Essential Ice Fishing Gear

January 31, 2016 / galen / Fishing, Ice Fishing

Ice Fishing Essentials Gear List

5 Gallon Bucket & Seat
Auger
Rod & Reels (x 3)
Hooks
Tackle Box Tray
Bait
Hole Cleaner

By essential ice fishing gear, we mean the minimum requirements to get out and enjoy a day on the frozen lake. This is not everything, and it’s not the high end of ice fishing gear. That’s another article.

To start with, and we try to list off the obvious items first, you need a 5 gallon bucket with a lid. The bucket is your tackle box and your seat. If you are trying to take more gear than you can fit in a 5 gallon bucket, you are taking too much. Inside the bucket should be your ice fishing rod and reel, your bait, and your single box of hooks and weights. Add to this a hole cleaner (like a big perforated soup ladle) and you are stocked with the basics. If you plan on keeping some of your catch, then you need to add a filet knife and some plastic storage bags. Remember, it should all fit in the bucket. The only things not likely to fit in the bucket are the rods and reels, but there is a solution to that.

I’m a big fan of The Fishin Hole so I’m going to feature some product pics available at their stores.

Once you get to your spot, you need an ice auger. If we were trying to fish with primitive weapons I would say a hand crank auger, but when you have up to 4 feet of ice to drill through during a cold Saskatchewan winter, you NEED a power auger. Generally there are 8″ diameter and 10″ diameter models available. Don’t be cheap on your auger, get a quality 10″ auger. If you are planning on drilling a dozen holes or so, you don’t want the auger to ruin your day. Make sure you have the tank full of your oil/gas mixture before you leave so you don’t need to mess with that on the ice.

So you have a few holes drilled and you can set the auger aside for awhile. Now make sure you have the least expensive item in your ice fishing tackle box / bucket ready to go, the hole cleaner.

Some people call it a skimmer, or an ice ladle. No matter what you call it, when your holes start to freeze over, this $5 tool will make it easy to remove that thin top layer of ice from the hole.

The bucket, as was mentioned first, is your tackle box and your seat. I recommend you buy a pivoting bucket seat cover to go with your bucket. It gives a little bit of extra cushion for your butt and lets you move around easier. You will want a lid that is easy on and easy off as you will be storing your tackle in it and you will need to go in and out of it frequently. One custom modification you will want to make is to drill a hole in an outer flap on the lid and loop a zip tie through the bucket handle and the hole you drilled. When you put your rods in the bucket, they will stick out the top too far to bend under the lid. So let the lid dangle, but not get left behind.

Your choice in lures and bait is almost endless. I have three favorites that I like to have pre-tied on three separate rod and reel combos. When you are out on the ice, especially on a cold and windy day, tying knots can be difficult. Have three rods rigged up will keep you fishing and able to adjust your lure and bait presentation quickly.

Above left is a Swimming Jig. I used to use just a regular jig head, the same as when summer jigging over a walleye hole. It was my go to lure. Now I like the action of the swimming jig which seems to produce strikes a little better, especially with perch. To add some flash to the presentation, the Whopper Hawger in the middle is easy to fish and with a single J hook is also quick to release the fish. When I’m targeting walleye and pike, I like the Lindy Darter which also has a rattle feature to attract predators from further away. For bait, check with your local tackle shop, but the standard meal worms for perch and minnows for pike and walleye will never go out of style. Leaches may also work well but are hard to handle in the cold with gloves on .

I always multiple lures of each kind available, in varying weights and colors, just in case I feel the need to change up. The need to change up is usually triggered by the guy next to you out fishing you 3 to 1 using an orange lure while you are using green. Keep them in a tackle box utility tray, just one. Don’t try to bring your whole tackle box with you, just bring the one tray, with just the essentials. Less gear makes for less hassle out on the ice.

I mentioned before to have 3 rods rigged up and ready. I like to have rods rigged up for the lure/bait combination so that there is no waiting and no tying while on the ice. Pick the rod, add the bait to the hook and drop it down the hole. I am far less fussy about the rod and reel for ice fishing than I am for fly fishing. You can get a good quality ice fishing rod and reel combo for $35 to $45 dollars. At that price, get 2 or 3. When you save yourself tying time in a -30 windchill, you will know.

