Find Before You Fish

Photo Credit: Ben Brettingen - In-Depth Media

Gas augers like Strikemaster Solo cover water and chew ice, helping you find before you fish.

Mid-winter can be a depressing time for good ice to befall upon your favorite lake.  Oxygen levels are depleting, light penetration into depth is at an all new low, and fish have been chased from community holes into either buckets or new locales with less overhead racket.  Early ice action has given way to the doldrums, and good bites have gone sour in a hurry.  So have our attitudes.  As anglers, this time of year is one of stagnation.  Drive-able ice exists throughout much of the state, and we become anxious to plop down on spots that either once held fish, or hope to in the future, more in search of comfort than of good fishing.

Well let me be the first to tell you “Wake up and smell the auger exhaust!”  Stationary fishing in a permanent house or other shelter is a great way to enjoy time on the ice, but only AFTER you’ve found fish.  As February fish become more lethargic, pressured, and generally more difficult to catch, they often move less throughout the course of the day.  Translation: If you’re still, and they’re still, and you’re not parked on top of them, you probably won’t see them.  So goes the mid-winter irony of anglers that can range the open ice with few restraints, yet choose to be immobile amid continued poor fishing.  Ultimately, you’ll never find what you don’t look for, and it’s rare for already-exploited areas to consistently start producing again.

Enter the modern ice auger.  Gone are the days of 50lb. outboard-motor-lookalikes with an ice drill instead of a prop.  Today’s anglers have all kinds of lightweight options that make putting a hole through the ice quick, painless, and dare I say fun?  If inactive or one-spot-fishing is the poison, then drilling more holes is surely the antidote.  Working in teams, a few anglers with a lightweight auger or two can stack up the ice-shavings and learn a great deal in the process.  One on the auger, another with flasher in hand, drill and check holes across the lake.  Spare the fishing rods, at least at first.  Resist the temptation to spend too much time on any one hole, and set up shop if and only-if there are good numbers of fish in an area.

Guides like Tony Roach and Brad Hawthorne are carving up some serious ice each day, and most importantly, aren’t fishing as much as they’re finding.  Roach, who has arguably drilled more holes in the ice than anyone ever, spends day after day guiding and drilling across vast lakes like Mille Lacs and Winnie in search of nomadic schools of walleye and perch.  His approach is simple, more holes equals more fish, and the drilling does not stop unless the fishing is fantastic.  When the bite fades, the augers sing once again.  Brad Hawthorne’s ice odometer reads higher than almost anyone else on the planet, with him moving clients as often as a half-dozen or more times per day if needed to stay on fish.  Still, he can spend as much time looking for fish as he does actually fishing when out scouting for the next guide trip.

What does all this mean for you and the rest of the gamefish season?  For starters, it means breaking down new lakes or areas within a lake that have yet to see much pressure.  This process is more effective with friends, even multiple augers, and of course, a good plan.  Scour lake contours and find a section, chunk, or other digestible part of the map that you can tackle.  Call it ¼ mile squared or so.  Maybe it’s a small sub-basin, a point with some deep water off of it, or perhaps a flat with adjacent shallow to deep breaklines.  Whatever you choose, scatter holes every 20-30 yards or so at first, looking to cover as many varying lake depths, substrates, and pieces of structure possible within your search area.  Multiple anglers with flashers should follow, noting any holes with schools of fish, bait, or anything else of interest. 

Next, grab rods equipped with good search baits like rattling lipless crankbaits, flutter spoons, jigging raps, etc.  You’re thinking about baits that fish fast and can attract from distance either via vibration, color, or searching away from the center of the hole.  The goal here is to move fish, as much as it is to catch them.  The idea is to find concentrations of fish first, and then to focus on the catching of them, not the other way around as this part is important.  Once one person finds something of note, the entire group can come in, experiment with different presentations, and eventually crack the code.  Working together as a team, you’ll have a much better chance of getting on good groups of fish.  If you don’t run into any fish, you need to be committed to the drill-and-find process, continually searching, even if it means fishing very little for the day. 

After you’ve found fish, and maybe even caught a few, the key is to continually push.  Eventually, the bite will fade, which means that you need to start the process over again.  The temptation is to wait the fish out, or continue to think that they may swim back during the next low-light period.  This may be the case, but it’s often 4-6 hours later, such that chasing after the fish is usually a better strategy.  The good news is that once fish are found, moves do not need to be as large, and the distance between holes can shrink as well. 

Lastly, prepare yourself for bite windows during the low-light periods.  These can shrink to as short as 15 minutes during the heart of the winter season, such that you need to be in position, with all required tools at your immediate disposal when prime-time hits.  That witching-hour is about the only time you should be stationary.  How do you know where to be and when?  That’s where the hard-won experience from drilling holes all day comes from.  One day’s learning becomes the next day’s plan of action, and the surest way to catch fish in the future is to invest time in finding them today.   

