Ice fishing tutorial, Part 3: Tips for being a successful ice angler

This is the third in a three part series on ice fishing and in this column, I want to get into the actual act of ice fishing — that is the art of bringing fish from their watery world into ours.

There are whole books written on this subject so it will be impossible for me to cover everything in this one piece — but I can give you a pretty good idea of what it’s all about and where to start should you be interested in getting into ice fishing.

Before you can bring fish through the ice, you first have to connect to their world — in other words, drill a hole or holes and the most practical way to do this is with an auger.
Augers can be gas powered, battery operated or hand operated. You can acquire a decent hand-operated auger for $50 to $100 and most of the time for our ice conditions they are very adequate.

Some serious ice fishing types use a gas operated auger — they surely get the job done but they are bigger, heavier, carry a bigger price tag and obviously require fuel which can be smelly and messy.

My brother and I sold our gas auger and went to a 20V DeWALT battery-operated drill. A simple adapter allows you to remove the handle from your hand auger and attach the drill just like any other bit.

The 20V Max, Lithium ion battery enables you to drill holes all day. One day last year I punched nearly 20 holes through 15 inches of ice and still had battery left.

These drill rigs are also smaller, lighter and easier to carry. Most augers will come in a 6- or 8-inch size. I own one of each but I almost always opt for the 6-inch hole.

A simple ice fishing scoop or dipper is used to clean the hole of ice chips and it comes in handy to keep ice from forming over the holes.

Once the hole is drilled and cleaned, there are basically two methods used to put fish on the ice — one is a tip-up or a fish “trap” and the other method involves a hands-on approach using a specially designed rod.

Many fishermen utilize both methods. The method I use depends on what fish I am after as well as a number of other circumstances that enter into my choice of equipment.
Tip-ups are designed to set in the ice hole with no further attention until a fish takes the bait and thereby sets off a flag warning the fisherman that a fish is on the line.

The tip-up is then removed from the hole and the fish brought in using a hand-over-hand retrieve on the line.

Tip-ups are used in conjunction with some type of live bait like minnows and they can be set to take a variety of fish. They can be used for panfish but more often than not they are reserved for bigger fish like walleyes, northern pike, bass and pickerel.

If it’s panfish you’re after, then you definitely want to learn to use an ice fishing rod and you should learn a number of different techniques to entice fish into taking the presentation at the action end of that rod.

Ice fishing rods are shorter than your average fishing rod — you want to be able to sit close to the hole not four of five feet away from it.

Rods built for panfishing are generally of medium action but with sensitive tips to detect light strikes and most come equipped with a small, light opened-faced spinning reel.

Some ice fishing rods come with a reel similar to a small fly reel. I still frequently use some of my old homemade rods made with broken rod tips inserted into a piece of broomstick. Any number of ice fishing reels can be purchased and added to your homemade rig.

There are several common ways to rig and fish an ice fishing rod.

For beginners I highly recommend using a small bobber as a strike indicator since the light hit of a panfish can sometimes be very difficult to detect until you’ve learned what it feels like.
You watch the bobber in the ice hole just like you would do if it were open water in a summertime pond. By the way, it doesn’t have to go clear under to indicate a strike.

Another type of strike indicator that works well is a spring-like extension that the line runs through at the rod tip; this flimsy tip is quick to show movement anytime a fish touches or takes your presentation — set the hook if it quivers.

A third technique is to fish mostly by feel. This method uses no strike indicator of any kind but rather your ability to hook a fish depends on how adept you are at feeling the strike.

This is the hardest technique to learn but it can also be very effective and it allows you to move up and down the water column quickly and easily and sometimes that’s necessary.

The bobber method on the other hand allows you to set your lure at any desired depth and it allows you to quickly return to that same depth each time. Learn to use all the methods and to plug them in to whatever situation is indicated.

Most ice rod fishing or jigging is done with a tiny ice jig of some kind at the business end.
The idea is to keep it small for panfish — bigger fish, however, may require bigger lures. We use a variety of jig colors and types — tungsten jigs are small but still have sufficient weight to sink quickly and you can feel them at the business end.

I like chartreuse, black, white, blue, silver and gold. Last week, however, pink turned out to be the hot color for icing bluegills. The bottom line is to carry a variety of colors.

We always tip our jigs with some kind of bait. Wax worms, meal worms, maggots, earth worms, spikes and even small minnows work well.

Different presentations should be tried. Sometimes just letting the lure set is best and other times jigging may work better. Try a different cadence or a more subtle up-and-down movement until you find what they want.

If you really get serious, you may want to add a sonar unit to your fishing experience.
Several companies make sonar units just for ice fishing and there is no question they can increase your odds — or at the very least cut down on your searching time.

These units give up a quick depth reading and tell a lot about the bottom contour and structure — all important to finding and catching fish. They will even show fish at different depths. That information may help, but bear in mind that knowing exactly where they are doesn’t mean you can get them to hit.

Be safe, be comfortable and catch fish.

Check out the other two parts to this series: Tips to being safe on the ice and tips for being comfortable while ice fishing.