Yeah, KH, my luck ice fishing was rather lackluster also. I tried it for the first time last year, only had one fish on, and nothing to write home about, and lost it just as I was pulling it out of the ice. That was after taking a rather FAST fall on the ice after I stood up from my chair. Later a guy at one of the restaurants in town, told me he just uses a towel, and when he gets the fish's head up through the hole, he flops the towel in the fish's mouth, and it closes down, like an alligator will do, and he just pulls them out, without a gaff. Sounds plausible. I would sure like to catch some like those, though for sure. I would be very happy! 
Wayne
The towel trick works great for pike, and if you don't have a towel, you can use your hand.....once!
I think I will just try the towel J.W.. I am experienced with blue fish already.
yah, hey dere Pearl Drums, ya fer sure you betcha dem is some good ones hey? I wish I could catch some like that. Heck just one. But they caught five others, and let them go cause they didn't think they could eat that much. They only kept those, as the they swallowed the hook too far down. Uh.....hello..... freezers, Friends, etc. But they were all going out of state in a couple of days. So they did not want to leave them in the freezer . The Three are fantastic people, as is their whole family. The one on the left, and the one on the right, both got scholarships for pole vaulting, and the one on the left was offered a scholarship, after graduating, to get his masters in sports, and to get room and board, plus be paid, to coach pole vaulting. He is now working for a Friend he met while working doing surveying for the oil fields, and is partners with him in his business. But he has almost paid off all of his student loans, and is bringing in around $80,000.00 a year. Not bad for a 23 yr. old. The one on the right, Broke both his ankles, while pole vaulting for the school, and while studying to be a Physical therapists, and his grades were so good, the Professor, asked him to wait after class. He sat down with him, and told hmi he was wasting his time, in that class. He needed to go to Medical School! So he is now in Arizona studying to be a podiatrist. His Wife by the way, was also a champion pole vaulter. Unfortunately, she landed wrong, and broke both of her ankles also! She didn't go up right and came down on the front side of the bar, and hit the asphalt. Anyway, she is now studying to be a nurse. The oldest one, the one in the middle, he is very good at painting, construction, and just about anything he tries his hand at. He helped his Dad build my home in Montana. His wife is a Brain surgeon! Right now they are living outside of Pittsburgh,Pa. till she is done with her residency, then they will decide where they will go to live. Their Dad told me he is pretty much covered now. If he stubs his foot, and falls and hits his head, he can get his foot fixed, and his head worked on and have a nurse to take care of him!
Each of the kids that went to College, paid their own way. Not that their parents wouldn't have tried to help them, they wanted to do it on their own. And they did.
good hunters, and fishermen, and all round Good People. I have known them since they were just little kids.
Wayne
