Fish Finders – An On-Ice Epiphany

By Nick Simonson I recall clearly many days where an “ah-ha!” moment changed the way I did things forever.  One such moment happened on December 26, 2000, and it altered the way I fished through the ice permanently. The converted trailer shack that my buddy Holmes, his cousin Adam and I were fishing out of [...]

Ice Fishing Rigs – Big Bluegills

Ice Fishing Rigs – Big Bluegills By Nick Simonson For the past few weekends, I have been exploring a small impoundment about twenty minutes from home.  Rumor had it that big bluegills roamed the basin out from the public access, but all my efforts had produced over the past month was a plethora of puny [...]

Ice Fishing Tip Ups

By Nick Simonson I often think back fondly to my times while ice fishing tip ups growing up in North Dakota.  For those anglers who love to chase a waiving flag across the ice, there’s no better place than the Peace Garden State, where on hardwater, fishermen are allotted four lines with no restrictions as to [...]

Ice Fishing Shelters – Ice Anchors

By Nick Simonson The noise in the pines behind me grew until it sounded like a rushing spring waterfall on the North Shore.  I had been on the ice just long enough to set up my hub-style ice fishing shelter, drop my Vexilar transducer and land my first fish of the new year when the [...]

Ice Fishing for Northern Pike – Darkhouse Spearing

by Doug Leier When it comes to trying something new, I’ll admit I usually need a good reason to change or replace anything in my routine. From breakfast to fishing, after nearly four decades on earth I still gravitate toward my preferred options – sausage and eggs for breakfast and worms and bluegills for fishing. [...]

Ice Fishing Tips – Early Ice

By Nick Simonson While taking those first nervous steps onto the ice this weekend, I stared down into the weedy shallows with their vegetation frozen in place, the last respiration of openwater photosynthesis trapped in the tiny bubbles just inches from the surface of the frozen water. I traced my way along a small crack [...]

Ice Fishing Techniques – Cameras

By Jason Mitchell The education we get from ice fishing techniques such as underwater cameras is invaluable. Having the mental picture of how the presentation or lure looks in the water, how the fish approach the lure and what actions caused particular reactions from the fish sets some anglers apart. Anglers who have this education [...]

Ice Fishing Tactics for First Ice

By Jason Mitchell We do much of our filming on late ice. We take a lot of our photos at late ice as well. The reason is simple, long relatively nice days on the ice where you can expect sweatshirt weather. When the sun begins to rot the ice, you can expect to get some [...]

Vertical Ice Fishing

By Nick Simonson There’s an old Irish proverb that wishes good luck to the traveler by stating “may the road rise to meet you.” For anglers, especially those on the ice, it should be more like “may the fish rise to meet you.” Presentation is one of the key factors for consistently catching fish and [...]

Ice Auger Drilling

By Jason Mitchell When you look at some of the best ice anglers, there often is some strategy in how and where they drill holes.  Ice anglers might not be able to drift or troll but they can drill holes in a pattern and discipline themselves to fish the holes in a set time to [...]

When The Ice Gets Tough

By Jason Mitchell There is something to be said for swimming down stream, pushing the ball down hill… the path of least resistance.  With fishing, we often have much more success by following these same basic principles like fishing when the fish are biting, fishing lakes that have good populations of fish and using lures [...]

Low Impact Ice Fishing

By Doug Leier The “Dog Days” of winter for some begin in December and aren’t officially over until the last drift of snow disappears from the shelterbelt. I know, Dog Days is generally a summer term referring to a lingering hot and humid period in August, but it also seems appropriate for a long stretch [...]

Fish House Spotters

By Nick Simonson Shantytowns are generally a bad sign. Economic downturns, natural disasters and tribal wars all come to mind when such a place is shown on the evening news. However, in the ice belt and points north, it is the sign of something good – a hot bite on frozen waters. While fishing a [...]

Open Water Tactics in a Hardwater World

By Jason Mitchell I have often felt that it is much easier to learn a lake during the open water period. Structure and bottom contours can be broke down quickly when using a boat equipped with good sonar and GPS. Often during the winter (just like during the open water period) the sweet spots that [...]

