Time for a Mid-Winter Road Trip?

A combination of paper maps and digital mapping as seen on the Navionics-capable Marcum RT-9 make all the difference when traveling to any fishing destination. Photo Credit - Ben Larson - In Depth Media Productions

It's that time of the season when your ice-fishing interest level may be fading as fast as your bites.  Trucks, permanent houses, and lake-wide mobility has been the norm for the northern part of the ice belt, and even in the southern part of it where ice typically forms, we're long-past first-ice.  Community spots have been established, and the fish among them grow weary of the pressure with the bite showing it.  Before you send off ice-fishing for the winter or at least until late-ice, consider a mid-winter trip to boost morale and get back into the swing of things.  Here's a few quick hints on getting the most from a destination ice excursion.

Anglers for the most part are well-traveled souls.  More and more often, we travel to destination lakes, for specific species and patterns that offer us something different.  A break, an excuse, and a chance to perhaps do something we've never done or only do once in a great while.  It's been my experience that even when the fishing may be sub-par, getting together with family and friends for an ice-adventure is about far more than just the fishing.

Still, catching fish in these scenarios is our intended goal.  If you've never visited an area that catches your interest, consider booking a guide for the first day or two to get the lay of the land.  Ice guides are frequently more value-priced than an open-water equivalent, and can truly offer a distinct leg-up on hitting the ground running.  Even in the best fisheries in the world, it's not difficult to struggle at first to just find fish, let alone catch them.  This would be considered the premium and most preferred option if you're willing to spend the cash.

Another option yet is to work with a resort to fish in a permanent house.  You're forced to do a bit more leg-work in making sure you're fishing with a reputable outfit.  Recommendations from family and friends, web and Facebook reviews, along with references from area tourism or guides are great ways to find the best of the best.  Failure to exercise due diligence here can result in getting you on the ice, but nowhere near fish.  It can be difficult to get honest advice, so detailed questions that are answered with ample responses in a friendly manner are what you're looking for.  

If you're in the DIY-crowd, information is your ammunition.  Social media, web forums, and a great deal of intel gathering before the trip makes for a much more enjoyable weekend on the ice.  Consider booking lodging in an area rich with lakes, or with access to various parts of the same lake well in advance, then stay flexible with your planning such that you can reach out and hit wherever the best information takes you.  Local bait shops can be invaluable sources of information, but again, being a stickler for the details usually rewards.  

For example, asking a vague question like "How are the panfish biting?" Will typically result in something like "they're biting well on green glow teardrops tipped with waxies."  The overall goal for these shops is to show you a good time, but is also to sell bait and tackle.  That could've meant crappies in the deep holes, or even perch in small sloughs less than 10 feet of water.  Instead, try during a less busy time of the day mid-week, and start with something more like "I've heard this area is great for panfish, are guys getting perch on the bigger lakes or small sloughs?"  Be prepared for follow-up questions like, "what's a typical outing been bringing for both numbers of perch and average size?"  Also, ask if they have been second hand reports or if they have talked directly to the anglers and have seen with their own eyes how it’s been.  Then, ask if they could recommend a few lakes, depths, and general areas to start while finally asking about pressure and whether or not you'll need to stay away from the groups or if the bite has been strong despite angler numbers.  

Lastly, once you're confirmed on going, take a deep dive into the stats and maps.  Many states, like the Dakotas, publish detailed reports on exact lakes, specific species dynamics, year class information and rankings.  This can shorten the search drastically, yet I give pause for even writing it as I've personally seen the exploitation which can result.  Treat those fisheries with the same respect you'd have for your own, and exercise selective harvest to ensure success of future trips.  Even where that data isn't available, you'd be surprised what you can learn with a quick phone call to area fisheries managers or just cruising the web.

With today's detailed contour mapping, destination fishing is easier and more rewarding than ever.  Consider investing in map chips and GPS technology for the trip if you'll likely be back, or look to free options on state fish and game pages and the Navionics free web mapping.  Utilize all of your intel to eventually formulate a plan and area you'd like to fish.  Focus on either several small spots you can investigate and move on from, or a large piece of structure that you can search many types of spots on like inside turns, points, reef tops, or deep mud.  Don't be married to any one particular area in this scenario, and don’t be satisfied to hunker down unless you’re marking fish or the weather demands it.

Take a chance with the weeks we have remaining to fish somewhere new, even if it’s just down the road.  You’ll be surprised by how much better it can make you as an angler, and how much fun you’ll have tackling a new challenge.

