On the Hardwater: Nighttime Crappie Fishing

I noticed that, on some of the social media ice fishing groups, some folks are interested in learning about how to catch crappie at night through the ice.  So, since this is one of my favorite ice fishing activities, I thought about putting together this post so that I can provide more detail than I possibly could on a social media response.

My Brother, Kyle, setting up for the crappie fishing night bite at one of our favorite lakes.

One of my greatest wintertime thrills is to jig for panfish at night through the ice, and especially for crappie.  In this blog post, I'll present to you my strategies that will, hopefully, help you find and catch crappie at night.  I love icefishing, and I'll do it from dawn to dusk, but, there's no question in any of my fishing buddy's minds that my favorite time to be out there is at night jigging for crappie.  That's when I'm usually on my game. 

Jigging at night for crappie can be rewarding as it is exciting.

It's no secret that I love to catch crappie, especially big ones.  I love chasing them at any time of year.  When they're active, it's some of the most fun fishing that you could possibly have.  It can take the most serious of anglers and cause them to giggle like school kids.  For one such crappie fishing adventure, you can read back to one of my old posts:  the Joy of Crappie Fishing.

I love crappie fishing any time of year, especially where you can catch slabs like these consistently.  With good action, it's about as fun as fishing can get.  Getting fish like this through the ice at night is a little more challenging, but can be very rewarding.

So, what's my strategy to find good nighttime crappie action?  Keep in mind that this is my strategy and I have my opinions.  I don't have much science to back it up.  It's not necessarily the "right" way or the only way, rather, it's my way.  But, I have plenty of experience and, hopefully, some of these tips will help you find and catch more crappie through the ice at night.

Now, for the details of the strategy.  The first step is to choose a lake that is known for having good numbers and size of crappie.  I learned how to do this based on my experiences fishing various lakes either during open water or during ice fishing season.  These days, we have the advantage of researching on the internet or through shared experiences on social media.  A good topographic lake map of your lake, if available, will help you to identify places to try once your find a lake that you want to fish.

Next, finding nighttime crappie, especially on a new lake, means that you have to start during the beginning of your ice fishing trip.  Early morning bite locations for crappie tend to also be good spots for night fishing.  But, if you catch one, or even better, several crappie from one particular are during your day trip, chances are that you'll find them at that spot at night as well, or at least, close by.  It doesn't always work out, but more times than not, it does.  

I think crappie behave in the summer kind of like they do in the winter, but without a thermocline.  So, locations on a lake during the summer that hold crappie, might be good spots to check in the winter.  Such places might be shoreline woody cover on deep water shoreline slopes, or, perhaps the deepest basin in the area.  That could be a cove on a large lake, or near the dam on small lake.  I search for them over depths ranging from ten to forty feet deep, with the mid-twenties being a good place to start in our waters.

But, it depends on the lake.  Some lakes that we fish have a maximum depth that is shallow compared to our reservoirs.  In some lakes we fish, the deepest area in the lake could be as shallow as eight or fifteen feet, while our reservoirs could be extremely deep comparatively.  So, I can't tell you that any particular depth is the right depth, but I can tell you that I rarely search for crappie in depths exceeding forty feet.  You can determine a good area to try based on the topographical features of your lake and what type of lake it is.  

Crappie also behave differently at different stages of our ice fishing season.  Generally, they can be found in early season where you might expect them or when you caught them right before the ice formed.  During the middle of the ice season, when the winter is at it's coldest and ice is building fast, try a deeper area and maybe look for marks closer to the bottom.  During late ice, when the days start to get longer and perhaps the lake edges start to warm, they may move into shallow water cover, like weed beds, stumps or fallen logs.  These places can also be productive during early ice.  Crappie are like other predators, they follow the food chain.  Where aquatic insects and minnows thrive, so do crappie.

Another tip that I can offer to you is to read the ice.  On public lakes, or lakes where people don't "claim" a spot as always theirs, you can determine likely areas by reading the ice.  It's kind of like reading the currents on a river or a stream for fish holding spots, but, rather, looking for evidence on the ice that a spot might be good, especially when visiting a lake for the first time.

Visual clues include, obviously, areas where a lot of anglers concentrate.  Personally, I don't like fishing in a crowd.  I prefer to be away from the crowd for several reasons.  Crowds often make noise, which I feel, can shut feeding fish down, whether it's music, a lot of people walking around, noisy power augers (or even a hand auger cutting a lot of holes), and, as some people claim, that sonar might cause fish to become inactive.  If there are a lot of sonar units out there, could that slow the fishing, perhaps?  

