1st ice Tactics -what are yours?

[OIM]

Recently a friend and I had a chat about some of the 1st ice tactics we use. He sent me over a little article he wrote up for this winter and I thought I would share it with everyone.

First Ice Tactics that Work By Jason Mitchell

But I would also like to hear what are some of your 1st ice tactics are? Do you start scouting before the lake freeze up for fish you can hit during 1st ice?Do you have something unique you like to do that you think gets you bit more often then most?

Come tell a secret or two on the world wide web.

[ratherbefishing]

I continue to fish a late fall-feed pattern. Many of the fish are still in predictable locations near or in shallower water. I present a large delivery and begin to downsize or upsize from there. I'll rig 4-5 rods with everything from ice jigs, to spoons, to blade baits like vib'e's or Fish Fry Minnow Traps.
When I fish live bait on any of these, I'm sure to load them up (starting with 3 or 4, but putting as many as 6 spikes on a treble.)

[fishintechnician]

That is a great article. I try and target submerged cover realatively close to shore. If that is not productive i will move to drops and flats adjacent to those drops. I dont just fish a hole on a peice of cover i will drill a few holes all around the cover or down the edge of a drop or even across the edge of a drop (or point) out on to the flat if I can find a point I will work across it from flat to hump back to the opposite flat. Will start shallow and work my way deeper by usually 2ft incraments (roughly). I also try and scout prior to first freeze up.

[ice phisher]

Shoreline weedbeds in 5 to 10 feet of water......are my favorite early season spots .Working the deeper edges on bright days and fishing open pockets or right in the weeds on over cast days, or low light hours of the day by fishing the shallower depths. I have local lakes that have large flats with weeds that hold fish in those same depth ranges all winter ....Mogadore Res. is just such one of these lakes.....We even begin the season at the extreme eastern part of this lake and will (first ice also takes hold here also) fish water thats only 3 to 4 feet.......Water is usually very clear....fish can be very spooky under those conditions, so pre-drilling a few holes helps alot......but when it's on.....the type of sight fishing this presents......is just what caused me into getting hooked on this sport over 50 years ago.....Getting to do any type of ice fishing by sight fishing.... is the very best teacher on just how fish react to different presentations........Thats what has made fishing with the camera so cool.....but to me, the camera will never/ever match seeing a fish only a short distance under the ice (in crystal clear water) as it ponders if to grab your presentation or not. Also the greener the weeds you can find, usually the better the fish use those areas..........

[crv423]

I try to scout out areas with my boat before the water freezes, most of the time if I can catch'em from the boat before ice I can catch'em there at first ice. I'll set out tip ups at different depths and drill several extra holes to move them around when one depth out produces the others. As far as my poles go I use bulky lures with plenty of live bait tipping the hooks. As the mid winter blues draw close, or pressure gets heavier I'll start downsizing. On my local lake points and road beds that drop off into the main deep basin seem to be the key, the earlier in the season it is, the shallower they are on this structure. The later into the season it is the deeper they are ( moving shallower as sunset moves in).

[MDBuckeye]

Well since last year was my first full year back on the ice I did a lot of following the crowd, and crv... lol.  This season I still plan on following him around but I also will be doing more on my own.  I have marked up a map and found good spots on a couple of my local lakes with my Navionics software.  I am going to break those areas down further once we get safe ice.

As far as presentation I am going to do like others and start big and more aggressive than I would during the mid winter blues.  Bigger profile baits, more aggressive jigging, and probing shallower water structure moreso than deep open water.

I expect the more time I spend on the ice the more I will be able to figure the fish movements out and what they key on.

Tight Lines
Jason

[crv423]

Following me may be the worst tactic you have in your tackle box, but maps are the way to go, I always check out a lake map before I decide where I'm going to set up camp. Knowing a lakes structure before you hit the ice will save you a lot of time and frustration, and you might just see something no one else has. Always be ready to move, what you think may be a hot spot may be a graveyard, always have a plan b, c, d, and e, before you go out. M D your always welcomed to walk out with me.

[jumpy]

For Lake Erie walleye I try to find the main current and then work the edges. Most of the time the first ice bite is located on these breaks. Clean water is another key factor. Twenty yards one way or another can make a huge difference. I have found that the fish are much more aggressive on the first bite also.