How To Catch Anything - A Multi-Species Approach

Photo Credit - Ben Larson - In-Depth Media Productions

Have you ever gone fishing and caught something completely un-intended?  A few years back we were headed to a small lake in northern MN to film a purported basin bite for spoon-eating crappies.  Excited to tie into the 14”+ brutes we’d seen pictures of, we drilled out the small basin area and found nothing.  Zero.  Not a single fish marked.  As we pushed shallower, we saw on the flasher what looked like a weedbed absolutely loaded with them, or so we thought.  For the first half hour, our spoons and any other hard bait were repeatedly denied, with the exception of several unusually large bass.  Getting ready to leave our newfound largemouth hotspot on a well-known crappie lake, I decided to drop a small teardrop and euro-larvae combination, and the rest is history.  It turned out to be one of the better late-ice bull bluegill bites I’ve been on, and ended up being a great show.

One of the keys to catching more fish is simply to fish in a way that includes more potential species, but that can be tough to do.  We hit the ice with pre-determined conceptions about walleye-lake this, good-crappie-population that, and forget that each spot is a new adventure and potentially a “new” fish.  It makes sense, as we’ve specialized a great deal in the last decade.  We use ultra-sensitive noodle rods for finicky gills, consider line choice based on what size and species we’d like to target, and even fish particular areas that are considered “classic” for walleyes, crappies, and any other range of fish species.  Whether you’re parked in a wheel-house over a crappie-hole or you’re punching holes in the shallows looking for weed-bed bluegills, here are some great ways to be an equal-opportunity angler once you start marking fish on the graph.    

Top-Two Lure Types

Not any one bait can target everything well, but you’ll do yourself a great favor in fishing lure types and sizes that work well in a variety of situations, for a number of different species.  An 1/8 oz. spoon in about any variety, provided the hooks are not too large, will catch nearly everything that swims in most freshwater lakes during the winter.  Another top pick is the #3 Jigging Rap, as it’s something I have tied on at least one rod full-time.  No matter where I fish and for what, each of these lure types are nearly always in play.  Choose attractor type colors and patterns for general appeal in pinks, reds, and greens, and you’ll simply catch more fish wherever you go.  

Down-Typing

Downsizing has become almost cliché in fishing advice columns, but so often anglers won’t go far enough to ensure they get bit.  Switching from ¼ oz. spoons to 1/8 oz. varieties may work when trying to cover both Perch and Walleye bites, but what if the walleye you think you’re marking is really a crappie?  In that case, switching to a tiny glow jig and plastic combination may be much more appropriate.      

Know Thy Fish

I tend to start with larger aggressive lures, but closely study the reactions and aggressiveness of the first few fish that come onto the flasher.  Walleyes and perch that are actively feeding will often rise, retreat, and revisit the bait quickly, several times before eventually eating.  Crappies tend to school in the winter, and even when they come in as singles will often simply appear at the same height as your offering.  Good bluegills will rise and back away very methodically.  I could go on and on, but the point is that each species has its own calling card. 

Seeing is Believing

Nothing prepares you for the above tactic like watching fish with an underwater camera, and species-specific identification will help you to select the best baits and methods to catch them.  Especially in river-systems, fish are very often assumed to be a species they are not.  More diversity offers simply more opportunities to get it wrong.  Even in lakes, or within the same species, there’s a big difference between large marks that can either be wads of bait perch, or a single tiger of the 11-12” variety we’re all interested in catching more of. 

Bait Selection

When targeting species of all types, it pays to have a variety of bait.  Often, a detail as small as minnow size can inhibit a crappie from inhaling the overly large fatheads you’re presenting.  Similarly, walleyes in the 20” plus category often prefer a more substantial snack in the form a light-pike sized sucker minnow or larger shiner.  However, fish only those baits, and you’re actively selecting against smaller walleyes and other species that may not be willing to eat something that large. 

Diversify Your Spread

Large groups in permanent shelters though immobile, have a distinct advantage to running more lines in that they can offer a wider array of baits.  When fishing for action and numbers, here is my typical lineup. 

·         Active jigging rod with a search bait – Rattlebaits or any other noisy offering that puts vibration or lots of flash in the water column

·         Active jigging rod with a #3 Jigging Rap

·         Active jigging rod with an 1/8 oz. flutter or flash spoon tipped with minnow head

·         Active panfish jigging rod with a tungsten and plastic

·         Active panfish jigging rod with micro tungsten and bait

·         Stationary setup #1 – Free-swimming fathead on a small glow jig

·         Stationary setup #2 – Free-swimming crappie minnow on a small fine wire hook

·         Stationary setup #3 – Free swimming light pike sucker or

Be prepared to adapt on ice, switch to the productive tactic of the moment, and use multi-species techniques to bring more fun and success to your mid-winter fishing.

