AUBURN-According to expert fisherman Tony Buffa, ice fishing takes a special kind of patience.

Buffa, who owns a charter fishing business on Oneida Lake, said that contrary to the “mobility” fishermen employ during the warmer months, ice anglers are rooted to the spot at which they've dug through the ice, and relocating is much more difficult.

Even so, he added, ice fishing can be as enjoyable as fishing in July.

Buffa's advice, plus much more information about the sport, was featured Saturday at Bass Pro Shops' Ice Fishing Weekend, a two-day affair that continues today.

Saturday's activities included seminars given by Buffa and other ice fishing experts, along with live fishing in a temporary frozen pond set up in the store.

“I take people fishing out on Oneida (Lake), and I have a boat up in Oswego, so I've been fishing in all kinds of weather,” said Buffa, a Bridgeport resident who was the weekend affair's main organizer.

Earlier in the week, Bass Pro staffers constructed a tank, roughly 40 feet long, in which they placed live trout.

On top of the tank were six fishing stations, set up similar to ones used in ice fishing, in which anglers drill holes using ice augers, then fish through the hole often using a protective covering.

“Next flight!” Buffa yelled Saturday afternoon, signaling to those participating that their time was up.

Starting at 10 a.m., hopeful anglers signed up for 15-minute periods in which they tried their luck at one of the stations.

For each fish a person caught, his or her name was entered into a raffle that included fishing equipment and gear, the most lucrative being an ice fishing shanty (covering) that Buffa said was worth about $300.

Two anglers present Saturday were Zach, 14, and Max Schoonmaker, 10, of Clyde.

Max is apparently the luckier of the two, because he had caught a trout.

“It was about this big,” Max said as he held his hands about eight inches apart, his palms getting further and further apart in a few seconds' time.