On a day when a steaming cup of coffee freezes within minutes it requires a constant ladling out of surface ice in the holes to keep them from freezing shut and watching for a hit -- a tell-tale red flag that pops up when a fish bites on bait suspended into the hole from a simple spring device called a tip-up.
"They say it's the biggest smallmouth ever pulled from the lake," he said, quoting incredulous judges who at first thought he might have brought the now flash-frozen fish from another lake. It proved to be the biggest smallmouth of the day, winning a US$25 prize.
Scott Peterson of Peterson Outdoors in Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania, spokesman for the National Ice Fishing Association, says equipment manufacturers estimate they have seen sales grow about 30 percent a year for the past nine years, largely because of "better clothing, better shelters.
You can use a four-wheeler to drag a shelter onto the ice. The technology is better."
"Bass taste really good in winter time, they lose that fishy taste," Peterson says. "Crappy is soft [in summer] but firms up. Parasites are gone. Perch tastes better."
Back at the Mirror Lake judging stand on the shore near a summertime canoe rental, club members nail contest entries to a board.
One northern pike impaled through its signature protruding lower lip wriggles as it clings to life. The fish around it are curled and quick frozen.
A crowd of mostly men in coveralls hangs around the stand, with their hats fashioned from various fur-bearing mammals, enjoying the day out.
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