I choose to partake in the basic folly of ice fishing because there is nothing else to do when the mercury hovers around those tortuous levels of ouch and owie.

I am going to lay it all out for you, in simple terms, because not every reader will get it.

Ice fishing is a form of hunting. No gun or bow, just patience.

But it’s also a kind of fellowship. A brotherhood, to use another term. Many ice patrollers know approximately where the fish like to hide when a thick, safe layer of ice sits above the fish’s head.

On the Fox Chain, each lake in that heavily traveled waterway in the summer has its own characteristics that apparently appeal to certain fish species.

Lake Marie has a mud, sand and clay bottom, with some wintertime green weeds tossed in for good measure. Walleye, muskie, perch and crappie seem to inhabit the flat areas as well as some of the lake’s drop-offs.

Bluff Lake is a crappie paradise. It’s a favorite poaching location for some who figure the fish are there for the taking. Northern pike congregate there as well.

Channel Lake is a treasure trove of pike, walleye, crappie and muskie, with some big bluegill tossed in for good measure. And forage possibilities present opportunities for the big stuff as well.

Where Channel butts up to Lake Catherine — that is the sweet spot, my friends. It’s also where a few muskies like to hang out and feed on crappie and perch.

Petite Lake is a walleye factory, especially at night. But the poachers have been discovered there, and it’s not uncommon to find Conservation Police officers ready to pounce on these lawbreakers.

Figure on excellent bluegill and white bass action on Pistakee Lake. And all that action comes as the result of us true believers punching holes in the ice and doing the exploration. This is all ice fishing-related blather.

Actual fishing aside, one should never go out on Bangs Lake or the Chain, Long Lake and Deep Lake without an adequate supply of food and water. And I mean copious amounts of food and bottled water. Dehydration is quite common at this time of the year.

Reader George Johnson keeps tabs on what I write and broadcast, and one recent day he reminded me about the great cuisine of Mike Ventresca.

Aside from being an excellent ice and soft-water angler, Chef “Green Acres” (Ventresca) of McHenry kept our small squad of hungry fishermen satiated with jumbo sandwiches.

These aren’t the run-of-the-mill commercial slap-a-piece-of-meat-on-’em kinds of nonsense. No, sir. These are strictly for the bold and the brave “starving” ice and soft-water fishermen.

What’s so special?

Depending on the number in our cadre on any given day, Chef Green Acres offers freshly baked Italian bread. Each “samich” is slightly more than 12 inches long.

Acres lays a bed of Italian salami down on the bread. He follows that with another bed of meat (turkey or ham). He then lays down more slices of fresh cheese (two kinds, mind you), followed by red or green peppers, sliced pickles, tomato, red onion and a secret Acres sauce. Then he adds more ham and turkey. By now this beast is better than 8 inches high.

I recall one weekday afternoon on Lake Catherine when we had six friends fiendishly drilling holes and catching large crappies. I had neglected breakfast that morning, and I was ready to tackle the Green Acres Italian Monster Sandwich.

I got two bites in when my rod suddenly was jerked downward. I looked into the hole and saw a muskie holding on to the crappie that had originally inhaled the ice jig.

I got so excited I dropped my beautiful lunch into the hole. The muskie spotted the “torpedo” as it sank. It then dropped the crappie and grabbed the sandwich and made off to deep water.

And that was that because the crappie action came to a screeching halt.

At least I got a couple of bites of my sandwich while the catch of crappies flopped around on the ice.

Everyone then told me to wipe my mouth because I had a “secret sauce” mustache.

• Contact Mike Jackson at angler88@comcast.net, catch his radio show 7-9 a.m. Sundays on WGCO 1590-AM (live-streamed at www.1590WCGO.com) and get more content at mikejacksonoutdoors.com.