I have been ice fishing Alum for a number of years, and believe in order to be successful you have to look at maps, find a potential area and drill A LOT of holes in different depths. On a typical day my fishing partners and I drill 50 to 100 holes, and tie just as many lures and different colors on our lines. It's a hard lake to figure out, but when you do the pay off is quite rewarding. I have caught a number of nice eyes and crappie from the lake, Recently I read an article from odnr saying they shocked the lake and pulled the record breaking eye from the lake, that fish is still swimming in alum. You might not catch a lot from alum, but you might just catch the next record. Sorry to hear guys are getting skunked, believe me I've been skunked more times than not, but don't give up on it, it is a great fishery, it just takes time to figure out. Hope this helps, good luck and be safe.