Taking Scouts, Cubs, Beavers Fishing. Advice.
 

Goodmorning next saturday I am volunteering to help my son and his beaver group with ice fishing. There will be Scouts and cubs also along. Any suggestions would be appreciated on extra gear to bring . Iam not a newby by any means to fishing just this amount of kids. I have the auger rods tackle 2 fishing huts heater etc. Just wondering if anyone has any helpful tips. We will be fishing for perch and northern pike. Oh yah the lake we are going to is surrounded by crown and theres no bathroom i dont want to leave a mess... any suggestions. Thanks in advance.

First of all , good on you and your son for taking a bunch of kids fishing. I think that is awesome. Would suggest a porta potty be taken along, with three 8 ft 2x4's a tarp strap to bind the top teepee style and a huge plastic tarp around the enclosure. Drive some nails in one end of each 2x4 to hold on ice.
Use windshield or RV antifreeze as a flushing agent in porta potty. :):)

Ensure where you go the place provides fishing action or they will get bored and that will open a whole new can of worms.

Bring extra pants, socks, boots and plastic bags for their feet. One will go down the hole. Its not if, its when. If your prepared for it, it's not a big deal. If not it ends your day.

All i can say is good luck. Hope you have good weather. Nothing can kill an outing like this faster then cold and wind. Having a couple tents with heaters will be a must. I would have someone go out before you and predrill a lot of holes so that power augers aren't going while lots of kids running around. Have a lot of rigs preset because newbies and kids can tangle lines in a blink. Snacks and hot chocalate prepared in advance. Have lots of blankets on hand to wrap up the the ones who get cold. Lots of pails to sit on. Portable fire pit, kids love a fire, though this creates it's own problems.
Above all keep calm and don't get frustrated and don't yell at anybody. Bet you guys have fun and let us know how it works out.
Oh yeh, make sure you have first aid kit for any of a hundred little injuries that might occur.

Get in touch with Roy Thomspon with Lynwood Cubs & Scouts.

Lynwood does a winterfest at Lac St. Anne in Feb every year.

Drewski

Thanks for all the replys iam looking into the porta potty. We will have a portable fire pit with a designated fire superviser haha. One tent for warming up and one with holes for fishing. I like the idea of extra rigs for tangles. My buddy and i are going out 4 hours early to drill holes and set up. I hear yah on the no yelling..... my wife told me i could self medicate when I get home haha. We should have a good amount of 4 adult leaders and 3 dads. We are going to have a weiner roast and lots of snacks hungry kids are worse than cold weather and bad fishing any day. I will try to take lots of pics hopfully the weather and fishing gods cooperate. Any more advice would be awsome keep em coming. Thanks in advance.

I used to take cubs ice fishing on Winchell lake. One of the things we did was have them build small solid fuel rockets from a hobby shop the day before. Then during a slow time when fishing, we would auger a few holes in the ice, but not thru, and put the launchers inside.... Missle silos! Great loud roar when we launched. It probably put down the fish for an hour or so.

I take a massive groups out every year and have a bunch of rods and tipups you're free to borrow if you're in the Edmonton area.

Thanks for the offer but I am in athabasca. I was thinking of picking up a few rough duty rods to supplement my own. Any suggestions?

One foot went down today in a hole...Heed this advice:)

The one thing you MUST have is enough adults who can help. I take my group of Cubs and beavers fishing, and I'm always running. They might get cold, you won't.

If there is enough hard snow I would have the kids make wind breakers from snow, towards one of their survival badges.
Only let the kids in the heated tent if it's really cold. Scouting is supposed to harden them up a bit. :)

If you keep boys too warm they won't grow whiskers and you don't want a bunch of thin skinned scouts. :sHa_shakeshout:

I agree 100 % percent. Iam just a dad volenteer so the badge work is up to the leaders but the one leader is not for sissy kids... i have fond memories of building quincys and sleeping in them till 42 below. We should have enough parents. I think.... I am bringing a rubbermaid full of extra gloves socks boots etc. Iam going to set up some tip ups and rotate who is in charge of yanking up the line so everyone has a chance. Some extra ice scoops should stop them from fighting over who will clear the holes. Anymore suggestions is appreciated. Oh yah and our rule is no electronic devices aloud.

For one time a year with kids I would just use a spool of line. Ice fished that way most of my life and never had a problem catching fish that way wit no chance of watching your rod go to the bottom of the lake. Also less Likely to had someone poked in the eye with a hook.

fishing update
 

Thanks for all the good ideas. I thought I would give an update Turned out there was a campground with facilities so that was easy. I arrived early to set up. putting a tent up in the wind with a five year old adds its own challeges. I did manage to find my tent screw pegs after it was up... Fishing was slow some small jack it was good to see the kids light up when a fish came through the hole. perch were nibbling or not at all. The kids did good trying to catch a fish but they would eventually loose interest. I caught the smallest perch in the history of fishing.... my 5 year old thought it was a minnow. .. hahaha. We had 2 kids with feet in the holes... one was mine and another little fellow. New boots pants and socks they were ready to rock. One ice scooper down the hole. A leader brought out a 20x20 tent for shelter.... we watched it fly accross the lake....its in good shape. We had a weiner roast and a huge container of hot chocolate for the kids. Lots of parents showed up so there was lots of help. No one got hurt and we came home with the same amount of kids as we arrived with. I have to say it was a slow fishing day but awsome trip for all. I would post some picks but.of legality s other peoples kids etc I will try and upload some of my son and I later. Have a safe weekend:sHa_shakeshout:

Tks for the update, glad all had a good time. Its really not about fishing, its the whole experience on the lake that make it fun for everyone. Good on you and all the volunteers for making a bunch of kids day.....:sHa_shakeshout::sHa_shakeshout: