Ice Fishing Safety: 3 Tips That Could Save Your Life

By Steve Pennaz
from The Fishing Wire

Photo by Bill Lindner
Ice anglers are pretty happy right now. Early cold temperatures have jump-started the period we call “early-ice,” and with it, some of the hottest bites of the entire ice fishing season.
And while I admit I’m one of those anxious anglers who can’t wait to tap panfish, walleyes and pike after a good deal of time in the deer stand, I have to remind myself that safety comes first; I am not bulletproof.

I’ll be honest, I’ve fallen through the ice, pushing hard to get on a good bite, and it’s a traumatic experience. The reality is anglers die every year across the Ice Belt because they didn’t abide by a simple ice safety checklist.

Pardon the pun, but there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to ice formation. Smaller bodies of water can freeze overnight, while larger lakes can take weeks to form fishable ice. And areas with current and springs may never develop ice safe enough for hardwater fishing. Looks can be deceiving. In fact, ice thickness can vary greatly throughout the same lake – and the entire winter.
A general rule of thumb for fishable ice thickness is 4 inches for fishing on foot, five inches for a snowmobile or ATV, and at least 8 inches for a car or light truck.

These days there’s more in my ice fishing arsenal than the requisite auger, rod combos, jig box and flasher. During early- and late ice a spud bar like Frabill’s various ice chisels allow me to test the ice as I’m fishing on foot.

Second, early ice can be dangerously slick, and falling is a hazard that’s often overlooked but can be easily prevented. Severe head trauma is no laughing matter. That said, I wear Frabill Ice Creepers, inexpensive and removable studded cleats that fit easily over various styles of winter boots.

Lastly, I never leave home without my Frabill ice picks, another indispensible (and inexpensive) piece of ice fishing gear. They are the one piece of ice fishing gear that may very well save your life!

Hats off to Frabill for designing special ice-pick holsters into all of their new I-Series jackets and bibs for rapid deployment. However, you can still sling them around your neck and stuff them into the front pockets of whatever you wear.

In the event that you do break through the ice, turn back the direction you came, bury the picks and pull while kicking your feet. Once on the ice, roll away from the hole and head to the nearest warm and dry location.

Follow the ice thickness guidelines for fishable ice and add these three must-haves to your ice fishing arsenal. Like grandpa used to say, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
I admit, ice fishing is a whole lot more fun with the peace of mind that I’ve got safety on my side.

Good luck on the ice this winter!

Ice Fishing The Midwest

by Bob Jensen
from The Fishing Wire

There is no question that ice-fishing season has arrived early in the Midwest. For those of us who like to go ice-fishing, that’s a good thing.

I and some of my friends are going about our ice-fishing a little differently this year. It’s going to be even more fun, and even more productive. We’re going to be headquartering out of an “Ice Castle”. Ice Castles ( http://www.icecastlefh.com) are hard-sided ice houses on wheels. They’re heated inside so you don’t need a bunch of warm clothing. You can get them with as many features as you want, or as few as you want. We’re going to be much more comfortable in our ice-fishing this year. That should make our fishing more productive and more fun. But, just because our primary shelter will be in a fixed position, that doesn’t mean we won’t be covering a large area on the ice. We will. Here’s how.

We’ll be headquartering in the Ice Castle, but we’ll still be moving around looking for fish that are willing to bite. Before we start fishing, we’ll drill a good number of holes around our headquarters. When the bite in the “Castle” slows down, we’ll get out and move around to those holes. We’ll keep a close eye on the depth-finder watching for fish life below our hole. If we don’t see something within five minutes, it’s off to another hole.

In the past few years there has been a lot of clothing developed for the ice-angler. But if you’ve got exposed skin, like your face or hands, you’re still going to get cold, and cold is not much fun. This year, when we start to get cold, we’ll go back to our “headquarters” and warm up. We’ll keep fishing, as the Ice Castle’s have several holes in strategic locations, and they don’t freeze over. We’ll have a coffee or hot chocolate or whatever it is that the group is drinking, and maybe a hamburger or brat, and we’ll tell fish stories or whatever until we warm up again. If we see fish under the holes in the shelter, we’ll probably stay there until we don’t see any more fish. Then we’ll go back outside and move from hole to hole again until we need more warmth. This is a great way to spend time on the ice with family or friends.

When you see fish under your hole that won’t bite, this is the time to experiment. The Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon is a time-proven bait for walleyes and perch through the ice and is a good bait to start with anytime, anywhere. But sometimes the fish don’t want the rattles. This is when you go to something quiet or smaller or a different color: A Forage Minnow would be a good choice, but most importantly, just try something different.

Ice-fishing is fun and it can be a great way to put fresh fish on the table. But ice-fishing also has a social flavor to it. Boys and girls of all ages really enjoy just getting out together. They have fun trying to get a fish to bite, but they also enjoy hanging out with each other in an environment other than a living room. Ice-fishing is a bit of an adventure to some. Headquartering out of a warm shelter while ice-fishing isn’t a new concept, but it is gaining in popularity in a big way. There are a good number of places across the Midwest where you can rent an Ice Castle for a day or a weekend to experience this style of ice-fishing. I’m guessing that if you try it once, you’ll want to do it again.

To see the newest episodes of Fishing the Midwest television go to fishingthemidwest.com. Visit us at Facebook.com/fishingthemidwest

Lake Trout Thru the Ice Made Easy

Hardwater ace offers surefire lake trout tactics

By Dan Johnson
from The Fishing Wire

Lake trout are hard-fighting, fine-tasting quarry worthy of ice anglers’ serious attention, yet many hardwater warriors shy away from these feisty salmonids due in large part to the intimidation factor. After all, finding and fooling mobile, moody wintertime trout borders on the impossible for all but seasoned experts, right?

Hardly. Just ask veteran guide and longtime laker fan Bernie Keefe, who each season helps scads of aspiring trout bums connect with stellar icewater catches. “If people are intimidated, they shouldn’t be,” he says. “By following a few basic principles of location and presentation, it’s possible for even first-timers to put fish on the ice.”

Putting yourself on a solid fishery is job one. It’s accomplished easily enough, by querying state fishery biologists, local guides and bait shop regulars, as well as monitoring the chatter on internet fishing forums. Keefe spends much of his time on high-country Colorado gems like Granby, Shadow Mountain and Grand lakes, but options abound in a number of states and Canadian provinces.

Once you’ve settled on a promising honeyhole, Keefe offers tips on zeroing in on productive areas. “In winter, lake trout can mostly be anywhere they want to be,” he begins. “Lake-wide, the temperature is right in their wheelhouse. Same goes for the water column. It’s 39 degrees at the bottom and 32 on top, so suspended fish are not uncommon.”

Still, there are mitigating factors. In mid- to late winter, oxygen depletion in deep water often pushes trout higher in the column, so it’s possible to eliminate extreme depths when this occurs. “February into March, you’ll see a lot of fish moving up, suspending 50 feet down over 100 feet or more of water,” he says.

In a structural sense, Keefe often follows a point or ridge from shore into deeper water. “Sometimes you find them by veering off the structure halfway out, and other times by following it to the end, then walking a little farther out over the abyss,” he explains. “It sounds funny, but they like being in the middle of nowhere, yet close to some type of structure.”

Since trout are cold-water eating machines, Keefe keys on areas with ample forage. “Fifteen- to 20-plus inch lakers, the ones easiest to catch and the best to eat, have predictable feeding habits,” he says. “Basically, they’re like teenagers. They’ll eat you out of house and home.” Favorite foodstuffs for these size lakers in Keefe’s core lakes include Mysis shrimp, plankton and small minnows. In other systems, the menu includes a variety of insects, plus ciscoes, smelt and other fare. Large trout, which are always a possibility, favor bigger meals, and aren’t above cannibalizing other salmonids, including juvenile lake trout. In systems offering a bit of current, Keefe checks places where the flow concentrates forage, thereby condensing the food chain into smaller areas.

To speed your search the first time out, he suggests tapping easy-to-access areas adjacent to community holes. “In the Rockies, walking out from roads and ramps often lands you over 60 to 100 feet of water in a hurry,” he says. “Find a spot where the mob has been fishing, and either follow the same depth contour parallel to shore, or move out a little deeper.”

Unlike ice fishing for many other species, where marking fish with sonar is important before actively fishing an area, trout are such cruisers that it takes a bit more faith. “Don’t worry if you don’t mark fish at first,” says Keefe. He doesn’t. After dropping his Vexilar sonar transducer into a hole, he lowers a beefy jig into the water and methodically works down the water column with slow and steady jig-strokes. “Once you hit bottom, bang it a few times, then start back up,” he says.

Go-to heads include Lazer TroKar’s #810 jig hook. Tippings trend toward softbaits like a 3- to 4-inch Berkley Gulp! Minnow, or 2- to 3-inch Lindy Fuzz-E-Grub, tube or similar softie. “Choose contrasting jig and softbait colors,” he notes. “I like orange, chartreuse or black for the head, and white for the trailer.” He also skewers a small slice of succulent sucker meat on the hook for added attraction. “Just a little piece,” he cautions. “No longer or wider than the jig.”

While jigging, Keefe eyes his sonar screen, which is set to cover the entire column. “Watch for marks coming in,” he says. “When you see a fish, get your jig to that level and experiment with pauses, shakes and raises until you figure out what they want.” Since most strikes occur on the fall, Keefe keeps a tight line throughout the presentation. And when a fish strikes, he sets immediately. “Lakers have a tough mouth and are designed to get away,” he says. “The second they feel the jig, they look up at you, open their mouth and shake their head violently. If you don’t have them hooked good, and keep the line tight, they’re gone.”

Keefe says an ice rod with a stout backbone yet somewhat forgiving tip is ideal for hooksets and battles. “I use a 36-inch, medium-heavy Dave Genz split-handle rod from Clam Outdoors,” he says. “And spool it with 10-pound-test Berkley Trilene 100 Percent Fluorocarbon.”

He advises reeling trout slowly toward the surface, to reduce the chances of post-release mortality. On lakes with healthy trout populations, keeping a few smaller fish for dinner yields table fare that’s both delicious and packed with a variety of nutrients. Keefe suggests immediately bleeding out trout destined for dinner, to further improve their flavor. Following his advice, it’s possible for even novice ice fans across lake trout territory to crush the intimidation factor and enjoy great catches and fine dining all winter long.

Ice Destination: Devils Lake
from The Fishing Wire

Plentiful walleyes and pike and some of the biggest perch anywhere combine for huge fun at Devils Lake. Veteran guide Jason Feldner explains how to find the best ice action.

Looking at the genuine jumbo perch in my hand, all I could do was grin. In truth, we had caught several perch that were equally large. Still, there’s something about each ridiculously huge yellow perch that simply brings a smile. Of course, it didn’t hurt that we had also caught a huge number of fish – nor that we were about to go catch a mess of Devils Lake walleyes.

Devils Lake, which spreads across more than 220,000 acres in North Dakota’s prairie country, is legendary among ice anglers for its giant yellow perch. Arguably, no major lake provides a better opportunity to catch 2-pound-plus perch through the ice. Devils is not an all-or-nothing destination, though. Extremely fertile and offering diverse and plentiful habitat for the fish, this lake also supports tremendous populations of perch, walleyes and northern pike, so fast action is common for anglers who understand how to find the fish.

Devils Lake also offers a long — very long — ice season. Jason Feldner of Perch-Eyes Guide Service pulled his first limit of walleyes through the ice before Thanksgiving this year, and he wasn’t being overly eager. He was set up on more than 7 inches of good ice.

And the ice won’t go away until well into spring – long after anglers have been forced to abandon hard-water efforts through much of ice country. Feldner said he normally ice-fishes about a week and a half into April.

Devils Lake is massive and exceptionally complex, with waters spreading over dozens of bays, potholes and backwaters, and wrapping around endless-seeming points and islands. Fed by a vast watershed and lacking any real outlet, Devils Lake changes in size from season-to-season, so sometimes-isolated backwaters can get recaptured by the rest of the lake.

The lake’s most western primary basin is mostly shallow with plentiful flooded timber. Central and eastern sections of the lake offer far more deep water. Extreme fertility causes the fish to grow quickly and get chunky throughout Devils Lake.

Because of the lake’s size, complexity and the fish’s fondness for structure, Feldner considers a good lake map critical. He believes Lakemaster offers the most useful Devils Lake map because it has 1-foot contours, which paint a detailed picture of bottom breaks. He also considers electronics crucial for finding fish and gauging their behavior as he plays with different lure presentations.

Devils Lake Approach

Feldner commonly employs a split-day strategy, targeting walleyes or pike first thing in the morning and/or late in the afternoon and focusing on yellow perch through the middle of the day. That typically involves a location change or two. Perch schools avoid the structure and the shallow areas that hold the most walleyes and pike.

Feldner usually begins his ice season focusing on the shallower western part of the lake, and the “deep” perch areas that he fishes in the middle of the day might only be 15 or 20 feet deep. As winter progresses, he typically works his way east and into deeper water. Through mid-winter, he commonly targets perch in 30 to 50 feet of water. Late in the season the fish start moving shallower again, so he starts spending more time in the western part of the lake.

Feldner does virtually all of his targeted walleye fishing from just before first light until an hour or so after daybreak and during the last couple of hours of daylight. In the evening he might fish another half an hour or so after dark, but he noted that there is not normally much of a night bite.

He points toward humps as good walleye-holding structure and stresses the importance of setting up right on the top of the structure. He likes a noisy, aggressive bait for Devils Lake walleyes and normally fishes with a Lindy Darter or a Rattl’N Flyer Spoon tipped with a minnow head. His favorite Darter colors are Natural Perch and Red Glow. For Rattl’N Flyer Spoons, he likes Techni-Glo Firetiger and Perch.

When Feldner moves into perch mode, he often begins near the outside edge of a point or rock hump, focusing on the transition area where the rock gives way to mud.

“Perch are usually just off the structure. They really like that mud bottom,” he said. “Sometimes you have to drill a lot of holes to find them.”

He also focuses on old, submerged wood cover when looking for jumbo perch. The submerged trees attract shrimp, and the shrimp attract the perch.

“It can be aggravating trying to fish around the trees, and you will get hung up, but they can hold a lot of perch,” he said.

Feldner usually begins aggressive, using a small Rattl’N Flyer Spoon or 360 Jig and kicking the bottom in hopes of attracting fish. He tips both lures with a minnow head. If the fish come in but won’t quite commit to the aggressive baits, he downsizes to a Lindy Toad tipped with larvae or waxworm.

He keeps the baits very close to the bottom and watches his electronics to gauge the mood of the fish. He likes to keep a bait moving virtually all the time, but often uses very slight motions.

Devils Lake also supports a good northern pike population. Feldner mostly targets pike with tip-ups, fishing close to the shore and spreading his holes between 2 and 8 feet of water.

Want to Go?

Perch-Eyes Guide Service offers fully outfitted fishing and lodging packages and separate daily fishing trips. Visit percheyes.com to learn more and to check out regularly updated Devils Lake fishing reports, or give Jason Feldner a call at 701-351-1294.

I got to go ice fishing last week. My ponds froze over and to get a bait in the water I had to knock a hole in the ice beside my dock. The ice was thin, only about a quarter of an inch thick, but it was solid.

The fish were smarter than me. They did not bite. In fact, I have not caught a fish in my pond since New Year’s Day. Although I keep trying, the fish just are not feeding in the ice water.

Since fish are cold blooded their bodies stay the temperature of the water they are in. At such low temperatures their heartbeat is extremely slow and they just do not need much to eat. They go for days simply holding near the bottom in some of the deepest water in the pond and not moving.

Bass are almost impossible to catch under conditions like we have right now so the Flint River Bass Club canceled our January tournament. We are supposed to be on Jackson today but it would be miserably cold for us, and the bass would have lockjaw, sitting there not feeding in the cold, muddy water.

I am very glad I don’t have to spend hours in a bass boat today, but I will give the bream in my pond a chance to hit. I hope I don’t have to chop through much ice!