So there are your Essentials for Ice Fishing Gear. As I am writing this post, I keep finding myself wanting to drift into talking about some higher end ice fishing gear, some which is listed below. That will be a future article.

Ice Fishing Advanced Gear List

When you go beyond the bare essentials, you quickly empty your wallet, but add to the experience.

Tip ups
Pop Up Shack or Shelter
Propane heater
Wood burning stove
Underwater camera
Snowmobile gear sled

Ice Fishing Tips

February 20, 2015 / galen / Fishing, Ice Fishing

If you enjoy ice fishing, then you are among the dedicated few who will take on all challenges to spend time outdoors and catch fish in any weather conditions. The key to ice fishing success is not necessarily how to catch more fish or bigger fish but how to make ice fishing a more enjoyable experience. Follow some, or all, of these tips to be more comfortable and to get the most out of your day on the lake.

Bring along a thick board to place both of your feet on. It will insulate your feet from the ice, and you’ll stay warmer longer. Make sure it’s wide enough.

The ideal depth for ice fishing is 6-12 inches off the bottom. that’s where fish tend to be in the winter months.

Try an underwater camera next time you go ice fishing. Drill three holes in the ice, each about 2 feet apart, in a line. Drop the camera down one of the outside holes and aim it towards the lures/bait you drop down the other two holes. see the article

Use the drive-by fish finder method. Drive by the lake you plan to fish the day prior, a few hours after sunrise. Everybody should be set up, and you should get a good idea of where the fish are.

Smooth the edges of the hole above and below the ice. This will prevent your line from being nicked and cut by the sharp edges of the hole.

Don’t waste your money on an expensive heated pad or seat. It’s too much stuff to carry. Instead, use a five gallon bucket to carry your gear out to the fishing spot and turn it over to use as a seat while you are fishing. Put a thick piece of wood under the bucket as insulation.

A Hole With a View

February 12, 2015 / galen / Ice Fishing

Most of my winter Saturdays and Sundays have been spent chasing a puck around the ice, not dropping a hook through it. But now I’ve seen ice fishing from a whole new perspective. On a recent Sunday, my fishing partner brought along his underwater video camera. 15 seconds after dropping it down the hole, technology changed my impression of ice fishing! Suddenly the frozen quiet sheet of 2-1/2 foot thick ice was viewed for what it really is, a parking lot on top of the same lake full of hungry fish it was all spring, summer and fall.

The underwater camera made it a whole new game, and helped me adjust technique. We drilled several holes, with the hooks and bait down two of them and the camera down another. After we did the proper aiming, we were lined up to watch the action. Soon there were 5 perch gathered around the hook, staring at it as if it was a hypnotists watch. If I raised it a few inches, they hovered and watched it go up, in unison, Then, from the shadows far off came a hungry perch and took the bait in front of all the watchers. As I started to reel it in, it appeared to fly straight up and out of the picture screen, and up the hole. I don’t know who was more excited about viewing the gathering fish, me or the three kids along for the day.

I was surprised at the clarity of the image, even in fairly cloudy water on a cloudy day. The camera itself takes only a few minutes to set up, after the holes are drilled. Take the weighted eye piece out of the bag, attach the long cable to the back of the small battery powered monitor, and drop it down the hole. An X-brace with a locking clip set across the hole and you simply rotate the cable to change the view of the camera.

What was really exciting to see was what happened when a pike or a walleye came onto the scene. The perch dashed off, quickly, not interested in being the next meal. With a quick change of bait, substituting a minnow for the maggots, the hungry pike was hooked, for a while. The small treble hook I was using for perch was too small for the big pike. It’s hard to read size using the underwater camera, but while the pike was taking the bait, it was also bumping the camera, 2-1/2 feet away. That big pike would have been fun to pull up the hole after 15-20 perch, the biggest about 11 inches.

The video display also made it easy to judge the effectiveness of my technique. Leaving the hook and maggot bait sitting about 6 to12 inches above the lake bottom was moderately successful. Fast movements tended to make them back off quickly and take a long time to return. Slow twitches, a couple of inches at most, had the best results. It was rarely the fish next to the hook that took the bait. It was almost always from the back of the pack to attack the hook.

If you want to get more fun out of ice fishing, and you want to catch more fish, make the investment (approximately $400 to $800) in an underwater camera. The kids, if you take them, will stay interested for longer and you will know, instead of guessing, what’s going on below the thick layer of ice.

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