tips fishing sport ; Strategy involved in sport of ice fishing ; Last summer, I attended the conference for the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers. Although the organization's new president is a New Yorker, the conference was in northern Wisconsin, and the bulk of the attendees seemed to be from Grumpy Old Men country.
That's the part of the nation where outdoorsmen do much of their ice fishing indoors and where, to get away from the city, they drive onto lakes that have roads plowed on the ice and intersecting snow roads lined with ice-fishing shanties.
In the northern heartland, ice fishing is extremely popular. The equipment used is more sophisticated than those employed by most local outdoorsmen. The same might be said of the strategies.
Dave Genz is a legendary Midwestern ice fisherman who has traveled to New York to test his skills here as well. In his talk at the conference, he encouraged ice anglers to go out on their own, beyond the plowed roads and the places where fishermen gather.
"Even before you leave home, study a contour map of the lake," he advised. "You might find a large bay, for example, that could easily hold fish. Personally, I'm bringing my GPS with a lake map chip; this saves me time by helping me find the spot.
"Drill holes and check the deepest water in the bay for fish that have sought out the deep water and for those that are suspended in mid-depths. Check the points that create the bay, and the inside turns that go into the bay."
Genz said drilling even two holes is too much of an expenditure of time and effort. He'll cut one hole, then use a fish locator to show whether they are in the cone below his hole.
On the other hand, Tony Roach, another fishing pro from the midwest, said he likes to cut a series of holes over varying structures. "In that way, you are covering a lot of different water and areas," he said. "I call it 'ice trolling.' "
Roach is what you might call a modern ice fisherman, and he said the equipment available today is making the sport attractive to young people. "Ice fishing today is interactive," he explained. "You can have walkie-talkies to stay in touch with other fishermen, GPS units to pinpoint hotspots and underwater viewing systems with a color camera to sharply focus on what's below — these are things that would excite any fisherman, but they are especially appealing to kids. Electronics is an important part of their world."
In a matter of days or weeks, solid ice will begin to form on many local bodies of water, and then fishermen, perhaps with their youngsters in tow, will try their luck over "hard water." By using modern gear, considering new strategies, dressing appropriately and following standard safety measures, they might discover an activity that fits right into their family life style.
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