Written By - Nodak Outdoors - 10/12/2007
Link to Original Article here

Ive always preferred the simpler means of enjoying fishing. At times youd think I’m the only one without some kind of electronic depth finder, underwater camera or GPS to mark my hot spots.

I know better than that. There are other low-impact anglers. During summer we call them hook-and-bobber types, which is a generalization that could be applied to just about anyone taking part in outdoor recreation in a less-than-contemporary fashion.

Ill explain this in more detail. Fishing technology has advanced way past me. I dont have any of the modern day must haves. I grew up ice fishing with my dad, sitting on five-gallon pails, using a big lead weight for a bottom finder and nothing more than a glorified stick with a hook as a fishing pole.

It didn’t bother me that we didnt have a power auger or some of the other fancy stuff for a number of years. In fact, I remember when dad won an electronic flasher and we wondered how wed figure out what all those lines and colors meant, and if theyd really help put fish on the hook for us.

For most people, those days are gone. Five-gallon pails were replaced by ice shacks with amenities suited for all day living. GPS devices mark hot spots, and underwater cameras even show the fish â€" but they still don’t make the fish bite!

Ice fishing is what you make of it - enjoy yourself

For me, a good sack lunch was more important than catching a pail full of perch. That will probably always be the case.

If you agree with some or all of what I’m explaining, count yourself among the hook-and-bobber crowd.

Greg Gullickson, Minot, is a Game and Fish biologist and avid angler who uses the term â€�"bobbers and worms” to explain his more relaxed forays into the outdoors, including ice fishing. â€�"There are thousands of versions of the equipment needed to be an ice angler,” he says. â€�"Now don’t get me wrong. I am a gadget man, but still remember when my ice gear consisted of a five-gallon pail filled with homemade poles made from broken summer rods and sticks with line wrapped around it.”