Pick the Right Spot for First Ice
By Norb Wallock & Rick Olson

Colder water temperatures make the fish slow down. Having to fish over an eight-inch hole slows the angler down. It’s the perfect combination for success during the early ice.

We have been conditioned during the open-water period to move around and find aggressive fish. This situation would make us present a bait far too fast during the hard-water period. Luckily the conditions make us fish over a small hole and this slows us down. But let’s get one thing straight: You still have to be aggressive in finding fish. That puts you in a position where you will still move around and search. The only thing that slows down is the bait presentation.

Situations in fishing seldom change much. Having a spot that is productive is what we consider to be one of the most important aspects to success. Let’s look at how you can make that happen for this first-ice period.

You must be willing to move around and search with a good sonar, what we call a fishfinder. What usually separates the good anglers from the great ones is just knowing how to read the screen on their graph. No one would think about fishing over an area where there are no fish present, but people do it all the time, because they either don’t trust their electronics, or they’re not being aggressive in finding fish or good fish-holding structure/cover.

Let’s say we’re going to be chasing bluegills on a small lake that has a lot of vegetation. The first place we would go is near a deep hole by a big weedy flat, and then we would auger some holes along the weedline. You may have to drill a few holes at first to get your bearings, but once you figure out the lay of the bottom, things get easier.

Don’t be afraid to drill 10 to 20 holes in differing depths. Some over a bit deeper water a few yards off the weeds and some on the edge and some a few yards into the weeds.

You might spot fish suspended in the water where there is little cover. If you see them on the fishfinder, drop a bait to them. In the weeds you will have to fish a maggot or wax worm to find the fish because the cone angle on the fishfinder’s transducer seldom allows you to actually see fish in shallow water. Be aggressive in your search, but use a slow presentation to catch the fish.

Let’s say we’re chasing walleyes. We know from experience that the first ice brings the walleyes into shallower water to chase the minnows that are moving around there. The walleyes still use the points and dropoffs as their route to the smorgasbord, so you still want to key on structure.

This time of year we prefer the larger flats and points that are near holes with some sharp dropoffs leading onto the structure.

So now we’ve picked a point and it’s time to drill the holes. We’ll put a few on top the structure, a few on the edge following the sharp dropping breaklines, and a few over the deep water right off the tip of the point.

We’ll fish the shallower water on top of the structure because it’s probably too shallow to actually see fish on the sonar. After 15 to 20 minutes if nothing is happening we move out to the dropoffs and look for walleyes on the fishfinder. There we’re actually trying to see fish before we drop a bait. If there is nothing on the edges then we would move to the deep water to see if any walleyes are suspended there.

At some point if we’re fortunate, we spot some fish and drop the baits. If we see nothing then it’s time to drill some more holes, either on the spot or on a new piece of structure.

Some tips to help you during the great first-ice bite:

Norb - For walleyes us a Jigging Rapala. It’s a great search bait because it has great action and is heavy enough to get down the hole quick. You can really see it well on the screen of the fishfinder so you can put it right in front of a walleyes nose.

Rick - The fish are generally aggressive during first ice so don’t die in one spot waiting for the fish to come to you. Something’s biting somewhere on the lake or reservoir so be the one to find out where that is and enjoy the satisfaction of being the one to put the pattern together.

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Copyright© 1996 Fish & Game Finder Magazine