Go ice fishing

“I caught my first fish through the ice today (3 bluegill), and with no electronics. I was spiralling like you are lol. This morning I stopped into the local bait and tackle shop. He told me what was in the area, specific spots on the lake to get them, and recommended baits to use. I also went for a bit of a drive to a better spot, rather than stubbornly sticking to my closer spot. [...] I'm finding so far that ice fishing is much more challenging than open water to get started. Conditions are uncomfortable at best & dangerous at worst, you have to drill a hole each time you want to drop a line (manually for me and probably for you), everything freezes up, more money needs to be spent on equipment, fish can be more lethargic, and you can't see into the water. The one benefit is you can place yourself on any spot without a boat (although hiking across a frozen, windy lake isn't exactly easy). For what it's worth, catching bluegill in the Summer is a given for me and I've never had any interest in targeting them. But I've been elated all night for the three I caught today because of the amount of money, work, time, and preparation I've put into my ice fishing journey this far.”