Viewfinder: Ice Fishing on Brighton Lake

Armed with absolutely no knowledge of ice fishing and covered in three layers of clothing and two coats, this contributor tracked her way onto Brighton Lake on Saturday, a sunny but extremely windy day, looking for Jim Cash of Brighton.

Occupying the only shanty visible on the lake, he wasn’t hard to find.

John Kudla, owner of in Brighton, was instrumental in setting up the outing with Cash, whom he has known for years.

“Jim is a good guy,” Kudla said.

Cash, who has lived on Brighton Lake since 1973, has been ice fishing most of his life, learning from his father at a young age.

Although we came close to catching some fairly good size fish (one actually broke my line), our catch consisted mainly of small perch, bluegill, sunfish and speckled bass.

“Nothing exciting sizewise, but you still have fun catching them,” Cash said.

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