I'm starting this project in a goofy time of the year, from a goofy place in my life. I'm a recent graduate of Gustavus Adolphus' Environmental Studies program, working for a property management group out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I don't own a boat, I don't own a house, I don't have a long-term job, and I don't know exactly where I will physically be in a year. Something about all that is flat-out exciting; this is the time for a journey, and I'm just all smiles that certain other things in my life have aligned in a way that I'm able to write. Like my fish-finding abilities, however, I am if anything a novice. As I do this more and more, I hope my penmanship will develop along with my aim. So bear with me (hooray for puns!)
The first leg of this trip will invariably be ice-fishing. Now, I'm no slouch when it comes to ice-fishing, but I have an obscene amount to learn. I've broken that barrier of getting consistently skunked, but fishing alone, endurance has remained my greatest downfall. There is use in that mindless bravado that ice-fishermen seem to have whenever a novice is out with them, and it is in resistance to cold. On a solitary cold evening, should the fish not bite, I've often packed up much sooner than I anticipated and I know I can't be the only one. These days, the most important piece of tackle I carry along with me is companionship and the idiotic machismo that follows two young men, or a young man hoping to, I suppose, impress a young lady. Trust me, ice-fishing, like prison-time, is much better with a good friend.
To you, reading the following, please understand that this advice is NOT for an expert fisherman. You already know all this. You will only get stories and opinions out of what is to come.
Surprisingly to me, I've only been out twice this year, once to the northeast corner of Lake of the Isles and once to the Long Lake near Wayzata, both times for crappies (and luckily both times not being skunked)! Like I said, I'm excited that I'm no longer getting skunked, and the great thing is I can tell you the exact moment that happened, December 25th, 2009. Christmas that year was the day I gained THE MOST important part of my ice-fishing arsenal, my fish flasher. If you ice-fish and you don't own this piece of equipment, sell things until you can afford one. When push comes to shove, I simply will not ice fish without. Not only do these things tell you when you are wasting your time, but they turn ice-fishing into something of a video game. When the wind starts whipping around you, the mercury starts dropping, and the fish seem to be full, I find I can ignore so much of my skin's agony by watching red, green and yellow lights move slowly around a ring. Alone, I won't fish without one; twice I have literally driven back home to pick it up. They're relatively inexpensive, can be used to great success even in summer if you fish out of a canoe, and put crappies on the top of ice where they belong.
Now, because I'm no expert, I don't feel bad doling out fishing advice. It's free, it's from an admitted non-expert, and it just might be worthless! But that being said, let me show you exactly where I've been on fish on Long Lake west of Wayzata. Following this is the map; click the link, and zoom out slowly to see where I've been on fish.
Here be crappies.
Some things I've come to learn about crappies.
1. They're everywhere, and they'll bite on an obscene amount of lures.
2. They're often not where you want them to be, and sometimes they'll bite on nothing.
3. They taste FANTASTIC
5. The crappies at THAT SPOT are in a 30 foot hole, suspended between 20 and 10 feet from the bottom. Their favorite food (as far as I've been able to tell) is a fathead minnow hooked through the dorsal fin.
6. If you aren't using a bobber or a flasher, have a damn good rod, because these suckers will bite like butterflies.
This place, like most spots I intend to fish, are within walking distance from a road; I just bought a new vehicle, and it won't meet the bottom of a lake until I have at least a full year with it
My techniques are going to be the focal points of my ice-fishing this year. I've only fished one winter with any sort of intensity, and a majority of that was spent teaching myself the basics: where to set-up my pop-up and when, what the easiest targets are (crappies, perch and bluegills), and how to properly analyze my fish flasher. That said, I want to hone in on knowing what to switch to, and more importantly why.
My good friend, Tou Xiong, has been fundamental in this. He is a much more accomplished angler than myself, and has been espousing upon me the benefits of having more than one rod set up at a time. There is a science in switching lures around, and from what I can tell, the easiest way to entice fish is by messing with size of baits rather than color. What has worked, especially on those Long Lake crappies, has been a small bug bait like Northland's Slug Bugs, and an alternative rod already tipped with a Salmo Chubby Darter, or a Rapala Jigging Rap or something similar. Live bait would be appropriate, of course.
The trick in all this seems to be keeping yourself busy. When the action slows down, don't wait for it to pick up, go out and try to change it! Now, all of what I'm about to say is working on an underlying assumption. You're ice-fishing to catch fish, not a buzz, and you have a fish flasher, and either a good set of arms or a powered auger.
Lets take a traditional approach to an old standard, the 15-25 foot structure. There will be fish all over this area, and there is no great way of telling where the fish (I'm assuming panfish in this case) will be. Now, I'm told panfish are following their forage here in the weeds, and I'm inclined to believe the experts. The old-school approach to fishing a great spot like this would be to park out a good spot between 15 and 20 feet in order to snag passers-by, staying in one place, and waiting for the fish to come to you.
Yes, you can catch fish this way, but why? Modern flashers and a good sharp hand auger (or a powered auger) will effectively allow you to troll an area. Instead of setting up camp, set up a base camp, and drill everywhere. I've done it both ways, and I assure you, this is the way to go, especially on a warmer day, or when you REALLY want to catch fish. Simply put, when the flasher stops showing fish beneath you, walk to another hole and drop down both set ups (your bugs, your Salmos, your live bait) to the bottom, and work up, watching for action. Unless you're simply looking for a chance to get away from life on shore, or happen to know of an amazing honey hole, you'll likely agree that this is the only way to go. Here's how I would approach that same spot (and yes, I really do push out 20+ holes at a time).
On bringing others out
One of my favorite things about ice-fishing has been the overall low cost involved in outfitting yourself with a spare set for a friend or two. A decent rod and reel combo will set you back 20 bucks and perform admirably for every purpose somebody who has never ice-fished before will need. Not only will companionship allow you to stay out longer, enjoy yourself more,but sometimes friends bring beer. With a nod to three specific friends I've introduced to the sport of fishing, I assure you that introducing somebody into a new outdoors sports is truly inspiring. Personally, friends are as much responsible for attempts at improvement as I am myself; I want my friends to enjoy themselves when they go out, and consistently being able to put them on fish helps to avoid the "Well-that-was-a-waste-of-time"s. Take a Kid Fishing is fantastic, but just as much can be gained with my new program, "Take a College Graduate Fishing".
That belies another point I would love to make with this blog; there are simply not enough opportunities out there for the uninitiated to enjoy the outdoors. For so many of my friends, fishing, when not something they have been introduced to as a child, is a daunting pastime. Ice-fishing has been the perfect opportunity for me to keep opportunity costs low (the major cost being a license), because I have slowly grown my own stash of used, beat-up poles that someone who has never fished is perfectly content using. There is no need for a boat, and most Minnesotans already have the necessary clothing for an extended trip on the ice, especially if I am able to bring along my little 2-man ice shelter along. I was truly surprised to see how few of my friends have gone fishing, and I'm proud to say that I've introduced at least a dozen people to fishing by taking them out on Lake Minnetonka and pulling up perch, bluegills and crappies. It never hurts to bring along some Lakemaid beer too, because on those rare occasions I can't magick up a crappie or two, there's always a 52-inch musky to be caught under the bottlecap.
Well, I have so much more to write, some pictures to share, but its getting late. I'll update this again soon!
Thank you all for reading!
~Scott