GPS On-Ice - Uses and Abuses

Photo Credit - Ben Larson - In-Depth Media Productions

Featured - The Marcum RT-9 Sonar/GPS/Camera Combo

GPS On Ice – Uses and Abuses   

“Quit fishing a memory Joel,” quipped a grinning Brad Hawthorne, who in his own right is an incredibly successful ice guide and general thorn in my bibs.  That stung, because he was right.  Trading jabs down the break, we both punched holes relentlessly from sand to rock near some forgotten island on Lake of the Woods.  No matter how high in the air I held my GPS unit, or whether I shook it, smacked it, or pressed all the buttons, it wouldn’t seem to put me right between the two truck-sized boulders we smacked walleyes on mere weeks ago.  Furthermore, when we did find the “spot on the spot,” my hand-held GPS unit wouldn’t put fish back there either. 

We’ve all been guilty of letting a waypoint somehow distort our real-world thinking, causing us to ignore everything right in front of our faces in favor of some digital confidence.  Obvious evidence, along with at times general courtesy, is thrown to the wayside so we can attempt to reclaim the “spot” that once was ours.  Eventually, the very things that make such a location great for fishing are forgotten in the effort just to get back to that prime piece of underwater real estate.

So take it from someone who has learned the hard way, on-ice cues and clues will trump rose-colored GPS screens just about every day of the week.  Your GPS unit is nearly worthless without sonar and many times an underwater camera, to verify depth, substrate, and a host of other variables that aren’t directly or otherwise visible.  The valuable information you gather from each of these tools work in concert to give you more than just a spatial location, but great intel about that specific spot.  Baitfish presence, weed-growth, slope direction, visibility, and other factors will cue you in on current conditions, which are far more important.        

Still, there’s something to be said for areas that continually produce because of a perfect train-wreck of factors all combined to predictably draw fish year after year.  Still, we need to up our GPS game, and here are a few tips to doing just that:

Collecting Waypoints – Many issues start here, and are based solely on operator error.  The process sounds simple, but not so fast.  GPS technology requires ample satellite coverage first and foremost.  In fact, for survey-grade accuracy, many technicians that collect GPS data for a living do so during a planned part of the day with the best satellite coverage, thus having the best accuracy.  While you don’t need to head to the lake at a pre-ordained time of day, you can do yourself a favor by giving your GPS unit enough time to acquire satellites and reduce the EPE (Estimated Positional Error) or PDOP (Position Dilution of Precision), both of which are often listed on your screen.  A GPS unit that’s powered up, then taken to immediately drop a waypoint, tends to suffer poor or higher EPE, meaning that when you go back to find that exact spot on the lake, you’ll likely have a hard time because you were never accurate in your digital collection of it to begin with.

Finding Waypoints – Similarly, trying to navigate to a waypoint with a degraded signal only makes finding it that much more difficult.  Additionally, moving, then stopping, then moving again creates issues with many GPS units’ tracking abilities.  Moving at a reasonable pace, either on foot or by machine, in a constant manner allows for the best tracking and representation of where you’re actually at in relation to a waypoint of interest.

Managing Waypoints – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to re-learn, even recently, that poorly labeled and saved waypoints can distract and confuse you.  While out on the ice, every year, fishing trip, and associated details tend to blend into one as you try to determine the difference between waypoint “328” and waypoint “rock.”  Famed guide Tony Roach once told me that his dad used to save waypoints on Mille Lacs mud flats such as “Arnies8pounder” and “Tonys10pounder.”  Given the success of the Roach clan, eventually even all these points start to look like noise and become difficult to assess from afar.  Point being, be descriptive about the spot, maybe even indicating depth, while deleting points that turn out to be false leads.

Refining the Spot – Here’s where sonar/GPS and camera combos become incredibly useful.  Use GPS to get you close, sonar to get you closer, and the underwater lens to put you right at the heart of it.  How often have you been fishing where the guy in the house over is pounding them, while your sonar screen is blank?  This type of precision is especially useful when parking on a significant but small piece of structure, especially for a longer period of time.  I know I wouldn’t plop down a wheel-house or other permanent without being extremely confident of what I was sitting on.  Of course this involves at times a serious hole drilling session, especially in stained water with its limited camera visibility.  That said, of all the very best ice bites I’ve ever been a part of, this kind of digital finding then mechanical drilling and checking, has always just been a part of the game. 

