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Ice fishing suffers from its image as a
macho survival ordeal. You can ski or snowshoe into remote lakes and
sweat through snow drifted high on top of thick ice. You can turn your
back to frigid snow and sleet. You can shiver out the day as line
freezes to rod guides and fingers freeze to your reel. You can strain
cold coffee through teeth chipped on frozen sandwiches. Macho masochists
can even fall through the ice or drift out into the Great Lakes on a
floe. However, if you only like to sweat in saunas and like ice best to
cool drinks, you can take the easy way to fun fish on nice ice.
So, unless you like to suffer, start on a
sunny windless day when sun block and sun glasses replace parkas. Pick a
pond or a sheltered bay on a lake out of the wind. Find a safe spot with
other ice fishermen who can help you learn the basics. Ask friends and
tackle shop veterans about hot spots, the best lures or baits and, most
important, safe ice.
Even when you ski in, you may find
shore fishing safest.
PHOTO: ANNETTE BIGNAMI
Avoid ice that looks dark or is thinner
than a couple of inches. Take special care over springs or in inlets
that feed warmer water into the lake. Avoid ponds if water levels drop
fast and shelf ice on larger bodies of water on windy days. So fish over
shallow water; fish on days without wind and cast into open inlets from
shore and "when in doubt, don't!"
You don't need special tackle to catch
yellow perch, trout and panfish either. Hand lines work. So does summer
tackle. Limber twigs jammed into the ice suit the budget-minded where
multiple store-bought tip ups are legal. Add light two to four pound
test, which is less obvious than heavier line in the crystal clear water
under the ice. Hide small hooks in red worms, meal worms, minnows and
other bait and sink the bait with tiny shot.
Quite small holes are big enough for
most fish.
PHOTO: ANNETTE
LUCIDO
If you like more action, jig tiny spoons
like Swedish Pinples or Kastmasters. Vertical Rappalas that swim round
and round when jigged work well too. So do all sorts of "glob
on" baits like Berkeley's Power Bait®. Do carry an
assortment and remember to keep baits reasonably warm. It's tough enough
to try to get a tiny hook in a salmon egg when the egg's thawed. Frozen
worms are difficult to thread on hooks too.
Bait fishing requires a close watch on
your line as it's difficult to feel gentle bites when you wear mittens.
Then too, fish often nose lures, instead of striking, under the ice. In
all cases don't jerk, set the hook lightly so you don't break the light
line. Do keep your rod tip submerged or controlled, or your hand line
situated so your line doesn't rub, chafe or snap on the rough edge of
your hole. Play fish. take your time. Enjoy the struggle.
Then, when you ease the fish out onto the
ice don't grab it with mittened or icy bare hands if it sheds the hook!
Just flip your bucket, plywood or carpet square over your fishing hole
and retrieve your catch at your leisure.
The only specialized item you may need
for ice fishing is an ice auger, the most expensive, largest and least
convenient ice fisherman's tool. If you ice fish with a crowd, you can
probably borrow the use of an auger for your first trip too.
However, so many fishermen fill and mark
holes with little mounds of ice chips or snow when they finish so other
fishermen don't stick a foot through the skim ice that forms on old
holes, that you can reopen these holes with a small pick or a spud -- a
long-handled chisel. Then just skim off ice chips with a strainer. The
wire strainers sold with woks work well.
If you spud, keep holes small -- four or
six inches in diameter's plenty even for a five pound trout. If you
can't find old holes, or want to open your own new location, use an ax,
spud or auger. Borrow or rent to see which suits you best; then save at
season-end sales if you get hooked on ice fishing.
Warm and Dry in
the Cold and Wet
Don't wear too many clothes. Your usual
cold weather clothing and a spare pair of dry gloves or mittens and a
spare wool watch cap should do the job. Do shed layers or crack zippers
when augering in or dragging gear to the water to avoid sweat.
Dry clothing keys comfort on ice. You
need a lot of layers when you sit still over a single hole. Some active
younger types in areas where you can fish more than one line at a time
beat this problem with cross-country skis or skates. With multiple holes
the rule is, of course, that the quality of the bite is in direct
proportion to the distance you have to run, ski, skate or skid to the
action!
Cold feet, along with cold fingers, are a
major problem on the ice. Pacs or heavy rubber boots over several pairs
of wool socks help. Add gaiters if you slog through snow to the ice so
snow melt doesn't run into your boots. A two foot square piece of wood
or indoor-outdoor carpet insulates your feet from cold ice.
Sit on a stool or an insulated cushion on
a five gallon bucket that can tote gear to the ice. Lug a snow shovel if
there's snow on the ice. Consider a kid's sled to haul gear if you enjoy
extras such as space heaters, camp stoves, wind shields or tents and the
like. You might try a soft towel to dry hands too.
One year I even rigged a dog harness to
my sled. That worked very well until pup took off after a deer!
Location!
Location! Location!
"Think summer" if you open your
own holes. The same points, inlets and springs that attract fish in
summer, hold them in winter. Water from three to twenty feet deep seems
to hold most fish. Start a line of holes near shore and open several 30
to 40 yards apart. Otherwise, keep an eye out for holes other fishermen
have left. It's quite easy to reopen these. Do realize that good manners
require you to fill old holes and leave an ice mound on top so unwary
walkers don't put a foot through into frigid water.
We use a portable battery-powered depth
finder through the ice and spud or auger in only where we spot fish.
Puddle salad oil on the ice for a good transducer contact and a clear
image. Don't, as some "experts" suggest, use antifreeze.
Antifreeze poisons dogs that drink it.
Don't waste time with random holes if you
own a depth finder -- most units from boats convert to portables with
add-ons from the manufacturer. Otherwise, a small battery works. Do try
to keep batteries reasonably warm. We rarely, for example, set finder
cases directly on the ice. A spare battery suits weekend trips, or you
can recharge batteries at night.
After you open four or five holes, return
to your first and try it for fifteen minutes. The noise of spudding or
augering in frightens fish; it takes time for them to settle down. So
don't kick tackle boxes, stomp cold feet or make other loud noises.
You can also use a moving transducer
system to spot fish laterally. Simply clamp your transducer onto a
wooden dowel at a 90 degree angle. Stick the transducer through the ice
and watch the returns as you angle the transducer head under the ice.
Tip: pencil an arrow onto the top of the dowel so you know which
direction fish lurk.
If you don't take a fish just off the
bottom in fifteen minutes, try your luck three feet under the ice. If
you neither catch nor see fish in 30 minutes, move to another hole. If
you catch a fish, stay for a bit. Fish under the ice often school and
where you take one, you can take another. Fishermen know this. They
school too. So check for ice shacks or fishermen that often perch over
fish below the ice. After you try all your holes with one method; start
over with a different bait or switch to lures. Finding fish is usually
harder than getting them to bite, so keep moving!
No matter your result, leave the ice
after three hours or so. If you leave when still interested, rather than
staying until you get cold or bored, you should return home anxious to
return when conditions insure a nice day on the ice.
Improving Bottom
Cover
In some areas anglers and fish and game
experts truck or drag concrete blocks, weighted Christmas trees and
other items out onto the ice. These sink when the ice melts. Projects
like these offer a good feeling, and good PR, for local fishing and
sporting clubs.
- Water
Gremlin How-to Index
- Over 30 different rigs with diagrams
and step-by-step instructions.
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