By: Jeff Huehn Every year, its a sign. The kids are at the bus stop, sporting their winter coats, mittens, and knit hats. It’s getting colder. Every consecutive morning that the thermometer on the house reads 32 or below, I make the same trek. A trip to the local honey hole, chisel in hand. Hoping…
By: Matt Johnson With so many options out there available to us today, which ice rod do you choose? Species, presentation and personal preference are some ideas to keep in mind when choosing an ice rod. Often times we pick an ice rod based on what species we plan on targeting with it. Let’s take…
By: Matt Johnson Ice anglers have a wide variety of bait available to them, and each type of bait has its place and time. Maggots come in all different shapes and sizes, and recently, even colors. Minnows are a very broad category, and are used throughout the ice fishing season and for almost every species….
By: Matt Johnson Crappies are a sophisticated fish, especially those slabs, and at times it can be rather confusing and frustrating for ice anglers to pinpoint slab patterns. Some lakes are abundant with slab crappies, while others are more inclined to hold smaller fish, and then you have those lakes where you can catch a…
When ice fishing for crappies, it seems that sometimes there are a lot of things that are needed to complete a catch. Increasing your odds is the name of the game and having an arsenal of techniques is how you win. Deadsticking is just one of the many techniques that can increase your catch on…
By: Matt Johnson Plastics are known to be a proven fish catching tool in open water, but what about under the ice? Do plastics only have a place out in the boat or by the dock? Ask most modern ice anglers and you’ll hear another story… Plastics come in all shapes and sizes. They come…
Northern pike are known for their aggressive-nature and dominance over prey. Pike are also a very hard-fighting fish that like to rip drag and max out the action of a rod. The explosiveness of hooking a pike in open water can indeed have similar effects under the ice. Pike will still spend most of their…
By: Matt Johnson You bring up a very good point and it is something that can be applied to all species some way or another. When attracting a fish to the area it will often take some aggressive techniques added with some flash and vibration, especially when fishing a large body of water over a…
By: Matt Johnson Ice fishing is an art. Ice fishing is a passion. Ice fishing is what drives people out onto the frozen tundra day after day in search of a scaly critter. Ice fishing is very much a part of me, and if you’re reading this, then I assume that ice fishing is very…
By: Matt Johnson Ice fishing is right around the corner, and I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve been tinkering with my ice gear all summer waiting for the day when ice forms once again. Now as we near the long awaited arrival of that first sheet of ice, it’s time to…
