As a senior Pro-Staff member with IFO I have delivered several seminars and answered a lot of questions about why this, that or the other matters so much when I'm ice fishing. My favorite was probably asked the other day. A gentleman from the Cleveland area wanted to know what I would do in a given situation when trying to locate panfish on his favorite lake. By the look on his face it was clear that my reply lacked the technical insight that he expected. I'll get back to my answer later.
It's true that ice fishing has changed dramatically since I started ice fishing on Indian Lake in the mid 1980's. In fact, my entire ice fishing career has spanned nearly my full lifetime. Most people would not be impressed to find that an ice angler started fishing in 1987. Many of the people that come to my seminars have been fishing much longer than that. Yet, I never sense skepticism or feel judgement from anyone. That said, I started ice fishing in January of 1987, about 2 weeks after my 6th birthday. This however, was the perfect time to come into ice fishing. Those were the dark ages, but fishing then provided the basic tools needed for successful fishing trips today. Not only do I have a basis for comparison, I also have seen the differences made by seemingly subtle changes in my own fishing over the last 26 years.
When I started ice fishing we used a spoon auger. For those of you lucky enough to have missed out on this technological titan, let me enlighten you. A spoon auger is essentially a small, thin spade-style shovel. Its sides have exaggerated curves that produce a round bore hole in the ice. They were not fast and the one we used had a tendency to hop and dance from side to side. We got a Strikemaster Mora shortly after the Reds won the series in 1990.
The Mora was a big improvement over the spoon, and truly the first breakthrough in my ice fishing career. We had more time to fish, but we really didn't drill that many more holes. We fished the same couple of spots time after time, and we caught fish. What was the use of drilling more holes?
In terms of tactics, we fished under pegged bobbers with live bait. Occasionally the bait would be lifted and lowered softly back into position. After a series of these movements enough ice would build up on the bobber that it was necessary to either hold the bobber in a clinched fist or put it in your mouth to remove the candlewicked ice.
The bobber and live bait technique would be a standby until the late 1990's when I broke off into my own pattern of constant jigging without a bobber. My uncles didn't think it very wise to take the indicator out of the picture, but Babe Winkelman's
The Cure for Cabin Fever helped me to realize advantage to covering more water up and down. I understood that my casts were vertical and could last as long as I wanted.
The only thing missing now was a Vexilar. I had figured out how to cover more water, but I had no idea when there were fish present. Furthermore, I had no way of knowing how the fish below were reacting to my bait. In truth, at the time I wouldn't have been able to conceptualize the idea that an individual fish could communicate to me exactly what it thought of my offerings and presentations.
My reply to his question was as follows.
"I do my best to determine what isn't working and more importantly where the fish won't be." Here is a sample from my seminar notes that day. I believe it will shed some light on the answer, as in the end there isn't a right or wrong way to ever catch fish. However, there is a distinct possibility that I can use my best strategies on pieces of water that are almost totally nonproductive. I hope this sample is helpful in shedding some light on the processes that eliminate dead spots and lead to more active areas.
Panfish Tactics and Techniques
Please feel free to take a note card if you haven’t already. You can jot down any questions or ideas. We’re all here today to be better at what we do and hopefully get more out of every trip. None of us is as strong as all of us so since we’re here we might as well pull together.
LocationCoarse to fine adjustment- Pop holes over a large area right away! Shrink the lake.
A lot of holes from the start will serve several purposes.
1. Hypnosis- Drill early before you get hole or flasher hypnosis. You’re less likely to fully expose the spot and shrink it if you won’t make quick moves.
2. Options for moving around helps to eliminate sitting on inactive fish, especially after you start to get a little cold.
3. Lay of the land- Holes all over an area can give you an idea of where drop-offs, bottom transitions and vegetation are. What are the fish relating to?
4. Each of us- It’s a good idea to drill holes in pairs every so often so I can dead stick when I search or for my partner when I get on that active school. (This is also great for when you want to get indoors over fish. Keep the holes close enough that you can pull the shelter over both of them. Clam’s Fish Trap Series are a must for fishing fast in bad weather.)
