As we near the end of this year I took a moment to reflect on my experiences growing up fishing. Needless to say this included looking through dozens of old pictures while at my parents house over Christmas. I thought I would share them with you guys, as it is interesting to see what our origins are as anglers. The pictures skip a few years… as I couldn't locate those photo albums and purposely stops about 4 years short of my starting the blog: right about the time I went from being a casual angler to it becoming a serious hobby and passion. The pictures are a mix of me and my relatives and taken in Iowa and Minnesota. Enjoy! 

For as often as I fish, I have never really ice fished. For years I have been wanting to change this and even bought an auger and some ice fishing gear, the problem is, for the past few years Kansas has received little to no ice. So this year I decided to change that and when I went up to Iowa for Christmas this year I was prepared, unfortunately I had no clue what I was doing and just ended up sitting in the middle of Rock Creek State Park on a cold bucket... so when I got a call from my buddy Cody to join him on the ice back up in Iowa I jumped at the opportunity. This time things went a little better, no huge fish but fish nonetheless and that is all I was hoping for. 

Compared to my bucket, this was the Ritz Carleton. 

First fish on ice!

As you can see, these guys were monsters. That hole is 8" across. All fish were caught on micro-jigs tipped with wax worms. 

Best part about ice fishing, you don't have to worry about your beer getting warm. 

Mostly we caught green sunfish, with a few bluegill mixed in. 

Chris preparing himself for a kiss. 

Brandy's turn.