Aha, that is cool. :D I really miss ice fishing. It was a big deal when I was young, but it doesn't get cold enough for the rivers to freeze very solidly anymore. :(

We didn't use hooks, though. We had a big gang, which we would split in half. Half of us would cut holes across the ice, staggered so that we could cover most of the river, and then make snares of brass wire and attach them to the ends of long skinny poles. These we would lower to the bottom of the river.

In the meantime, the other half would gather heavy clubs and go up river and come down towards the people with the snares, beating on the ice with their clubs, to drive the fish towards the others. We'd catch them in the snares and yank several up on top of the ice. Then we'd trade with the drivers and go drive the fish back up to them, and back and forth until we'd gathered as many fish as everyone wanted.

We generally ice fished for the Channel Catfish and Spotted Suckers rather than perch, though. I don't see too many perches here in the winter, but maybe they are there and just not biting. I always thought when I was a kid that the perches burrowed into the mud and slept for the winter, but that seems kind of silly in retrospect, lol.

But maybe we will have a colder winter again sometime and I can give it a try again. Though I don't know who I would ask along anymore. Maybe I will have to try ice fishing with hooks, or maybe just putting out a trot line during the winter months.