About Ice Fishing

Articles, Videos and Tips to spend a safe and successful day on the frozen water.

Artwork provided by Rodd Umlauff

Ice Fishing Videos:

Articles & Tips for Ice Fishing:

Ice Fishing 101  By Tom Dietz
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There are some basic equipment one needs to get started in ice fishing, and this article is intended to help you make the right choices to get going. I will go over all of the gear and discuss in detail the applications to help you make a sound investment.

Essential Modern Ice Fishing Basics  By Mark Strand
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Especially if you are just getting started in modern ice fishing, this is for you. But even if you are already into it, you’ll find details worth discovering.

Early Ice Fishing Tips  By Jeff Wallace
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First ice is an exciting time of year for me here in the north woods. It is a new start to a new realm of fishing and simple put, it’s some of the most fun fishing you will experience all year.

First Ice Walleyes in the Deep Sand Grass  By Tom Dietz
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These areas will hold walleyes all season long, but first ice is especially good.

“Northern Wisconsin” Ice Fishing Angler’s Get Ready! By Captain Marty Papke
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There comes a time of the year when it’s time to put away the boat and soon tackle a new adventure. Ice angling is and can be a very productive time for fishing and more and more every year angler’s are becoming all season angler’s!

Jigging Up Hard Water “Eyes” By Rob Manthei 
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First ice is upon us, here’s a great article for you walleye guys!

Maximizing Your Deep Water Panfish  By Justin Gaiche
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When the water temperatures fall to the mid 30’s in shallow bays, pan fish can be very difficult to catch. The combination of noise from vehicles, ice augers, shacks and anglers can easily make fish spooky while the cold water temperatures virtually shut down these cold blooded fish. For many people it is called the “Mid Winter Lull”. Do not fret however because the fish do continue to bite aggressively, just perhaps where you are not.

To Ice Spoon, or not to Ice Spoon… By Jeff Beckwith
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There’s no argument, the vertical jigging spoon is ice fishing’s dominant lure. Fish have surrendered to hammered metal and forged lead since, well…since folks decided that ice could no longer separate them from quarry. I’m talking eons.

Ice Fishing Feeding Frenzy By Tommy Skarlis
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Fish have a brain about the size of a pea. They have a stomach that’s roughly 20 times that large. Fortunately for those of us who love to fish through the ice, one feeds the other.

Fishing the WildSide On Ice By Chip Leer
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It’s 4:30 p.m. on a late-December afternoon, and dusk is settling over the lake. You’re six miles off shore, and you’ve been set up for an hour, making sure everything is just right for what has been a red-hot evening crappie bite. In fact, the first big slab has just appeared on your sonar unit when you are interrupted by a voice outside your Otter shelter.

Fish the Dominant Species By Dave Genz
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Advice from ice fishing legend Dave Genz… This time, he is helping average anglers determine which species of fish is most abundant in the waters they fish, and how a plan will help them catch what they go after.

Your Fish are the Same as Mine By Dave Genz
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Here is the latest ice-fishing story from Dave Genz. This time, he is talking about how fish tend to behave similarly in similar habitat. It’s a fascinating subject that will help average anglers be more successful, and less mystified, as they go from one lake to the next.

Fishing Fast a Huge Key in Ice Fishing By Dave Genz
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Here’s ice-fishing advice from Dave Genz, a story about the importance fishing quickly out on the ice. He does more, in his continuing emphasis on clarifying mobility, by talking about both the “vertical” and “horizontal” components of mobility in ice fishing.

Master the Genz Pounding Presentation By Dave Genz
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For all its amazing power, the “pounding” presentation is still not known to most ice anglers. Here is a detailed explanation of how to create the “Genz Pound” and use it to your advantage in ice fishing.

Late Ice Panfish in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin By Jeff Winters
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With the arrival of March signaling the end of the game fish season in many parts of Wisconsin, ice fishermen begin to turn their attention towards serious panfishing. Here in the township of Boulder Junction in Northern Wisconsin lies an ice fishing paradise for these late-ice tasty treats. With 194 lakes within a nine mile radius of town and some of the finest panfish waters in the state within its boundaries, Boulder Junction should be a main destination for you.

