Too many anglers – hard water and soft water alike – get fishing backwards. They think presentation first, and then worry about finding the fish.
Open water conditions perhaps forgive anglers a little more for this mistake. It’s just too easy to fire up the motor and head to the next spot on our GPS map chip.
But even with a fully fueled ATV at the ready, winter conditions demand a more deliberate, precise approach. In the cold weather, we’re working a little slower. And even with the latest, greatest portable fish house, moving from spot to spot requires a little more effort than fishing from a boat.
So for the next several hundred words, I’m going to avoid the “which lure when” discussion that dominates fishing articles and focus on helping you get efficient with your ice fishing search. That, after all, is the hard part.
Though many of you may be reading this after first ice, which actually arrived in a timely manner this year, I think it’s worth understanding the life cycle of most fish from ice-up to ice-out. In general we’re following fish where their stomachs are leading them: after winter forage.
For early ice, I’m picking up where I left off in late fall, and that means shallow water. I know the early tips-du-jour these days preach heading for deeper locations, but I’m a pretty firm believer in starting shallow, then maybe working as deep as the breakline for early ice.
Here’s why: We still have a couple weeks around early ice when we can take advantage of any available cover left in the lake. We’re talking green weeds, and anything else that might still be growing, hatching, or surviving in those still (relatively) warm shallows.
Fish are still feeding in December and getting ready for the midwinter lull. Take pike, for example. Late in the year, these predators really are focused on forage. They’re especially interested in bodies of water where those oily, high-fat whitefish and ciscoes are swimming, and these fish spawn in the late fall. As lakes freeze, whitefish and ciscoes are spawning on sand bars and shallow shorelines.
Folks who recreationally net whitefish will tell you they rarely catch any other fish in their nets, and if they do, it’s a toothy northern pike. That’s not a coincidence, and foraging opportunities are a major reason why the shallows can produce pike or occasionally a big walleye this time of year.
Early season panfish will stick around any available vegetation that’s still green, so that generally means shallow water. Combine some thick cover with big shallow flats and – specifically – depressions or slight changes on your depth contours, and you’ve found a likely haunt for bigger ‘gills.
For walleyes and perch, I’m looking at any structure near the shoreline areas of a big walleye lake. Points, reefs, or humps just jutting offshore are good areas. Here’s one time I may work deeper in the early season, by exploring the breakline, especially where it drops off into a large basin. If you can find any healthy, green deeper weeds, work those edges hard.
Getting into midseason, oxygen levels and forage sources both begin decreasing, and the aggressiveness of the fish takes a bit of a nosedive. Ice is at its thickest, the days are at their shortest, the snow is at its highest, and the water at its coldest, so the fish become pretty lethargic. Put that all together, and you’ve got stressed fish. Feeding typically isn’t their No. 1 concern: They just want to survive this stressful period.
Their metabolism decreases, so they’re less focused on feeding and willing to simply pick off a few meals here and there. Trying to match that specific forage becomes our priority, and here’s where the “finesse” word gets bandied about more than ever.
Perch and panfish become a better bet, maybe because their smaller bodies need proportionately more food. Perch especially move into muddy-bottomed basins. Find some structure like a sand hump that transitions to a mud bottom, and near that transition you’ll find zooplankton, bloodworms, and insect forage sources.
Walleyes will spread out and suspend a bit midwinter, but one obvious location may be around those perch we just located. Walleyes and those cold-water-loving burbot (eelpout) both forage heavily on perch. They’ll also target minnows hanging around what’s left of the green weeds near the breakline. Typically walleyes will move deeper as the magic hour of dusk approaches, but they’ll move shallow if following food.
Crappies early in year behave much like bluegills by hanging around shallow cover, but as the season progresses, they’ll move offshore and suspend off deep holes over basin areas. Ask any angler who’s fished crappies on Red Lake the past decade, and he’ll chuckle at the idea of chasing crappies. Try and figure out when they move through an area, then be there when it happens!
When foraging opportunities dwindle in the shallows, pike start spreading out. Some stay in shallows, others go find breaklines or cruise weeds or shallow water cover. I’ve caught them in January or February fishing walleyes in 30 feet of water or bluegills in 6 feet of water. Remember, pike (and trout) are cold-water species, so they’re an exception to our lethargic rule. Their metabolism doesn’t slow as much, so they’re having fun eating everything else.
Come late February and March, we get a re-occurrence of fall and early ice conditions. The shallows start coming back to life as snow-melt re-injects some oxygen. Weeds start receiving more light from the longer days and green up produces some oxygen, too.
That combination is pretty appealing to many fish species as spring approaches. A lot of panfish will start showing up shallow, and predator fish will follow that forage. Pike start thinking spawn and heading toward spawning locations, and the walleyes won’t be too far behind. (Of course the season is closed on most inland bodies of water, though sometimes you’ll still pick up some shallow cruisers before it closes.)
As far as implementing our search: Sit down with the basics I’ve just shared, then get a lake map and target these areas. Then put your electronics to work for you. In the warmth of your home, plug the coordinates into a hand-held global positioning unit, preferably with a map chip of the lake you’ll be fishing.
I can see everything on that lake map with depth contours, and it makes the search a lot faster and more efficient. On the ice, take your Vexilar and shoot through it. If I don’t mark anything, I have my list of spots nearby I can check in short order. Duplicate that system in many spots all over the lake that you can reach with a machine.
In Minnesota, we can use more than one line while fishing, so take advantage of that. Set out a tip-up, a bobber rod, or deadstick while you’re using your sonar to cover ground.
Thanks to new equipment and a great understanding of gamefish species, it’s never been easier to find fish. Use all your tools to boost efficiency this ice season.
Adam Johnson is an Aquatic Biologist and a Power Stick on the Ice Team.By: Adam Johnson
