I posted this on Ice Shanty this morning. I hope it fits here as well. Things were different 40 years ago
"Sometime back in the 80s..... My wife and I hiked about 600 yards accross a thickly frozen Geist reservoir to a flat that was a consistent crappie producer. It was New Year's Eve and, other than another couple from Muncie who joined us,we had the lake to ourselves. The bite was steady and soon a nice mess of fish could be seen in the glow of the Coleman Lanterns. Mind, this took place at the dawn of the digital watch era which gave us a good idea of the time and the fast approaching 12:00 midnight. At 11:59 my wife's minnow got nervous and the float began to dance. It circled about the hole a few times before slowly sinking. As the watch marked 12:00 midnight she slid the crappie on the ice and we declared it the first fish caught in Indiana for the new year...
Another New Year's Eve, 2021, I headed out to the local State Park and took a couple of stocker rainbows in 18" of water on a dry fly with my 3 wt." Air temp was 65+ degrees...
Happy New Year,
Fish on
rivereddy