I personally don't know if sonar causes fish to not bite or become inactive.  I can't dispute it one way or another.  But, the likelihood of seeing interference on your sonar rises the closer you get to another sonar unit, especially if there are a lot of different sonar brands on the ice with you.  Let's face it, dealing with sonar interference can be annoying.

Next, I would look for evidence on the ice that indicates perhaps a good spot.  It doesn't always work, but, sometimes, it does help, and could make the difference in being successful or not, especially if you don't have many hours to fish.  It narrows down your search.  Let's discuss some of the types of evidence that you may encounter.

Holes:  Lots of holes cut in an area, are such evidence.  New, open holes, obviously, means that someone fished there recently.  But, old holes give clues too.  A line of holes far apart may indicate that angler was searching for fish.  A cluster of holes might indicate a good spot.  Two holes or three cut close together might mean that someone thought that this spot was good enough to put their sonar and/or camera in adjoining holes to the one that they fished.  Lots of times, people that nightfish together leave this type of evidence.  Open holes save time, allowing you to check them quickly with your sonar, moving from one spot to another looking for suspended fish.  At night, this could be key if the first area you chose didn't pan out.

Blood:  blood on the ice could mean many things, but usually, that's evidence that someone either kept fish that they caught on the ice, or, heaven forbid, some other tragic personal event!

Evidence of bait:  Discarded minnows, saw dust from spike or waxworm containers, discarded waxworms or spikes (the more the better, that means someone spent some time there).

Trash:  Maybe discarded bait containers.  It stinks that people leave trash on the ice.  But, it is evidence.  I clean the big stuff up if I find it, unless, it appears that someone left something out there to purposely mark a spot.  Recently, there was a beer bottle buried in the ice that we couldn't remove.  Either someone littered, or they put it there purposely.  I believe that they did it to mark a spot, because, it was buried halfway in a cut hole.

Lots of tobacco stains:  Huh?  Yes, evidence that someone fished here for more than a minute or two.  The more tobacco stains, the better.

Footprints:  they also tell a tale.  If someone used tip ups, you can see trails that connect a series of holes.  You can also see where they chose their base.  That may or may not pan out for jigging.  However, if you see a couple holes or a few holes close together, or a lot of old frozen holes, and even better, with lots of footprints, someone spent time there.  If an area is well used, you can't identify individual footprints.  The entire area is mashed down.

You can imagine why footprints can indicate a good fishing area, at least until new snow covers them up.  When guys find a good spot, like my buddies Geoff and Yaz did here, their footprints kind of give it away that they had something going on here.

Lots of sled tracks:  They can be road maps to good locations, especially if there are holes cut in a line or direction that are far apart, but lead you to a bunch of holes that indicated that they may have found fish and opened up the area.  That said, the evidence or clues that I mention here in this post don't guarantee that the previous anglers knew what they were doing.  But, it doesn't hurt to check such spots.  The best evidence is when you cut or check a hole with your sonar, and you mark fish.  If you see sled tracks that leads to lots of footprints around a hole, that could mean something.

Wood sticking up through the ice:  could be structure to fish in lakes that are shallow.  If there are holes around it, it could be a good spot to find nighttime crappie.  Be careful around these spots during early or late ice if the ice conditions aren't great, as wood or other debris can absorb heat and weaken the nearby ice.

Weeds on the ice:  often, these are pulled up by augers or reeled in after being snagged.  But, they indicate the presence of a weed bed.  Find where those weeds meet deeper water, that could be a good crappie spot.

Lake shoreline contours:  Finally, the slope of the shorelines and shapes of the points and coves can lead you to a good area, especially if you did your homework by researching a lake contour map.  If there aren't any contour maps available, check the lake out by using the satellite feature on your favorite browser's maps application.  Such aerial images can point out shallow weedy areas, long sloping points, underwater sand bars, the deepest water, and other types of structure.

When you know of a good spot ahead of time, my suggestion is, if your not nearby, head to that spot before the magic hour (the last hour of daylight before dusk) and use that as your starting point of your search.  You'll probably catch other species there too, but, the crappie will start getting aggressive around that time.  If you find fish, it can be hectic from that point on until about an hour after dark, maybe longer.

