With foldover chairs, fishing rods, a drill, a sonar machine, and a bucket of live bait, Colby College’s Ice Fishing Club treks to the middle of a large clearing of snow atop a densely frozen lake. They drill a few holes, set up camp, and hope that one of the cold fresh fish beneath the ice gets caught on their line. Sitting above the ice in the middle of the lake, surrounded by pillow-like snow, waiting and watching, it is easy to understand the appeal of this peaceful pastime. One moment, all is still, and the next, your rod’s flag goes up and everyone is launched into a chaotic effort to bring their fish to the surface.
Weekly, on Saturdays, the Ice Fishing Club heads to varying lakes and ponds around Maine to try and catch some fish. The effort is led by club president and founder Jeremy Goldrick `26. Goldrick explains, “I always wanted to go ice fishing, but I kind of lived in a place where there wasn’t a lot of ice fishing going on.” He describes ice fishing as a “classic Maine activity.” Thankfully, Belgrade, ME, home to Salmon Lake, turned out to be the perfect place.
Out on the ice this past Saturday was one of the club’s busiest days. The couple, Jenny Yang `28 and Oliver Chao-Bierhaus `28, decided it was the perfect place to spend their Valentine’s Day. “I was half joking when I proposed it,” explains Chao-Bierhaus. Jenny Yang chimed in: “We’re doing something adventurous!” They both agreed it’s “a great bonding experience.” In the time they spent waiting for a fish, they also built an impressive snowman—another thrilling pastime on the lake.
Goldrick and the majority of ice fishers catch the fish for sport and throw them back afterwards. Occasionally, if a fish is large enough, students will skin and eat the fish.
“We’ve had days where we caught 15 fish in one day,” Goldrick explains. Yuchen Yang `27, the Ice Fishing Club’s vice president, is an avid and experienced fisherman. His favorite type of fishing is deep sea fishing, which he’d do often back home in China. “I’ve really enjoyed fishing my whole life, and I tried ice fishing after I came to Colby,” he says. Similar to Goldrick, Yuchen Yang’s introduction to ice fishing was its popularity in Maine: “I came here and learned that it’s traditional for people to ice fish in Maine.” Yuchen Yang then took initiative, describing how he “just found some guys in the local area and they taught me how to fish! Then, in 2025, I found Jeremy posting different things about the ice fishing club, and then they elected me to be Vice President.”
It’s important to note that during this interview, Yuchen Yang was holding a fish head. He went on to talk about the large fish the club has caught in Salmon lake, many weighing in at over ten pounds.
Hannah Colling `28, a student spending Valentine’s Day ice fishing with her friends, bundled up warm, explained her favorite part of the experience was simply “the ice. The fish. This new experience, and hanging out with my friends.”
Goldrick concluded, saying “I would go to class on Monday, and people would say, ‘What did you do this weekend?’ I’d say ice fishing, and they’d reply, ‘I always wanted to go ice fishing but don’t know how.’” This was what inspired Goldrick to start the club. “It’s a really complex, unique thing […] everybody at Colby should at least try it once, and we’ve got an easy way to do it.”
~ Molly Garvey `28
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