Early Ice is Set by Fall By Dave Genz
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With ice fishing season closer than we realize. Fall weather sets up fish location at early ice. Don’t assume they’ll be where they were last year, early ice… how to approach it, how to find fish once the ice is safe…

Early Morning: Most-Missed Ice Fishing Opportunity By Dave Genz
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Cashing in at daybreak is all about being ready the night before

Aggressive Tactics for First-Ice Walleyes By Ted Takasaki and Scott Richardson
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Most good walleye anglers get real excited when the first good ice of the year appears. The fish are aggressive and still willing to swim a fair distance for something to munch on. As a result, it pays to be aggressive in your tactics to catch them. New rattling spoons and advances in lure design will allow you to be even more successful than traditional methods.

Sticky-Bottom Areas Refined By Dave Genz
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The real key to finding the mother lode of burrowing insects is to pinpoint the base of the break, where sediment accumulates In many ways, the unexplored frontier in ice fishing is the not-too-soft, not-too-firm bottom composition that Dave Genz calls sticky.

WHY ‘Poofing’ Bottom Works By Dave Genz
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Here, finally, is a breakthrough description of WHY it works when you “poof up” the bottom with your jigging lures. Ice fishing pioneer Dave Genz has been digging into this subject for years, and by collaborating with a professor of entomology, has come up with a plausible answer. He also discusses WHERE to do this for best results.

Late Ice Sight Fishing Secrets By Dave Genz
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As late winter slowly becomes early spring, life in the Ice Belt is loaded with distractions. That can cause ice anglers to miss out on one of the greatest stretches of shallow water sight fishing, and an opportunity to take their skills to the next level. “One of the big problems,” says ice fishing legend Dave Genz, “is that a lot of people don’t think of themselves as ice fishermen at this time of year. They’re too busy sitting in their garage, in their boat, getting it ready.”

Details Rule the Day for Walleyes By Dave Genz
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“You have to be on the move when the fish are not. If you like to fish during the daytime, like I do, you should keep moving.”

The Perch-Bluegill Connection By Dave Genz
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Dave Genz revolutionized ice fishing by seeing what the sport could be, rather than what it always had been. By noticing what others miss, he continues to help us catch nice fish. One of Genz’s more recent connect-the-dots theories has to do with jumbo perch and big bluegills. In essence, it’s find one and find the other, in waters that hold both.

Zooplankton Triggers Everything! By Dave Genz
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When it comes to fish position and activity levels, zooplankton-tiniest of underwater animals-move mountains with their daily up and down migrations. More on the details as we go, but if you’ve ever wondered why the fishing can be so good early and late in the day, Dave Genz says it’s all because of zooplankton.

Icin’ Down Some Crappies! By Ted Takasaki and Scott Richardson
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There’s nothing like a midwinter fish fry with crappie fillets as the main course-unless it’s catching them in the first place. A day on the ice nabbing one crappie after another is enough to thaw anyone’s chilly mood. It’s a sure cure for that bad case of cabin fever.

Plan for Ice Fishing Success By Dave Genz
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When you pull up to the lake, you should know what you’re going to do first. And what you’re going to do next if it doesn’t work. How to make a plan, execute it, and change it on the fly.

Your Best Ice Season Ever By Dave Genz
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Here’s a toast to your best ice season ever. To help you get off to a good start, here are a few key things you can do. They’re all important, but in no particular order.

Be Loud, Be Heard on the Ice By Ted Takasaki and Scott Richardson
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Most ice fishermen choose a serene approach, fearing they might spook away fish that are already chilly and lethargic. Their main tactic is to use small baits to convince lethargic walleyes and panfish to bite.
Not Jon Thelen. The fishing guide, former walleye tournament pro, TV host, and Lindy Fishing Tackle pro staffer is LOUD on hard water. He uses vibrating, rattling, glowing baits designed to call fish from a distance and to provoke reaction strikes from walleyes, perch and crappies whether they’re hungry or not. Vibration, rattles and bright colors do the trick when subtler approaches are ignored.

Late Ice Transition Time By Dave Genz
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Here’s the latest from ice fishing legend Dave Genz. This time, he is talking about how to follow iced-over fish as they transition between midwinter and the late ice period. It’s great info for average anglers that they can use to find great fishing in the final weeks of winter. Too many people pass on what can be the best ice fishing of the year.