times of the year where we either adopt the traditions from our families or we start new ones. I wanted to get a group of friends together, kids and start a new Ice Fishing tradition. I called many of my friends with kids and decided to host an ice-fishing afternoon at Pumphouse. I had planned to set up a canvas tent on the ice to keep the kids warm, but the balmy weather of late made it relatively doable without shelter. Most of my friends had your kids aged 2-9 yrs old and have never ice fished before.

I planned a few days in advance got out there early and discovered another group with the same idea on the prime ice fishing spot. Holiday spirits all around, they not only were ok with my and the oncoming gaggle of toddlers, that they helped drill about a half dozen holes as well. We made a fire and waited for the kids. Just after noon an army of children arrived and had a blast.  Total count was about 15 kids. They all took turns fishing and ate a hot dog. Some lasted an hour some over three hours…all in all a great day.

Some tips for ice fishing with toddlers:

1. Keep it really simple and no expectations

2. Do all your prep in advance so the kids can just start jigging

3. Clear the area well so the kids don’t trip around the hole

4. Have spare boots and clothes in case they put their foot in the hole

5. Watch that they don’t start putting garbage or other things down the hole (they find it entertaining…)

6. Have some secondary activities like snowmobiling, hikes, toboganning to keep them enteratained

7. Fire, hot dogs and hot chocolate

8. Don’t hike too far onto the lake or as far as you can handle going back with a cold, screaming kids that has had a meltdown.

9. Make a big production about catching a fish and try to teach patience when not catching.

Best of all, most kids were really content just learning where the fish came from and how to ice fish. It was gravy that we caught five nice rainbow trout for some of the kids to cook up when they got home.

I’ll do this again next year. Get a group of friends together, enjoy the outdoors, take a break and just get a little jiggy with it.

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