Fish Early, Fish Safe

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Striker Ice Floating Predator Bibs and Jacket

Strikemaster Lazer Synthetic Hand Auger

First ice safety is something that comes up annually this time of year, and despite our best efforts as anglers, is highly ignored.  We’ve seen the graphics, know how thick the ice generally needs to be, and we understand the risks involved, but somehow these risks are weighed and the balance is deemed acceptable no matter how unsafe the ice actually is.  Most advice you’ll read on the subject involves some scary stories, and while I have been through the ice a few times, this article is about straight talk; what to look for and how to best take advantage of the early ice period.  There’s plenty of safe ways to enjoy first ice provided you observe the rules of the frozen water. 

1. Have a Plan - I once watched a man from shore on a barely frozen Lake Pepin, readily setting the hook on walleye in what seemed to be a regular fashion.  He was all alone, the month was December, and I was down there just to check on ice conditions.  Then, I noticed what appeared to be a rope, tied around his middle, leading the short distance back to shore and tied off to a less than stout Boxelder that was hanging over the ice.  Ice-check complete, as far as I was concerned.  If he felt the need to “tie-off,” I felt the need to give it some more time.  Still, his approach, at least in a modified fashion is something I’ll always remember and incorporate into my first ice planning.  Namely, it’s to have a plan in the first place.  He thought of the unthinkable, and planned for it, albeit poorly in my opinion.  Instead, I would think of a few valuable pieces of equipment first and foremost, in this order: ice spud or chisel, a throw rope, and ice picks.

2. Testing – All first ice should be chiseled, punched, or otherwise struck to see what it’s made of.  If you don’t have a chisel, then buy one, or wait until the wheelers and sleds are driving on before you dare walk out.  It’s that important.  Every step or two, swing a weighted and aggressive chisel downward.  For the first few steps off shore, chip a hole and observe general thickness.  Do this several times in the next few feet.  Last year we were filming in South Dakota under brutally cold conditions, with nearly 10 inches of the most beautiful black and clear ice you ever saw.  Our snowmobiles cruised over the frozen lake, drivers confident that we were as safe as could be, at least until we saw a small neck down.  It’s not news that inlets/outlets, channels, or even narrow spots in a lake can freeze at a much slower rate, especially with flow, but this was in a small slough with temps hovering around zero.  Still, one of our crew spotted what looked like cattails that were not snow-covered like the rest of the shore, and sure enough the chisel plunged straight through the 1” of ice there was at that location.  It wasn’t enough ice to support the weight of a single person, let alone several, with snowmobiles, and loads of equipment.  Too often, it’s under these conditions, with good ice in most places and poor ice only in some, that first-ice can be the most dangerous.

3. Dress For Success - These days, there’s no excuse not to have a great pair of floating bibs and jacket. No one plans to end up in the drink, but having a great suit that ergonomically stores your ice gear where you need it AND may save your life? Yes please.

4. Why a Rope? – If you do go in, having a throw rope handy not only helps to save you, it helps to keep others at a distance necessary to not go in themselves.  Too often, without a rope, even with a friend nearby, there’s no safe way for them to aid you.  Moreover, rope just isn’t on the gear checklist of most anglers, so when you need it, rarely is it among the rest of your things unless you plan for it. 

5. Picks When All Else Fails – If you don’t have a rope handy, or perhaps if the rope is too short or not throwable, ice picks are your last line of defense.  For thin first ice however, they’re far less effective, as typically the ice around you is easily breakable once there’s already a big hole in it.  Still, if they’re on you, they’ll be able to provide some grip, even if only temporary, to perhaps make your way closer to shore or up onto the ice.  Their value to me was demonstrated a few years ago when fishing Duluth Harbor with a few friends, early in the morning.  It was dark still when walking out, and though we had great ice thickness, warmer weather had left a slick layer of water over the ice, meaning your boot soles first hit water before they hit the ice below.  Now Duluth has a shipping channel, where ice-cutters are moving through in and out, at times breaking off big sheets of ice and creating big gaps or cracks between larger sheets.  Our headlamps were on, but my buddy walked right into open water, and luckily was able to use his walking momentum and the force of coming up and out of the water to project himself to the far ice sheet, nearly 6 feet away from us standing on the other side.  The distance was too great to jump back, so he took his picks, jumped and laid out for the sheet of ice we were on, while sinking them deep up to the pegs.  He was able to easily climb his way back up to where we were.  Without picks, on a water-covered sheet of ice, in the dark after getting soaked, I’m not sure we would’ve had a good means to fish him out or across. 