Our generation’s crutch has become the GPS unit, though there’s still so much great information to glean and explore, especially from a safety and navigational perspective.  The generations before were ultra-concerned with depth, thinking that if they found fish in 14 feet of water on one part of the lake, then naturally they’d be at the same depth on the other end of the lake.  Often, they were right, just as we are to assume that fish caught on one spot today, may be there in years to come.  That said, it’s best to treat our GPS information as just another piece of the puzzle and give equal weight to our sonar and visual, in the quest to repeat the bite.  

Shelters Simplified - Straight-Forward Advice on How to buy

Photo Credit - Ben Larson - In-Depth Media Productions

In the ice belt, there are two types of anglers.  One type owns a shelter, and the other that waits until spring to wet a line.  Visit your local fishing hole, and you’ll see only a handful of folks out on the open ice sitting on a 5-gallon bucket.  Pick a day where the mercury flirts with zero, and you’ll see nary a soul out and about.  Much of that phenomenon has to do with the technological advances in portable flip-style shelters, along with the advent of more economical hub versions all with the same goal; to keep you more comfortable while out fishing.

Permanent houses certainly have their place on the ice-scape, but can be limiting in terms of mobility, ice-thickness, and price.  For those of you interested in a portable option, there’s a big fork in the road these days between the flip-over type of shelter and the hub-style ones, with the latter definitely leading in terms of price point.  That said, don’t let cost alone be the factor that decides what you fish out of when the wind howls and temperature plummets.

Both styles are effective at keeping the wind off of your back, but that’s where the trail splits.  Flip-style shelters, and their built-in sled, provide a means of transport for all of your gear, as well as a home-base for hole hoppers.  Whether you slide out the extendable supports of the shelter and set-up shop at a single location, or you simply use the shelter portion as a means to park on fish only once they’re found, flip-style shacks offer the ultimate in flexibility while out on the ice.  They’re also the more durable solution overall, especially if you’re towing your equipment with a snowmobile or ATV.  For those that traverse great distances with an ice machine, it’s a compact unit that aids in your mobility and flat-out offers more features.  Hence the higher price-tag.

Hub-shelters, while being price leaders, are also more lightweight without the attached sled and hardware.  If you will be hand-towing your shelter, especially any distance, there’s a lot of weight savings to be offered in a small hand sled holding your packaged hub house.  They can also be quite spacious, and great solutions for families.  If you need to hold as many bodies as possible in a shelter, a large hub-style house may be in your future.  You supply the sled and seating, but get a great deal of square footage for the money.  However, with no attached sled or supports, ice-anchors must be deployed in windy conditions to keep it on the ice.  Given their relative low cost, I know a good deal of anglers that keep a hub-shelter in their towable flip-style while out fishing.  They have it on hand for larger groups and can split off from the main group while still maintaining comfortable fishing conditions.

No matter which type of shelter has your attention, there’s a few guidelines to purchasing a quality one:

Structure – Look closely at the framing within your shelter of interest.  If a hub, does it feel sturdy and fittightly into the hub devices?  Can you rotate the hub device left or right to effectively tighten or loosen the fit of the shell over the frame, or is it fixed in one position?  For flip-style shelters, what kinds of frame materials are being used?  I prefer those with square aluminum frames to prevent binding, twisting, and collapse, while shaving weight from the final product. 

Shell – The highest quality hubs these days have high loft insulation standard as part of their shelter.  For both flip-style shelters and hubs, you’re looking for as few seams as possible, and very little light penetration.  Pin-holes and see-through spots on seams equal more moisture transfer and condensation, all while providing less loft and air trapping capability.  Avoid this at all costs, and look for a shell that has high loft and floating layers that ultimately equal better insulation and a warmer end product.

From here, those interested in a flip-style shelter should look a little further:

Seating – Look to the overall comfort of the seating system by first sitting in it, but don’t stop there.  Look underneath and see what it’s made of.  Heavy steel options are durable and cheap, but add precious pounds to the final product.  Bench seats are great options for adding kids or smaller fishing buddies along for the ride, while bucket seats provide the ultimate in individual comfort.  Bench seats should fold and stow conveniently, while bucket seats should swivel a full 360 degrees, do so quietly, and also flip up to be able to get at your gear underneath.

Sled – This is going to be the foundation of your entire shelter, so don’t skimp for something flimsy.  Roto-molded sleds are considered more durable than those thermally stretched over a mold, as they have even thickness of plastic distributed at all points of the product.  That’s especially important for the corners or front of the sled that attacks the ground.  Also, look to how items are attached to the sled.  Tow bars that are bolted through the sled create pressure points and individual opportunities for failure, with molded hitch pockets being a more premium option. 

