He Came North!

ISLE -- Darwin Bickford came north for vacation this winter.

The 75-year old Arkansan drove 735 miles in a day and half, arriving at Mille Lacs lake Tuesday.

He joined son, Jay, and grandson, Steven, as part of a three-generation ice fishing adventure out of Hunter Winfield’s.

It was a 48-hour fishing package -- a Christmas gift that Darwin won't soon forget.

“This is the way to fish, " said Darwin, dressed down and pointing to the stove, TV, pizza maker, cabinets, bunks and carpeted floor in this Hunter Winfield's wheel house. "I told my friend back home that I wouldn’t be out on the ice freezing to death. I told her I’d be indoors, with a TV, and a privy and everything.”

In his first minutes with a line in the water, the elder Bickford had small perch tugging and the line.  He brought one up, laughing and tugging it out of the hole as it flipped off the line and onto the carpeted floor.

"This is fun,"  Darwin said. "And I'm hoping for those walleye to come out tonight." With a bright sun shining and no wind, Tuesday was perfect on Mille Lacs.

Then again, everyday can get close to perfect on the Big Pond.  Rent a nice ice house. Get a guide like Dave Eckstrom, Hunter Winfield’s manager, to put you on fish. And you're in paradise.

To book your ice house visit Mille Lacs Tourism's fish house rentals