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 fishing tackle [...]

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 fish through the [...]

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 the past [...]

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, time-tested [...]

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 abrupt, [...]

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 reality, [...]

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 your own walleyes.
His point: [...]

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 an [...]

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 overlook [...]

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 tune; one [...]

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. That’s normally good [...]

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 at any [...]

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. If you’re [...]

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 even in February, near [...]

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 by a [...]

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 axioms are [...]

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 open, and many anglers [...]

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 read or [...]

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 brought to full fruition in [...]

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 fish well after dark. [...]

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.
A fair number [...]

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 reduce the [...]

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 free [...]

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 abrupt, [...]

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 the breeze [...]