Early Ice Wisconsin Panfish

[FBMH]

You don't catch big fish by accident. In fact, you don't catch lots of big fish by accident. In order to be successful during the ice season, early in the year to be particular, you need to be prepared. Being prepared early on in the year will pay off big dividends for you by not only putting fish on the ice right away, but also come February. Early in the year, you need to need to pack light. Let's take a look at some panfish gear that's essential early in the year.

First and foremost, a spud bar. It may not look like much, but it will keep you off unsafe ice. As for jigs, I will religiously fish Rat Finkees (pink), Ratsos, Diamond Jigs, and Gill Pills.

Ratso

I've found that Ratsos will target the bigger pannies in a school if you're setup on a smaller sized school of fish. However, a Gill Pill or Diamond Jig with size 10 or 12 hook is my go to early ice jig choice. As far as rods go, my favorite panfish rod is the Frabill Hot Stick. With a very sensitive tip, and a strong fiberglass backbone, these rods can handle the biggest bluegill to the biggest papermouth. These rods come in 20”, 22”, and 24” size and each has its own purpose. When fishing out of the house, I will fish with a 24” rod because of your distance away from the hole. When fishing inside of a house, a 18” rod will do just fine.

Second, location is key. If you hit it right and you're in the right spot, you will catch limits of panfish during early ice. Fishing areas with weeds, wood, or some kind of cover will hold more fish for two reasons. One, they feel safer and can hide from predators. Two, they have food! Green weeds that are putting out oxygen will hold lots of fish. As for depth, anywhere from 5-25 feet will hold fish. Bluegills tend to be found near bottom and in shallower water, whereas crappies will suspend over a little deeper water just off of a break point or quick drop off. Don't get me wrong, bluegills and crappies can be found together in deep or shallow water.

Finally, target another very fun species to catch, the largemouth bass. In the hunt for offshore bass, target 8-15 foot flats. More often than not, bass will sit on these flats all day and eat shad. When ice fishing, it's not uncommon for your sonar screen to be lit up with panfish marks and all of a sudden for those marks to disappear from the screen and be replaced by a dark, thick red mark. Several presentations work for these early ice bass, but my favorite is the Lindy Darter or Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon.

Lindy Darter

Be aggressive by pounding your jig into the bottom and making racket under the ice until the fish comes in. Then, slow it down, use quick, light jigs of the spoon and that should seal the deal and put fish on the ice.

Timing can be everything, and early ice can pay off BIG for you! This is my favorite time of the year to target the panfish and bass species. Using these techniques and tackle, you will put more fish on the ice to start the long winter season. Get on the ice, the fish are biting!

The video can be seen here:

http://hsoshow.com/video/659/Early-Ice-Fishing-WI