Some prime topics for another drag show

The other day, I overheard a TV commercial talking about a “drag show” and I thought, “Heck, it’s about time.”

After all, watching people drag their sleds across the lake is often the most entertaining parts of ice fishing. I have no doubt it will make for compelling television.

Anyone who had ever watched a 130-pound man drag an ice sled loaded with 240 pounds of gear knows exactly what I am talking about. This is something that you just can’t take your eye off of. Especially, if the lake’s surface is slushy or if the snow is knee-deep.

This act of dragging an ice fishing sled has everything a viewer would want. There is the slapstick comedy that occurs when the sled tips over at the end of the downhill slide to the ice. There is the deadpan look on the angler’s face when he realizes that his power auger fell off the sled 100 yards ago. There is also just the right amount of suspense. Will the angler dragging the sled see the open, boot-sized, drilled hole he’s walking straight towards? Will he slip multiple times on that patch of glare ice just ahead?

Add to that a generous helping of drama. Is the angler going to make it all the way to good fishing grounds or will he just stop, ponder the futility of life and refuse to go on? And what about all that wheezing and sweating? What does it mean? And let’s not forget the lifeor-death drama and the heroic, action-packed moments that occur when an angler has to rescue two dozen helpless minnows that just spilled out of an overturned bait bucket.

Don’t even get me started about the associated dialogue. That stuff writes itself.

Frankly, it comes as no surprise that the television networks finally realized ice fishing is ready for prime time.

To be honest, I wouldn’t mind consulting on an episode or two.

I have already started to rough out one show about a fellow who tries to set up a large ice fishing pop-up tent on a very windy day. And another where the stars of the show try to determine whether the smell in the ice hut is highly toxic or just another sign that the other angler’s floatation suit needs a good washing. Spoiler alert: a threepart storyline on nasal icicles is also in the works.

I suppose, all this shows just how far ice fishing has progressed as an outdoors sport. In the old days, dragging out a sled was child’s play. That’s basically because the average sled contained a minnow bucket, a ladle, a spud or hand auger, a folding chair, and a couple of spools of fishing line, some hooks, split shot, and a few willow gads. On a prolonged expedition you would add a thermos and a frozen sandwich.

These days, you’re not equipped unless you are dragging a sled with a pop-up tent that could house a family of eight, rubber flooring, a heater, a portable stove, a cooking set, sonar unit, underwater camera and flasher, a power auger, shovels, a bucketful of rods, several tackle boxes, a bait bucket, folding chairs and a cooler full of food to cook, as well as several thermoses – and then another sled carrying all the camera gear for your social media posts.

And that can be a real drag.