Stefania is a visiting post-doc in our lab. She's from Italy. Her friend Chiara is also from Italy and currently working in Toronto. Chiara's husband Andrea is visiting while he applies for permanent residency.
Andrea is an avid carp angler back home and while having dinner on Friday, I suggested that we could go icefishing on holiday Monday. It would be a very Canadian activity. Everyone liked the idea so the plans were set.
Monday morning, I arrived at Stefania's apartment at 7am. Chiara and Andrea arrived, we packed the car and were ready to go. When I tried to start the car...uh-oh...car wouldn't start!
Thinking it was just the cold weather, Stefania, Chiara and Andrea pushed the car while I tried to get it started...nope...still couldn't start it.
I dug for the cables...but they were in another box that I had left at home...Doh!
Luckily, Stefania somehow found a CAA tow truck just around the corner and after $175 and a 5 minute installation, we were good to go. 
I could have just gotten a boost...but I wasn't going to risk it with a 1 hour drive ahead of us.
So after the delay, we finally were on the road toward Lake Simcoe. On the way, we stopped for some breakfast and bait. We actually didn't get to IBP until 9:30am. Better late than never I guess.
Where is land and where is ice?
Okay...off we go...where is my waypoint?
I was going to fish at a spot at 40 FOW...but then I saw some huts set up on a spot where I thought was a shoal. Well...I should have trusted my GPS. It was not a shoal after all. It was only a sandy flat in 20 FOW.
Normally, I would drill a hole to check the depth. However, I had 3 newbies in tow so the first and most important task was to set up the shelter. At least they could get out of that 25km/h wind.
Stefania, our stylish shelter anchor
After I had the hut set up, time to pop 4 holes. Everyone had their turn with the auger and everyone got to feel how much work it took to go icefishing
We were finally fishing by 10:30am.
With 4 people inside a 5' x 6' space, there was only room to fish 3 rods. It's cramped in there...but today's goal was to have fun...so who cares if we only had 3 rods fishing
Stefania was trying to call some fish.
After about 30 minutes, Stefania looked down the hole and saw a perch looking at our bait. It took one of the shiners, I set the hook and hand off the rod to Andrea.
Andrea's first yellow perch!
Too small...bye bye!
It was really scratch fishing since the fish likely went deep during midday.
Oh well...picture time
Not much was going on so Stefania and Chiara went for a walk.
Andrea and I chatted about fishing as best as we could. Andrea could understand some English, but he couldn't speak English well. We communicate with a bit of sign language and finger drawing
It doesn't matter, when it comes to fishing, we understood each other just swell.
After Stefania and Chiara returned from their walk, it was 1pm and lunch time. I told them that we should fuel up now and prepare for the afternoon rush of action. I said "The fish would probably start biting around 2:30pm and last until the sun sets."
Well...the fish came on time! At around 2:30pm, we had a little flurry of action!
Chiara with the big fish of the day.
Stefania with a double.
I was mostly unhooking fish and baiting hooks.
Until we had a triple header and I got to reel one fish in while Andrea was rebaiting two other rods.
The bite only lasted about 15 minutes and we landed about 15 fish in a hurry. There were only 3 keepers out of the bunch though...most were under 7" long.
After that, we had very little action. We did add one more 9.5" keeper to our small feed.
By 4pm, the fishing hasn't improved. I guess we were just a little too shallow. With the remaining daylight, we decided to pack it in.
Hm...how do I fold the shelter again?
On the way home, I took the gang to Bass Pro Shops.
Andrea was a kid in a very large candy store.
I still remember that overwhelming feeling the first time I stepped in there.
We spent about 1.5 hours at BPS until closing. At the end of the day, everyone had lots of fun.
I hope I could take these guys out icefishing one more time before spring
It's great sharing experiences with visitors and share some generosity.