It's safety first as ice fishing season approaches

Dr. Jason Halfen and I agree on probably the first and foremost aspect for ice angling in the early season.

It's easy to talk the talk, but too many fishermen skip this issue: be safe.

I have switched horses on this controversial global warming issue. After examining hundreds of documents, both scientific and political statements, I believe in global warming.

I now yield to the far right and listen to the catcalls.

I am ready to zip up my personal floatation device and take a walk on the wild and frozen side.

With that said, I will not predict when the first ice will draw the ice fishing devotees on to the slick stuff, but I can nearly guarantee there will be macho men injuring themselves when ice arrives.

The stories are worth repeating.

Some eager characters strain body parts when trying to pull start their gas-driven ice augers. Others will muscle their way through with their hand augers, dull blades as they may be (the auger blades, that is) and work to puncture the ice until the sweat rolling down their faces burns their eyes. And if any of them become clumsy, they may cut their hands in the process.

All that aside, here's my must-have ice fishing prep list:

• I always wear ice spikes on the bottom of my boots to ensure I have traction while going from spot to spot.

• Even on mild days I'll "skate" my one-person ice tent behind me to the first potential hot location. The ice shelter sits in a hard, plastic body, with a rugged bottom that has some room to haul the ice auger (or hand auger) with some extra gasoline. I'll take a tiny jig and hook box along, as well as my portable sonar unit, underwater video camera, first aid kit, lantern, ice scooper, bottled water and live bait (wax worms, maggots, and a bucket of minnows). And of course, I'll wear the PFD on the way out.

I already know ice fishing is a no-no for some of you, as it was for me in the dark ages of all-leather boots, wool coats and Union Suit long underwear, with that hinged flap on the backside.

You could never get me on the ice, especially when I was a kid watching my elders slog their way to the middle of Lake Zurich.

Believe me when I say that times have changed, especially in the clothing department as well as the rods and reels we use.

Vexilar's FL units and Aqua-Vu screens have brought science to the ice shanty. Line manufacturers finally understood that 1- and 2-pound line is what many in the ice community demanded. A line was needed to become practically invisible for lure-wary fish. All the modern developments happened in a hurricane-like wave of evolution. And yet the ice angling community was slow to grow, even to this day.

In my humble opinion, it could take a couple weeks of subzero temperatures before lakes in this area would actually be hard-crusted, safe, fisherman-friendly locales - the kind that will allow those of us who walk the walk to also talk the talk once a day's worth of enjoyment comes to an end.

• Contact Mike Jackson at angler88@comcast.net, catch his radio show 7-9 a.m. Sundays on WGCO 1590-AM (live-streamed at www.1590WCGO.com) and get more content at mikejacksonoutdoors.com.