KEEP MOVING FOR MORE FISH
By Bob Jensen

This is the time of year when ice-anglers are finding the bite to be a little or a lot tougher than it was earlier in the year. You will especially find the bite tougher if you’re fishing the same spot you’ve been fishing all year. Many anglers put a permanent house on the ice and don’t move it all season. Those spots get beat up after awhile.

Even anglers who fish from portable shelters sometimes tend to go back to the same general location trip after trip. Those spots that get all the fishing pressure will get fished down, and the fish that remain get conditioned. Fishing is going to be tougher.

The same thing holds true in open water. The community holes, those spots that draw a lot of boats day after day after day, get fished down and the remaining fish get lure-wary. Whether you’re fishing open water or through the ice, there are some things you can do to increase your catches when the catching is slow for other anglers.

I really like the warmth and comfort that a permanent shelter on the ice can provide. However, I like to catch fish even more. Most ice-anglers realize that if they want to catch fish this time of the year, they will need to get out of the permanent shelter and move around. I use a Frabill Ranger Solo to get out to the edges of where everyone else is fishing. That’s where I set up camp. The Solo keeps me warm, provides a comfortable base of operations, and when I pull the top over no one knows that I’m catching fish.

Don’t sit in one location too long. If perch are the quarry, you can wait for them to come to you, or you can go looking for them. If you wait for them to come to you, it could be a long wait. It used to be that drilling holes was a hassle, so many anglers just waited for the fish to move below their hole. The augers that StrikeMaster is putting out now make it a breeze to drill through thirty inches of ice. That means you can pop six or seven holes quickly and check each one for the presence of fish. 

Don’t sit on one hole for too long. Five minutes should be long enough. If you are watching a sonar unit and see fish below your hole, but they won’t bite, try a different lure or a different lure color or a different jigging action. If the fish won’t bite on what you’re showing them, show them something else.

These ideas for ice-fishing are appropriate for open-water fishing as well. If there are a bunch of boats fishing an area, move to the edge of the area, or try another area.

If one particular lure has been hot, but the fish have turned off to it, try a different lure. 

If you keep these ideas in mind, you will be a more successful angler spring, summer, fall, and winter.

For more fish-catching information, visit www.fishingthemidwest.com