Three hours on a frozen Lapland lake, hole by hole
Ice fishing sounds simple until you are standing on a lake at −15 °C (5 °F) wondering what happens next. This guide follows a trip from the meeting point to the last cup of something hot. The details differ between the three operators, and we say where.
At the meeting point
Each trip starts indoors. Safartica asks you to be at its office on Koskikatu 9, in central Rovaniemi, 25 minutes before the start. Wild About Lapland meets at Rovakatu 24, also in town.
Arctic Circle Snowmobile Park works from its main office at Joulumaantie 5, in the Arctic Circle area near Santa Claus Village, and collects you from your hotel in the centre. Bring a passport or ID there.
The first job everywhere is clothing. Thick overalls and boots go on over your own layers, and the operators usually add mittens and a hat. That takes a while, so the early arrival time is there for a reason.
Getting to the lake
On a snowmobile day the guide gives a short driving lesson first. It covers the throttle and brake and the gap to keep from the sled in front. Then the line of sleds leaves for the forest.
With Safartica the ride runs along frozen rivers and through the trees for two to three hours of driving across the whole day. Arctic Circle Snowmobile Park covers about 20 km (12 miles) through forest and over a frozen lake.
Wild About Lapland skips the engines. You walk five to ten minutes through old forest and come out onto a wide white lake. Our snowmobile or on foot guide weighs the two approaches.
Drilling the hole
On the ice the guide picks the spot. They know the lake and its depth and where the ice is sound. How they judge it has its own guide to ice safety.
Then comes the hand auger, a long steel drill with a blade at the bottom. You lean on it and turn the handle, and the ice comes up as white shavings. Wild About Lapland lets you drill your own hole, and Safartica's guide teaches you how.
Midwinter ice around Rovaniemi is thick, so drilling is a workout. It warms you up nicely before the long sit, and the moment the water rises in the hole is one most guests photograph.
Short rod, long wait
The guide hands out a short ice rod with a small lure. You clear the slush from the hole, drop the line to the depth the guide suggests and start lifting it gently.
Then you wait. You sit on a stool or a mat beside the hole and jig the line now and then while watching the tip of the rod. Conversation drifts in the quiet forest while the cold creeps in slowly through your boots.
A bite is a small tap, easy to miss with thick mittens. Thin gloves underneath help, and our clothing guide for −25 °C lists what else to bring. What might take the lure is covered in our guide to the fish.
Stand up and walk around every so often. Sitting still on the ice chills you much faster than moving, and stamping your feet keeps the blood in your toes.
The campfire and the food
Every trip has a fire, and it is often the part people remember. What gets cooked on it differs between the three.
- Safartica serves Lappish soup cooked outdoors with hot drinks and biscuits, and the catch of the day joins it if you are lucky
- Arctic Circle Snowmobile Park grills sausages by a bonfire while the guide tells fishing stories over drinks
- Wild About Lapland serves a campfire snack and hot drinks, and cooks big fish over the fire
Safartica's trip from ~$211 is the only one with a proper meal. If you want lunch out on the ice, that is the one to book; the others leave you hungry for dinner in town.
Soup at the fire after a morning on the sled
Safartica drives you to a quiet fishing spot, shows you how to drill the hole and set up the rod, then cooks lunch outdoors. It holds 4.8 from 900+ reviews on GetYourGuide.
Toilets and shelter
None of the three listings describes toilets or a heated shelter at the lake. Some fishing spots in Lapland have a simple hut or a lean-to, and others are open ice with only the fire.
Ask the operator before you book if this matters to you, for example with small children. Use the facilities at the meeting point before you go, because getting back from the lake takes time.
The fire is the main warm place on the lake, and the guide usually keeps it going for the whole session. Step over to it whenever your fingers stop working, then go back to the hole. Nobody minds if you spend half the time by the flames.
Heading back
When time is up, the holes are left to freeze over and the group returns the same way. Snowmobile drivers often swap seats for the ride home, and Safartica's day ends back at its office on Koskikatu.
Wild About Lapland's walk-in trip from ~$99 runs three to four hours, and Arctic Circle Snowmobile Park's combo from ~$181 about 4.5 hours. Both are short enough to leave the evening free.
The three fares and their extras are compared in our price guide. Families can find sled rules and age limits in the guide to ice fishing with kids.