A modern arsenal for ice fishing

The recent cold weather has been very welcome for those of us that like to ice fish. We have had a mild winter, so the ice thickness on many of our favorite fishing lakes has been marginal. My favorite lake in the Thompson chain of lakes normally has a thin layer of ice on Thanksgiving weekend. This year it was ice free until January.  

After the last few days of cold weather, I’ll bet there is now at least 6-8 inches of rock-solid ice. That’s perfect for ice fishing. I plan to be out there in the next couple of days to search for some of those tasty Kokanee salmon. 

When I go ice fishing, I will be dragging my deep plastic sled, about 5 feet long. It will be loaded to the gills with ice fishing gear. Ice fishing used to be a rather simple sport, but like so many outdoor activities, it has been complicated by a never-ending array of new, must-have equipment. The most essential piece of new gear is the electric drill that is used to bore through ice to open water.  

I cut my ice fishing teeth in my home state of Minnesota where weeks of frigid cold weather freezes lake ice to a depth of 2-3 feet or more. I can remember when I was newly married in the late 1960s, when I would take my bride out on a local lake in Northern Minnesota to ice fish. The thick ice made it safe to drive our car onto the ice. When we arrived at our fishing spot, I would grab my ice chisel and start chipping a hole to open water. I would start with a round hole 10-12 inches in diameter. After a few inches of depth, I stopped to scoop out the ice chips, then I continued to chip and scoop. It took a half hour or more of very hard work to get a hole through the deep ice. By the time I reached liquid water, my ice hole had shrunk to only 5-6 inches in diameter and I was plum exhausted, almost too exhausted to fish.  

Fast forward 60 years. Now my ice fishing sled includes a battery powered ice auger that will drill an 8-inch diameter hole through 2 feet of ice in mere seconds. Those electric augers are worth their weight in gold. Now every ice fishing angler also packs a battery powered fish finder in their arsenal of ice fishing tools. Fish finders are another essential piece of ice fishing gear. The fish finder will not only beep and show a fish symbol on your fish finder screen when a fish swims under your hole, but is also useful for determining the depth to the lake bottom and may tell whether the bottom is weedy, rocky or has some other lake bottom material that would attract and hold fish. Do fish finders work and provide for more fishing success; you can bet your life on that!  

A few years ago, while fishing a new lake for me, my ice fishing crew ventured onto the lake when it was still dark. We drilled several holes until we found 30 feet of water. We all fished at different depths. Fishing was slow, but we caught some nice salmon, about one fish every 15 minutes. Just enough fishing success to keep us from moving. We primarily fished near the bottom. After an hour or so of slow fishing, I thought I should turn on my electronic fish finder. The screen showed a school of fish at 15 feet, not the 25-foot depth I was fishing. I pulled my bait up to 15 feet and immediately hooked a fish. I dropped my jig and bait down to 15 feet again and caught another fish. Soon all five of us were fishing at 15 feet of depth and catching fish like crazy. Within an hour we all had our limits of 10 salmon each, plus one nice rainbow. I still have a photo of my 5-gallon bucket overflowing with those fish. That great day of fishing success was due to modern fishing electronics.                     

A newer modern addition to the ice fisherman’s arsenal of tools is the portable fish camera. Fish cameras are especially useful in shallow clear water. They allow the fisherman to watch a fish swim up to their lure and bait. Sometimes the fish will immediately grab your bait, if so, you will set the hook and the battle is on. At other times a fish will come nose to nose with your lure or bait but not take it. You can then gently giggle the bait to entice the fish to bite. If the fish just swims off without biting, that will tell you it’s time to change your bait, lure or presentation. Cameras add a whole new dimension to ice fishing. 

Ice fishing poles have also evolved. When I first started ice fishing, my ice fishing pole was a 2-foot section of an old wooden broom handle. My dad or I would cut off a length of an old broom handle. In one end we would pound in a nail, then cut off the head of the nail and sharpen the cut end. The sharp point or nail on the end of the section of broom handle could be stuck into the ice while awaiting a bite. We would also tack on a couple of small nails, spaced about 12 inches apart on the broom handle which was used to wind up and store the fish line. Today, my ice fishing poles are all professionally made, and I usually have four to six poles on my sled. 

All in all, the old simple sport of ice fishing has evolved with lots of new modern equipment that now requires a sled to easily transport all these modern necessities on to the ice. These modern ice fishing tools add to the fun and ease of ice fishing. They also sometimes contribute to more fishing success in terms of catching more fish. So, go ice fishing and have some winter fun.