OUTDOORS: FISHING HOLIDAY ON ICE

FOR those who can deal with the cold and overcome the perfectly reasonable notion that angling in the Northeast is over shortly before the first snow falls, ice fishing is a marvelous way to escape television's enervating embrace.

The advantages of the sport include access to portions of lakes and ponds that were unreachable except by boat in summer and, for the most part, there is very little crowding in winter.

Another of ice fishing's charms is that one may do it with a minimum of equipment. Many years ago when I began ice fishing, my first ice-cutting tool was the old axe I used for splitting wood. It worked quite well early in the season when the ice was only about four inches thick -which is considered safe for small groups of anglers - but foot-thick ice was hard going.

Either an ice chisel or a hand-powered ice auger, which resembles a giant brace and bit, is the best choice for the average ice angler. With the former, one must remember to fasten a stout line to it with a loop that goes around one's wrist or waist, or, sooner or later, it will be lost on the thrust that breaks through to the water beneath.

A hole six inches in diameter is adequate for panfish and pickerel, and one advantage of the chisel is that if you hook a fish too big for your original hole you can use the chisel to make it larger, something not possible with the auger.

Augers powered by gasoline engines are available, but I've always welcomed the warming exercise provided by the other devices. One other essential ice-fishing tool is a big ladle with holes in it with which one scoops fragments of ice caused by cutting from the hole, as well as the skim of ice that constantly forms on truly cold days.