Ice Fishing

 you are lucky enough (or unlucky enough depending on how you see it) to live in an area that has been getting hit with the extended snow and cold, ice fishing might still be on the agenda.

Anyone who knows me understands that one of my true passions when it comes to the sport of muskie fishing is teaching the virtues of catch and release.

In many parts of the ice belt there's still lots of ice on lakes, but the end of the hard-water season is fast approaching.

Recently I was ice fishing for walleye on a lake and experienced rather slow action. It was a classic mid-winter doldrums scenario. Fish were inactive most of the day and when dusk arrived the feeding was brief. While finesse jigging produced a few walleye, soaking a 3.5-inch minnow on a set-line put the bulk of the fish on the ice.

What do you do when the temperature gauge reads sub zero for weeks on end? We do what any sane person would do: throw another log into the fireplace and wait for warmer weather. Right now, in the Chequamegon Bay area of Lake Superior you could hardly tell it was winter with the temps being in the mid thirties and the smell of spring in the air.

As most savvy anglers know, often the best fishing action happens when it's wet out. Typically, rain and wind aren't a problem if you're prepared for it with the good raingear.

While ice fishing is exhilarating, it can also be challenging at times. Frigid temperatures will test gear to its limits and the mid-winter period is the time when many species get fussy and require your best jigging recipes before they'll nibble. One way to stack the odds in your favor, no matter how nasty the weather or fickle the fish, is to be out at peak activity periods. Twilight is one of these occasions.

Choosing the best hand auger is a common dilemma for those that flood the ice each winter.

Fishing on ice regularly puts anglers up against fussy fish and coaxing onlookers to bite is one of the fun challenges of this winter activity. Carrying a good selection of soft-baits and using them either as the main presentation or to tip a hard-bait are two reliable tactics to trigger hits from choosy customers. Soft-baits are also less messy and easier to manage in winter than certain types of live bait. Here are some recommendations on soft-baits to carry this winter.