Ice Safety Tips

Mild Weather Hampers Ice Formation – Ice Safety Tips While November was kind to North Dakota’s hunters, unseasonably mild temperatures did little to help usher in the ice fishing season. Knowing this, winter anglers are encouraged to use caution and allow ice to harden significantly before venturing on state waters. North Dakota Game and Fish [...]

Artificial Ice Fishing Baits – Coming Alive

Clever ice anglers are successfully combining traditional live bait tactics with artificial approaches By Jeff Gustafson Times are a changin’. Used to be when we went ice fishing, our presentation always included a jig tipped with some type of minnow or hunk of meat, no matter what species of fish we were targeting. As the [...]

Mid-Winter Walleyes

By Dave Genz When the going gets tough, the tough go offshore. During a recent seminar, a fresh-faced, high-school aged kid asked me to summarize ice fishing in one piece of advice. That’s near impossible to do, of course, but in retrospect, I liked my off-the-cuff response: Avoid the crowds. I’ve caught a lot of [...]

Ice Fishing Tactics

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson More fun can be had on the ice this year than ever before, with a wide range of gadgets, rods, lures and electronics at your disposal, each trip can result in catches and a lot more fun. Here are some great ice fishing tactics I picked up on the learning curve [...]

Walleyes at First Ice – Clinging to the Current

By Captain Pat Kalmerton You can take this one of two ways. Because I’m a fishing guide, you might think I’m all talk and keeping the good stuff to myself. Or, you might trust my experience and assume that you’re getting my A-game. Well, it’s some of both. I’ll be up front and offer honest, [...]

Ice Fishing for Panfish – The Right Ice Rods

By Jason Mitchell More ice anglers are discovering that the tip of the rod we are using has as much influence on our presentation as the actual motion we put on the rod while fishing. A rod with a fast tip for example will give the lure a distinct flash and pound that is more [...]

Approaching Late Ice

By Jason Mitchell Late ice patterns can vary. People often preach about fishing shallow. Others stress the importance of finding moving water. Late ice is often hailed as the best fishing of the year. The fish are supposed to be biting as well as they have all winter. Anglers eagerly await the last hurrah. The [...]

Finding More Walleyes Below the Ice

By Mark Strand Conduct your own search for walleyes, one of the prized fish of the Ice Belt. The conversation, for a brief time, sounds like we’re talking about the Internet. “We’re such an information society,” says Brian Brosdahl. Believe it or not, he’s talking about how to go out on the ice and find [...]

Redefining Rock Structure in the Winter

By Jason Mitchell Look for hard bottom areas to catch more fish this winter. Bars, points and saddles that are covered with rock are a good bet if you are looking for perch or walleyes. At least that is what I have been told. Walleye anglers in particular are infatuated with this structural element. Watch [...]

Early Ice Walleyes

By Jason Mitchell If there is a mistake that many anglers make, including myself during the first ice period, we are guilty of fishing too deep when targeting walleye. Granted, there are a lot of options at first ice with some of these options being both shallow and deep but if anything, I tend to [...]

Approaching Perch in the Month of March

By Bill Mitzel   Soon, it’ll be rotten out there. Not rancid like spoiled produce, but soft and dark nonetheless. I’m talking about the ice. It’s thick and resolute now, but it won’t last forever, actually, scarcely longer than a few weeks, less in some areas. Fortunately, though, ice fishing’s swan song is a cheery [...]

25 Ice Fishing Tips for the Upper Midwest

By Bill Mitzel   We started out with some strong, quick ice in late November, with several days of below zero weather. Then, just when it looked like we might enjoy a “normal” winter in the Dakotas, the mild weather returned and ice thickness stabilized over most of the region from 9 to 14 inches. [...]

Ice Fishing with Plastics

By the Ice Team   Many ice anglers of today understand that winter’s fish live in water at its clearest. In such conditions, fish tend to locate and choose prey based on visual evidence. That might sound like mumbo-jumbo, but it means that what your bait looks like is more important under the ice than [...]