Though we’re very used to products these days with life-cycles measured in months, there’s every reason to expect that a quality product should last you as many as 10 years or more if properly cared for.  Stick to those 4 S’s in your selection process and you’ll be rewarded no matter which style of shelter suits your way of fishing best.

Ice Sonar FAQs for Beginners AND Experts

Ice Sonar FAQs

Think you know your ice electronics? Even if you're a seasoned veteran of the sonar world, here are some bits of advice that can help! - Photo Credit - Ben Larson - In-Depth Media Productions

Every year, a new set of anglers both young and old, learn to use ice fishing sonar or flashers for the first time.  That said, I encounter many anglers on the ice each year that still have their ice sonar on default factory settings from when they bought the unit 10 years ago.  Whether you’re brand new to the game, or it’s old-hat, here are some answers to age old questions and some new ones to keep it interesting.

How far down should I drop my transducer? - Conventional wisdom has it that for the best reading, you should put the bottom of your transducer just below the ice in the center of the hole.  This ensures that your jig falls into the conic beam (cone angle) that forms at the transducer and fans out radially in expanding width the deeper you go.  Practically speaking however, you want your ducer off to one side of the hole, and a bit up into the hole while still maintaining a clear reading.  Too far below the bottom of the ice and centered in the hole, you’re asking a fish to tangle in the transducer cord.   

How deep is it?  While most people really want to know at what depth they’re fishing, rarely does it matter.  This is because now with a flasher, all of your depths will be relative anyway.  You’ll see your bait and its location in relation to the bottom.  Move to shallower and deeper water, your frame of reference will still be scaled by your bait and its location to the bottom and possibly fish. 

Why don’t I see my jig?  There can be any number of reasons, from improper depth range, to low gain setting, to the transducer being too far to one side of the hole and not pointed straight down.     

How high should I turn my gain or sensitivity?  The rule of thumb here is to turn it up and down, until you find the point where your jig just barely appears as a solid, crisp target, threatening to disappear.  Too high and you’re picking up unwanted signals from the rest of the water column.  Too low, and you can’t see your jig in relation to the fish that are after it.     

Why don’t I see my jig until I’m a few feet below the transducer?  Directly below the transducer represents the smallest portion of the cone angle, specifically, the tip of the cone.  For you to achieve a reading here, you’d need to place it directly inside of this small area, and rarely to we drop it directly below the ‘ducer.  The further below the transducer you are, the more likely your bait is to be within the cone angle.

Why can I drop my bait “below” the bottom?   To better understand sonar, you need to mentally grasp the footprint of your sonar cone, right where it makes contact with bottom.  We all know that the lake bottom isn’t flat as a pancake, so it stands to reason that one edge of your cone angle may be sounding at 15 feet, while the other edge may be in 18 feet of water.  The steeper the break (tighter the contours) you’re fishing, the more accentuated this effect is.  The return you see on your screen shows the shallowest portion of the cone, meaning that you can appear to drop your bait below bottom.  One of the best ways to counter this effect is to switch to a narrower beam or cone angle when fishing steep slopes.  You can also zoom into bottom if that’s the primary zone you’re fishing, giving you a better view of that specific area. 

When should I use zoom? -  As far as I’m concerned, that zoom button should be locked in the “on” position for most angling situations.  With digital sonar technology, zoom means more than a magnifying glass on the strike zone, it actually enhances the ability of the sonar engine to send, receive, and display minute differences in targets.  It’s the detail you can see when a gill flares its fins before a strike, when picking out sizes of crappies suspended down 20 feet in 50 feet of water, and when fishing belly-to-bottom walleyes that just barely flicker to reveal their presence at the outside edge of the cone angle.  Get used to running your sonar in the zoom mode no matter what depth you’re fishing and for what species.   

How do I get “better” with my ice sonar? – While practice makes perfect, make sure to practice with a purpose.  If you have access to an underwater camera, the very best thing you can do is to study your lure and a fish’s reaction to it both on the camera and sonar simultaneously.  While it is becoming increasingly easier to tote lightweight and portable cameras around ice, your sonar becomes a much more efficient tool when you realize what subtle movements your bait and the fish that are relating to it can mean.  Simple concepts like the swing of your jigging stroke become much more apparent when you can translate the real view (camera) to a representation of it (sonar).  In deep water, while your target appears to move a very small amount on sonar, your pull may be an actual 3 feet. 

Your ice sonar is a great tool to help make you a better angler, but only if you take the time to learn how to use it properly.  We can pound a nail with nearly all sides of a hammer, but one way works markedly better than the others.