ice fishing

[williehookem]

New fishing season on Minnesota's ice

New fishing season on Minnesota's ice

By DOUG SMITH, Star Tribune
Last update: December 10, 2008 - 7:20 AM

DuWayne Johnson was among a handful of diehard early-season anglers who pulled portable ice fishing shelters onto Orchard Lake in Lakeville on Sunday, launching another ice fishing season.
The scene -- power augers drilling through crystal-clear ice and blue and black nylon fishing shelters popping up like umbrellas -- was reflected on countless frozen lakes from Warroad to Winona over the weekend as another hard-water fishing season has begun.

For Johnson, an ice fishing fanatic, the season doesn't come soon enough.
"I've been going around checking ice," the 53-year-old from Lakeville said as he set up his shelter with a biting wind blowing snow sideways across the small south-metro lake, with the temperature hovering around 10 degrees. He and a half-dozen other anglers found about 6 inches of solid ice, plenty thick enough to support foot traffic and portable shelters.

"I always walk out with an ice chopper to check the ice," he said. "I've never fallen through, and I don't plan on it."
Department of Natural Resources officials say ice is good now in many areas of the state -- and angling activity heated up over the weekend -- but they still urge anglers to always use caution and check ice conditions first.
Johnson has a boat, but he said his wife doesn't like to fish, so he does most of his fishing on ice. "The winter is mine," he said with glee. "I'll try to get out here at least four times a week."
He dropped his underwater TV camera down a hole to scope out the scene below.
"Look at the structure and all the weeds," he said. "It's perfect for crappies."

Then he lowered a minnow and jig down and made himself comfortable waiting for a friend to join him.
"It's peaceful. You come out here, there's no noise, no nothing. It's relaxing," he said. "I just catch and release 'em. Just for fun."
The wind buffeted his nylon shelter and the snow fell harder.

[7deadlyplugs]

Ice fishing expert advises moving quickly, frequently

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Many ice fishermen believe if they don't get bites quickly, it's time to move. Most define quickly as 15 minutes, 30 tops.





Dave Genz, one of the best ice anglers in America, has a different definition.


"One or 2 minutes is all the time we give them," he said. "Most people don't move enough. They sit in one spot. But in the daytime, fish usually aren't very active. You might be over a school of 10,000 bluegills, but only a few are going to bite."


"So I drill a lot of holes, and I might get one, two fish out of each one. And you don't have to move very far, usually just a few feet," said Genz, who founded Winter Fishing Systems in St. Cloud, Minn., after inventing the popular Fish Trap line of portable shanties in 1979.


Genz said that portability is especially important on sunny days.
"We all become better fishermen when it starts to get dark," he said. "That's because the zooplankton rises up from the weeds, then the insects start feeding on the zooplankton, the minnows feed on the insects, the perch feed on the minnows, and the walleyes feed on the perch. Most fish get active as it's getting dark. But in the daytime, you have to move around to find the few that are feeding."


"Modern ice fishing is all about stepping up out of the Stone Age," said Genz, who was in Michigan to give a couple of seminars. "Our electronics, graphite rods, portable shanties and clothing should make us better fishermen.
"You don't have to be cold anymore when you're sitting out there in a windproof, waterproof suit. And if it does get cold, you go into the (shanty) and turn up the heater," he said.


First ice is usually best for fishing because many fish are in the shallows, where the water is still relatively warm and has high oxygen levels. But as winter progresses, the shallows get colder first and oxygen levels drop as the underwater vegetation dies.
"The first freeze, the wind usually out of the north and northwest," he said. "That cools down the surface water first and blows it to the south end of the lake. So the place you want to start fishing in early ice is at the north end of the lake, where the water will be the warmest.
"In the middle of winter, the warmest water is 39 degrees and it's at the deepest part of the lake, so you want to move out deeper and start fishing humps and ridges and long points that come off the shore. A difference of 2 or 3 degrees in water temperature can make a tremendous difference in the fishing."


Genz has spent time in Europe, where ice fishing is still at a more primitive level than in the United States. European ice fishing contests don't allow anglers to use electronic fish-finders or GPS, power augers or portable shanties.


"They have to sit on a bucket in the open," he said, "and they're mostly fishing for smaller species, so what's important to them is getting that jig up and down as quickly as possible. In Russia, they had holes in their boots, but they still had real gold jigs because gold is even heavier than lead and gets down to the bottom faster, and that meant more fish."

[Monty]

[jigfreak]

Never get tired of seeing that. Good one dude.

[lostatsea]

Cool thanks for sharing!