SearchingLet’s return to that analogy of Coarse and Fine adjustment. I grew up fishing winters on Indian Lake. In my memory, the fishing and ice were good every time. We only fished a few different spots, but I always caught fish as a kid. I didn’t realize until years later, that the work had already been done, long before I stepped on the ice. This is probably why I still fish these same productive spots today.
So what about those times when I’m on unfamiliar water? Think: L.O.S.T.
1. Leave- Empty holes.
2. Observe- Is there a community hole? What are others doing?
3. Sonar- If you don’t have one, get one. It’s a teaching tool.
4. Time- Don’t give a hole too much of your time. Panfish are not solitary creatures. If there isn’t one there certainly aren’t many.
Panfishing by LocationUnlike larger predators, panfish continue to feed at a fairly high rate for most of the winter. This makes them a great target species for the family once they have been located. As a result, there are few pictures of me holding anything other than panfish from those trips as a kid.
The reasons:
• They are fairly predictable.
• Ready biters.
• Methods range from simple to complex.
• Targetability.
PredictabilityA community hole is indicative of how relatively predictable panfish really are. Dawn and dusk transitions can be good times to fish, but every one of us here has probably also destroyed them at midday. This causes us to rely on location more heavily.
We talk about the “edge effect” as being a handy rule of thumb for all outdoorsmen. We have a hardy respect for the edge of the woods, or the edge of a weed line. However, there are a lot of other edges to consider in pan fishing.
• Daylight.
• Frontal Systems.
• The water column.
Time for the Fine AdjustmentPerchPerch seem to cruise longer edges, while crappie often move in on more isolated cover. Sunfish of many varieties are often tighter to edges than the other two species.
As physical edges go, especially long edges, Perch are like distance runners. They school by size and they cover a pretty good amount of water, especially as they get bigger when their diet transitions to small fish that move in big shoals. I always get a little excited when a cloud of baitfish coming through on the sonar because I can be sure that something is either pushing them or taking notice. They gather on long edges and those are the areas I try to target when I drill and check the contours. If I can find a weed edge I like to put a tipup on it and drill a couple of extra holes there just in case. We also scout these long edges from the boat in the off-season.
Active perch are often found in the lowest 10% of the water column. If they chase an offering more than a quarter of the way up without biting, they’re hungry. If they don’t bite, change something, it’s probably due to presentation.
CrappieCrappie are probably my favorite panfish overall. They yield a larger fillet, and they seem to stay put a little better than Perch.
They relate to isolated structure, so cribs and other structure plots often hold them. If I can find vertical weeds or trees below my feet, I give them a chance even if I don’t see fish right away.
I am also careful to fish the entire water column. I have fished in 40’ of water and caught crappie 6’ below the ice. In fact, suspended crappie are usually good biters. Again, these are fish that I’d miss if not for using a sonar unit. As a kid it was never an issue as I was fishing in a maximum of 10’ of water. On deeper lakes crappie can grow to a better average size, so it becomes necessary to learn to identify them throughout the water column.
BluegillBluegill can be caught almost anywhere on a lake, given they have nearby structure and a ready food source. Sunfish of all kinds (except for bass) power through a steady diet of macro-invertibrates all winter long, making them a good species for kids and dinner anglers alike. Small presentations can be fished under a bobber or slowly on small lead jigs. I usually avoid larger offerings for the bluegill I target as the good ones can be very subtle biters. I downsize to simplify the hook set as much as I can.
TargetingThe first thing I consider when targeting panfish is the size of the presentation. I can reduce the number of nuisance bites by starting with a larger offering. This helps to avoid lost time removing dinks from my hook. I still get a few, but I don’t have to bother with them nearly as much when I upsize.
Understanding what they want is also important. If I know that larger crappie and perch are more inclined to take a baitfish, I’ll start there. Given the location, depth and clarity of the spot I may choose a more or less aggressive presentation.
I try to stick to a descending order in terms of profile and vibration:
