Many summers ago I had taken a family fishing and we had a great day on the water, we talked about just about everything under the sun as most great days go, as guide I make a lot of aquaintances but after a day on the water together I’d say I make a lot of friends. Well one afternoon over Christmas break I get a call from a young man who said he was coming up north for some ice fishing for the first time and he wanted to know what gear he needed and how to go about the game. There’s a lot that goes into the game of ice fishing more than I could fit into a phone conversation, so Dez my young friend this article is written for you!
Ice fishing can be similar to summer fishing but due to the cold and that big sheet of frozen water between you and the fish it can be totally different. First off is gear you’re going to need to drill a hole so an auger and a hole scoop is essential. Hand augers work great for early ice and will work all winter but limit the number of holes you can drill especially when the ice gets thick. Power augers save time and energy and allow you drill numerous holes and allow you to cover more water to locate fish or stay on moving schools. Gas augers are rapidly being replaced by electric augers because the new electric augers are quiet and smokeless and don’t require getting stinky gas on your hands when filling up. Just remember to keep the batteries warm so they don’t lose their charge. I like to use a K-Drill bit with a Milwaukee cordless drill or mud mixer. Blades need to be sharp so be careful and never bang them on the ice or allow them to come in contact with anything that will nick or dull them because dull blades can wreck a day. After drilling a hole clear the ice around the edges and then plunge the auger up and down to help flush slush out of the hole or if using an electric auger put it in reverse to force most of the slush down the hole. The next step is to use a hole scoop to clean the remaining slush out the holes. I’ve dropped countless hole scoops down the ice holes as well as cell phones, tackle boxes and other valuables so be careful around ice holes and a good magnet can be a handy tool.
Good clothes make it possible to sit outside and a 5 gallon bucket can carry your gear and be used as a seat on decent days but cold windy days make a shelter nice to have. Portable ice houses have come a long way since the old suitcase style, flip overs and hub houses both have their place these days and either will get you out of the wind and cold. I use an otter lodge portable shelter because the sled will haul my gear and the house portion flips over in short order. Hub style houses can be advantagious as well because they are easier to pack into a smaller vehicle but you will need to stake them down in a heavy wind or they can get blown across the lake. Propane powered Buddy heaters can keep you warm and toasty and they come low oxygen sensors that will shut them down if there isn’t proper ventilation, either way make sure to open a vent or keep a door cracked open to be safe.
Portables are great for traveling light but hard side houses wheel houses are the cat’s pajamas when it comes to comfort. Now days the crank down wheel style houses have the best of both worlds, mobility and comfort as long as there is plenty of ice to support the weight.
Now that you got a hole it’s time to drop a line, you can fish with either tip-ups or ice rods. Ice rods are shorter than summer rods and have bigger eyes to help prevent freezing up. Ice reels tend to be smaller ideally have bigger handles so that you can reel with gloves on. There are countless lines and some are specifically designed for ice fishing. My new favorite is Powerpro ice line, it’s a superbraid that doesn’t soak up water and is thinner and stronger than it monofilament equivalent, it is also abrasion resistant and helps prevent bite offs from toothy pike. Some species of fish may be line-shy especially in clear water so then I use a small barrel swivel and a 2-3 foot florocarbon leader like Berkly Vanish. Match the line test to the species you are chasing smaller will catch more fish but make it’s sufficient to land a lunker. Check your drag often and retie leaders and knots more often than you think you should. For knots the only one I use is the Palomar, there are many others but the Palomar has proven itself in countless battles.
The other option for fishing equipment is tip-ups. Tip ups are a contraption with a flag that trips up when a fish bites, you fight the fish in by hand and there’s a certain charm to doing it oldstyle. Here in Minnesota we can have two lines a piece on the ice so tip ups are great extra line or have several anglers watching for flags on a sunny afternoon. Bank the slush on the windy side of the hole to keep the wind from freezing up your holes. I use 30-50 lb Dacron line because it strong, long lasting and is thick enough not to cut into your hands when fighting big fish. For pike I use steel leaders with a treble hook and a spinner blade to make it a legal lure. For walleyes and trout I’ll put a on a swivel and fluorocarbon leader .
Tackle- there’s lots of tackle and some summer lures will work but there are many lures designed just for icefishing. Some of my favorite jigs include; Buckshots, GemnEyes, Jigging rapalas, slender spoons, Ratsos, genzbug, ….many of these I tip with a whole minnow hooked through the lips or just the head or some waxworms. The old standby of a plain hook on a bobber is also a deadly combo, I like icebuster slip bobbers with a splitshot about 15” above a colored gamakatsu hook with a lively minnow hooked just under the dorsal fin.
Electronics are also a very valuable piece of equipment that I have a hard time fishing without. Flashers rule the ice where scrolling graphs prevail in summer. The main flashers are made by Vexilar, Markum, Humminbird and Lowrance. I use a Vexilar FL28, it has a zoom feature that makes it easier to pick fish up from the bottom. The main ingredient of using a flasher is being able to read the bottom, then tune it in so that you can just see your jig just up off the bottom, if anything comes in between the bottom and your jig it’s probably a fish, then it time to jiggle your bait and get eth fish to strike. With a little practice a flasher makes ice fishing the best video game ever in a battle for life and death, at least for the fish.
Forward facing sonar has been taking over the electronics industry for both summer and winter. These graphs can sweep off to the sides giving you a larger picture with better definition of what’s going on beneath the water. These new graphs can be used to find structure as well as fish and they allow to identify species and see how they react to our baits.
Another valuable tool in the arsenal is an underwater camera. Cameras can help identify weed types and bottom structure as well as show us what type of fish we are dealing with. Sometimes a rising panfish can inhale and spit out a jig without us seeing or feeling it, this is when cameras shine because you know when to set the hook. They can be a spendy investment but worth having.
The final piece of electronics is an App called Navionics. For about $15 you can have every lake map in North America utilizing your smart phone’s GPS. This will help eliminate water and put you on quility structure faster.
As for ice safety and travel conditions, always assume that ice is never 100% safe. Avoid areas of current or springs and be careful when venturing out at first ice or late in the year when the ice gets dark and honeycombed. No fish is worth a dip in freezing cold water and a good set of picks and an insulated floatation suit just might save your life sometime. A good guideline for ice thickness is 2-4″ for walking, 4-6″ for an atv, 6-8″ for a side by side or small car and 12″ or more for full size vehicles and wheelhouses. Good solid ice is clear and using a spud bar to chip a hole in front of you of drill holes periodically is the best way to check ice thickness. Early in the year four wheelers work well for getting out to your spots but eventually you may get enough snow where you may need a snowmobile to get around and roads may have to be plowed to drive vehicles. Just remember too much snow on the ice can weigh it down and force water up creating flooding and slushy situations so don’t drill on a plowed road or too near another house. Try to give your neighbors plenty of space to dissipate fishing pressure and weight on the ice.
As for where to fish that depends on the species you are chasing; steep breaks, sunken islands, weedy flats, points and inside turns can all be good. Modern electronics and apps like Navionics have electronic maps to help you find your desired structure. I like to spread out and cover a few different depths starting deeper in the daytime and moving up shallower as the sunsets.
When you get into the fish please practice catch and release for trophy sized fish and keep the smaller ones for eating. Anytime you reel a fish in over 30 feet deep they may experience barotrauma “aka “the bends” and are probably going to die anyway so don’t plan on releasing deep water catches. Ice fishing is a family tradition that when done correctly can safe, warm and fun so I hope this gives you some pointers to help get you out on the ice, Cheers!
