By Nathaniel Myson
(Provided by Lindy Lures)
Sit tight and wait for the fish to come to you or pick up and start drilling holes to go to the fish?If youre an ice-fisherman, youve almost certainly debated this question: Sit tight and wait for the fish to come to you or pick up and start drilling holes to go to the fish? Staying put may result in a day spent just out of the fishs range. Go mobile and you might leave just before the fish arrive.
If this indecision is bugging you, here are a couple guys who know a thing about staying or going, and their advice can help you make better fishing decisions on the ice.
Each approach offers advantages and disadvantages, and each situation is different, so there is no set answer that fits every fishing occasion. Lindy pro staffers and ice-fishing experts Jeff Sundin and Jon Thelen spend quite a few days using both approaches, and experience taught them the factors to consider. With that in mind, we asked Sundin about the situations that call for a more stationary approach, and Thelen about the conditions that prompt him to split.
Sundin on Staying Put
When Sundin expects the fish to be somewhat inactive often during a cold front or just after a front plows through, he likes to pick a high-percentage spot and stay put, concentrating on coaxing the fish into biting. Thats contradictory to the strategy some anglers employ.
During periods when fish become less active, an anglers intuition to try to locate active fish may turn out to be counter-productive, Sundin said. At times like these, finesse fishing over a known school of fish may seem slower, but actually results in a greater catch.
For Sundin, who spends many days on the ice and gathers daily fishing reports from a host of fellow anglers, his approach often means fishing a spot that a school of fish has been using on an insect-rich mud or marl flat. It also can mean setting up on a funnel area such as a channel or trough between reefs or deep points, or over a distinctive structural feature such as a rock bar on a sandy flat or a corner along a reef.
Sundin spends added time studying maps when he plans to employ a stationary approach, and often his starting point is a specific GPS waypoint where fish have been feeding or where something about the bottom contour or make-up suggests that it should be a fish-concentration point.
Once in position, Sundin normally opts for a two-rod approach. He fishes aggressively with one rod, using a Lindy 360 Jig or RattlN Flyer Spoon to call fish from around him. Because he normally employs a stationary approach when fish are less apt to be active, Sundins second rod typically is rigged either with a slip float for dead sticking or used to work a jig softly.
Baits like the Frostee Jig, Slick Jig or Foo Flyer can trigger strikes from fish that might be scared away by the more aggressive search baits, he said.
Its worth noting that choosing a stationary approach does not mean going all or nothing on a single spot. Sundin selects his starting spot carefully and gives the fish time to arrive and to respond to his presentations, but he is not unwilling to move.
If your educated guess doesn't pan out and your sonar provides little or no evidence of fish movement in the area, then its time for a move to your next best guess, he said.
Thelen on Going Mobile
During mid-winter when walleyes and other gamefish spend more time roaming vast main-basin areas than holding on defined structure, Jon Thelen often uses a mobile approach, especially when the weather is mild and somewhat stable. Mild weather lends itself to fishermen working the open ice as opposed to holding tight inside a shelter, and the same conditions tend to make fish more active.
When you have stable conditions, those fish are active and moving, and often you need to be moving to keep up with them. Thelen said.
Consider why they move. A fish doesnt roam around for fun or to walk the dog. Its either looking for food or trying to avoid getting eaten, and the ones were after are looking for food. The fish that are moving are also the fish that are the fish that are feeding.
If Thelen is fishing a big mud flat, hell begin by drilling a series of holes spaced 20- or 25-yards apart.