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“It’s an addiction, I love ice fishing,” said Nathan Krusko.

Silver Lake in Perry was center stage to 50 ice fishermen competing in the Ice Fishing PA Tournament Series. It took place on a blustery day in the middle of winter.

Nathan Krusko traveled all the way from Warren County in the southern Adirondacks to fish in the series of tournaments. He hopes to be in the top 10.

“Rule is we have to catch 12 pan fish, that’s any combination of perch, poppy, and blue gill," Krusko said. "I’m trying to get 12 fish that will get me the largest weight, so I can get that first place prize."

Ice fisherman often fish alone or in small groups. They are constantly moving around the lake to find the spot with the most concentration of fish.

Krusko said it’s not uncommon for him to catch 200 fish in 2-3 hours, but that’s not why he does it.

“It’s a place to relax and unwind, get yourself back to nature,” Krusko said.

The ice on Sliver Lake was 8 inches thick Saturday. Krusko says that’s enough to hold a pickup truck. But he also recommends not to go out alone, to look for other groups who are already out on the ice, and to ask the locals how thick the ice is and if they know of any bad spots.

“A good rule of thumb is if you want to be safe and you’re out there walking look for a good four inches of ice, don’t push your luck," Krusko said. "Falling through may only happen once, but you’re not coming back."

Krusko said there are many myths about ice fishing, the main one being that you’re always freezing. He says that’s not true.

“Once you put the shelter down, we have heaters in here," Krusko said. "It’s not uncommon to get it roughly around 50 degrees in here at times. On a nice sunny day you can have the shelter down and the heater on it’s a good 60 degrees in here. Ice fishing is only cold when your outside walking, you get in you stay fairly warm."

Krusko says he wishes more people would get involved in the sport. He says it's relatively inexpensive to gear up.

“Get yourself a 5 gallon bucket," Krusko said. "Get yourself a $20 jig and rod, and some line. Reasonably you could be out ice fishing tomorrow for less than $100."

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