6. Slow Down – Use all of the tools at your disposal, and allow time to properly chisel and check each of your pathways.  First ice isn’t necessarily a place for children or those that are inexperienced.  It’s simply too easy to forget where you’re safe, and where you might not be.  Start small and fish an area awhile.  From experience, there’s a big difference from “making-ice” and “cracking-ice,” so go with your gut on that one, but at least think about it.  Ice can bow a great deal under your weight, and if it feels like it’s “giving,” it probably is.  Macho rants and broad declarations about fishing on 2”es or less are best left for the bar and not brought out onto the ice with you.  Take your time, heed the advice here, and fight the urge to be the very first person out there.  Be the safest, and live to fish another day.  

First Ice Primer - Gearing Up

Photo Credit - Ben Larson - In-Depth Media Productions

The leaves have long since vacated their perch upon the trees of the Upper Midwest and have now found themselves matted on the forest floor. The roofs of houses begin donning a thin white coat every morning, and the defrost on your truck becomes more useful as each day passes. Most importantly, water temps fall closer to the magic number that ice-anglers know all too well.  However, before I sink new blades into fresh ice, there’s a method to my madness of pre-ice preparation.

What fall fishing I can do always has some portion of the trip dedicated to winter scouting. It starts with simply cruising across the lake with one-eye constantly on the graph, looking for tell-tale signs of differing bottom-hardness, contour changes, or un-marked structure.  That said, scanning structure is only part of the equation, as fish should be near or already on their first-ice locations.  Some of the best spots for ice-fishing I’ve found while in the boat, so don’t hesitate to drop a GPS waypoint on anything you see, and then circle back for further exploration.  It’s far easier to scan multiple locations and depths from open water than from ice with auger in-hand. 

One of the first things that gets attention is my shelter.  I do this earlier than most folks, like October early.  This gives me time to figure out what survived summer storage, and plan on replacement should mice or other critters have gotten into it.  The same holds true for my ice auger.  Again, I’ll need time to react should there be an issue. It’s a lot easier finding a place to get you a tuneup on your auger when there’s no ice on the lake, and everything from blades to engine oil is much easier to find early than late as well.  Now that we’re talking about the heavy equipment, it’s not a bad time to make sure your on-ice transportation be up to snuff as well.  Be it ATV, Snowmobile, or 4X4 truck, first ice is a bad time to be down your major method of transport.

From there, I open up my rod-boxes and dump out their contents.  Everything in there gets my attention next, as these items can have lead-times also.  I’m a big custom rods guy, and over the years have found them to specifically match presentations and fishing styles that fit me best.  I say this knowing that my preferred manufacturers of custom rods are anywhere from 2 – 4 weeks out, so you’d better get moving if you have a hole in your lineup, or select a model that’s more common.  Reels typically need little attention if you’ve invested in some quality ones, but it’s never a bad time to swap out or add to the fleet.  Line is something that I religiously change on at least a yearly basis however.  Small spools on 500 series reels are notorious for bringing out the worst in memory from your favorite line, and the longer it sits on that tiny spool, tightly coiled and ready to spring, the harder time you’re going to have feathering it down an ice-hole or detecting a strike.  Whatever your line of choice, do yourself a favor and spool up fresh each year.  The only caveat to that would be braid if you use it, as the advanced fibers in today’s woven lines tend to last a bit longer.     

Lastly, and this is the fun part, gather all of your ice tackle in a single location, spread them out on the floor and admire how large the pile has become.  Make sure to do so in the absence of your significant other, or you’ll likely be prevented from ever adding to it again.  Go through old baits, replace hooks as needed and more than anything, take good inventory on what needs re-stocking.  Be honest with yourself.  This is a difficult task.  Work new baits and lures into the rotation, but do so sparingly, and then, only in a few selected colors and sizes.  Instead, focus on your staples, and make sure you have plenty multiples of them.  The worst thing you can do when shopping for lures is to buy a smattering of one each in various lure types.  Instead, do your research and know your fishing style, then make educated and targeted purchases in multiples of the colors and sizes of baits you know you’ll make use of this winter.  While it can be more expensive, you’re far more likely to have what you need when using this system.  I’ve more recently been a fan of shopping for these items online, mostly because I can order these multiples with greater ease, and typically the stock is virtually limitless.  Still, whether online or in-store, supply can be sold thin if you wait too long.  This is especially true for brand new lures and baits that get a good amount of press.  Organize what you have into whatever system that works well for you, but put some thought into it.  If you’re a hard-house only guy, you probably won’t need a smattering of tiny tackleboxes, but if you’re an incessant hole-hopper, you might want to select some boxes that easily fit in a jacket pocket for better mobility. 

From here, you’re more prepared than the vast majority of your ice-fishing brethren, and for good reason, first ice can be the best fishing of the year.  So fill your deer tags, get some fresh winter blend fuel in that ice auger, and wait until mother nature gives us the icy layer we need to walk on water.