I'm going to assume that we've all fried a bunch of fish. I for one, employ a variety of different batters and seasonings. It all depends on the people I'm cooking for, and what type of fish I've got. My two mainstays are seasoned cornmeal for catfish and beer batter for walleye. Beyond these, I'm pretty flexible.

     My question is simple. What is your favorite? I don't mean an itemized list of your favorites for every fish you catch. I mean your favorite. Assuming that all you have is a fryer and some oil. What would you bread with, and what fish would you use?

     This summer on a fishing trip I had to come up with a shore lunch for 17. The nearest town, Havelock, Ontario was an hour south. On a trip to town the second day, there were three things on my list. Rapalas, beer and fish breading. After getting the first two we made our way to a very small grocery store. They had one choice in breading, Rocky Madsen's Original Fish Crisp. I'd seen it at Cabela's before, but it wasn't Drake's or Andy's so I had seen no reason to buy it.

     The next day, dinner was as silent as a church. 17 people obliterated 12 pounds of perch and sunfish. I might never have a better fry than I had that day.

     From now on, for me, it's Rocky Madsen's Original on panfish.

Weight will be individual for the crappie and saugeye pots.

How is the hoodie coming along?

We invite all IFO members to participate in our pre-season dock tournament series at Alum Creek Marina.

Tournament Director: David Hoheisel 614-361-5548






Saturday Tournaments will be hosted in November and December.
(January dates to follow if we have unsafe ice.)
Stay current on the schedule as dates may be subject to change on short notice.

*New this year will be the addition of a Photo and fish story contest. The prizes for this contest will be awarded at the first tournament held during the month of December. Please review rules and post your entries in Soft Water Pictures


You must be a registered Ice Fish Ohio member.

Individual entry fee is $15 per event.

Per Ohio DNR regulations, 2 poles may be fished at any one time.

Live bait approved.

Check-in starts at 7:30 am

No lines or sonar may enter the water before 8:00 am

Each individual will weigh in their best catches in one of two pots.
Pot #1- 5 crappie (9” inch minimum)
Pot #2- 1 Saugeye (15” minimum)

*If a Saugeye is not caught the Saugeye pot will go to second place crappie finisher from Pot #1.

An optional big fish pot will be awarded to the heaviest fish to cross the scales at the weigh-in. (This fish may be any species.)


In addition to the cash payout, each individual will receive one ticket at each tournament that you participate in for a chance of winning various sponsor products at that tournament.

We will also keep these tickets throughout the pre-season events and have a final season drawing for Grand Prizes from our sponsors.

Any team who fishes at least 6 events will receive an additional 5 tickets for the final season grand prize drawing.

Finalized sponsor prizes will be updated before the first event.

It is the winner’s responsibility to pick up grand prizes in Columbus.

More Products and updates to come!

See you at the Docks!

We'll have an update for you very soon.

Charge these jokers for parking Andy! Except for me... don't charge me.

Lakeside Pro Bass will have them. There are other drull conversions on the market, but the Clam Drill Plate offers more control and is much more user friendly than the other designs. The newest models mount without removing the chuck from your drill!

Alright!