When Perch Won’t Bite Through the Ice

By Chris Hustad   Here’s a scenario that I’m sure most ice fishermen will play out a lot of the times during the winter. You’re setup for some perch ice fishing, with a few fish coming here and there, but you’re seeing a lot of action on your bobber or fish displaying on your sonar. [...]

Ice Fishing Safety

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson     I  experienced a first last year, four times over. With the unstable cold-and-warm trend through late fall and winter, I managed to break through the ice four times; twice while upland hunting and twice while ice fishing. Early in the season, I was too close to shoreline vegetation, but [...]

The Ice Fishing Sonar Revolution

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson Is there anything as comforting on the ice as the whir and glow of a sonar unit? Inside the cover of a permanent shack, or jumping from hole to hole, flasher-style depth finders have been a boon to anglers for over 15 years. New developments in sonar technologies and recent offerings [...]

Ice Fishing – Fish it Through

By Noel Vick with Brian “Bro” Brosdahl Believe it or not, mobility on the ice has its pitfalls. For more than a decade you’ve heard and read about the criticalness of mobility. To competently and effectively catch fish on the hardwater, an angler must be mercurial as a gypsy and stealthy as a fox. These [...]

Icing Walleyes in April

By Mark Strand     Do you consider ice fishing in April crazy? Especially because a lot of people still regard ice fishing as a sport you reluctantly participate in while the ice covers your favorite lakes, people look at Dave Genz like he’s got to be nuts in April. By then, many rivers are [...]

Bluegill Ice Fishing Tips

By Mark Strand Depending on where you live, ‘early ice’ can be a brief period right after the ice forms or an ongoing phenomenon as fishable ice comes and melts, comes and melts. In general, bluegills are good biters during this time, but you must locate them to be successful. No matter what you might [...]

Understanding Walleyes Under the Ice

Ice Team If we could see the way walleyes do, we would know them, through and through. There’s a reason we call ‘em ‘eyes. Those eyes are amazing. Positioned behind the walleye’s retina is a reflective membrane called the tapetum lucidum. This substance is exceptionally white, its purpose to gather, and reflect, light. Its potential [...]

Largemouth Bass Ice Fishing

By Jerry Carlson of Ice Team       When it comes to winter time fishing, there is no question I spend most of my hours searching out crappies. I love the activity involved in catching these fish. I also enjoy the fact that I can be successful during the daylight hours without having to [...]

Sight Fishing – Ice Fishing With an Edge

By The Ice Team   Sight fishing is a subset of ice fishing gaining in popularity every winter, because it’s exciting and fun. To see the fish come in the hole, and study their reaction to different presentations, can teach you a lot of valuable lessons you can use even when you’re not sight fishing. [...]

Ice Safety Tips

By ND Game & Fish Anglers and trappers are urged to be aware of ice conditions before venturing out on frozen waters, cautions Nancy Boldt, boat and water safety coordinator for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. “Before going out onto a frozen lake, pond or river, it’s important to take safety precautions to [...]

Don’t Be “Late Ice” Late!

By Jerry Carlson The winter was already waning into the late stages when ice fishing friend, Dave Genz, gave me a call. Although we usually fish together a few days each winter, our schedules had been full and finding an open day that we had in common had been a challenge. In this case, our [...]

Perch Ice Fishing – Catching Bottom Huggers

It was a call from outdoor writer friend, Ron Anlauf, which got the ball rolling. He had heard the perch were hitting on Mille Lacs, a huge lake in North Central Minnesota. Although I have pulled a lot of perch from this body of water, it has been a few years since there was a [...]

Ice Fishing for Panfish – The Right Ice Rods

By Jason Mitchell More ice anglers are discovering that the tip of the rod we are using has as much influence on our presentation as the actual motion we put on the rod while fishing. A rod with a fast tip for example will give the lure a distinct flash and pound that is more [...]

Spouse Ice Fishing Trip Tips

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson Fishing is a social sport; ice fishing even more so. I can’t recall a morning after a hot (or not-so-hot) dawn bite that I haven’t stepped out of my shack to see who else was punching holes in the dark, ask how the fish were biting fifty yards away and shoot [...]