Personally I think it's great to hear your reports. It is amazing to me the vastly different experiences we've all had and I learn a lot hearing about them. Theo asked whether he qualifies as a northerner. Well, my thought was that if you can say anything at all about the general condition of your fish during the winter then you may not qualify as a true northerner. You know your in the north when all you can see of you fish for many months is whatever you can drag through a hole in the ice and you are on pins and needles waiting for ice out. However Theo, no one would ever want to exclude you from a converstaion so go ahead and consider yourself a northerner and welcome to the ranks. By the way, I've always wondered where the line is between those areas that ice over premanently in the winter versus those that get a few days of ice here and there. I envy when I read about guys who can observe their fish and even feed some during the winter. But in reading the above posts it is clear to me that there might be some advantages to having ice cover that I never would have dreamed of. Guess the grass isn't always greener elsewhere.