Steps to finding crappie at night:  Step 1: Find a lake with a good population of large crappie - check.  Step 2: Mark a bunch of suspending fish during the day - check.  Step 3: Catch a crappie during the day, remember that spot for the night bite - check.  Step 4:  Go back to that spot and fish at night - check.  Step 5:  Catch crappie at night:  ugh...not this time.  It was a tough day and this jumbo crappie was caught at 10 AM during the day.  We went back and tried that spot at night, but it didn't pan out this time.  The system usually works, but not always.

Also, at any time during the day, if you mark a lot of suspending fish and they are aggressive, that could also be a good place to try later after dark.  If you arrive at the lake late in the afternoon, cut holes until you find suspended fish, or, at the very least, mark a fish on your sonar.  Remember these spots especially if you catch a crappie.

Of course, if you fish a favorite lake often and have had success at various areas of that lake before at night, that could really narrow down your search and give you a good place to start.  Most of the time, the best spots to fish are similar from year to year.

Next, it helps to have the right tools.  Can you catch fish without some of them, especially the more expensive ones?  Sure, but, you could be missing out on a good bite if you don't know where the strike zone is.  You can develop strategies to figure that out, but, it's a lot more work and more time consuming.

So, what are my preferred tools?  My must have tools, in my humble opinion, are a flasher style sonar, a sensitive ultralight ice fishing rod spooled with two pound test, and a selection of jigs that you know catch crappie.  I prefer glow in the dark jigs for night fishing, for the most part.  As far as electronics go, any sonar will do, but most anglers prefer flashers. 

A flasher style of sonar will not only find fish, but you can see your lure and also how fish interact with the lure.  This is critical for nighttime crappie fishing since often the fish are suspended.  

The latest technology in electronics allows you to switch views between traditional fish finder screens to a flasher screen.  These new and improved sonar units have improved with very close to real time responses to activity.  Flashers, in the past, held an advantage in this area.  What do I mean by that?  When you jig your lure, a flasher will show that in real time, so when a fish bites, you will see that in real time also, allowing you to focus either on your rod tip or sonar at the correct time.

The main point here is that electronics hold a huge advantage to finding and fishing for crappie at night.  Not only can you find fish, or see them on the bottom or suspended, but you can see your lure and how the fish react to it.  Once you buy and use sonar, and later fish without it, it feels as though you are fishing blind.

Another key piece of equipment that I think really helps is to have a bright lantern out there with you.  I use a Coleman Northstar lantern that puts out 1,500 lumens.  I'm a firm believer that fishing with one or more fishing buds that have lanterns in the same area really helps.  The more light that you have, the more zooplankton is attracted to the area, which, I theorize, brings in more fish.  Some people also use submersible lights.  I've never tried that as I don't own them.

In this photo, you can see three of my most regarded pieces of equipment, my sonar, lantern, and a sensitive ultralight ice fishing rod with a glow in the dark jig tied on.

Supplemental lighting also helps, not only for seeing bites and your rod tip, but also for finding things in your sled or tying on lures.  Usually, light from the lantern to see all my stuff in my sled is blocked by me, so the additional headlamp helps.  Seeing your rod tip and line is key to catching crappie at night, especially when they are not that aggressive.  A strong LED headlamp or other LED lighting can really help.  Plus, they make a great backup if you run out of propane or forget your lantern.

Supplemental lighting also helps.  A good LED headlamp will also not only allow you to see anything at night, but will help you catch fish by focusing a light beam on your rod tip so you can see bites.  I also use a magnetic shop light that sticks to the metal base of my seat rail on my sled.  In this picture, both came in handy when my lantern ran out of propane that night.  Note to self: always carry a spare can of propane...

The last piece of equipment that I personally like is my pullover shanty/sled.  I have a Clam Fish Trap Pro and have been using it for many years.  I love it, I love fishing inside it, and it helps me in so many ways.  Before purchasing it, I sat out in the cold and fished, and usually, it's much colder at night.  

A pullover shelter/sled, like my Clam Fish Trap Pro, helps me get out of the elements and stay warm. Being out of the wind helps you catch more fish.  Being more comfortable helps you catch more fish.  And, being mobile helps you find and catch more fish.  If I need to move, all I do is flip my canvas top back, gather my gear and go.

Fishing inside my shanty is warmer naturally because you're out of the elements. Your lantern helps provide heat as well as light inside.  I can remember fishing when temperatures outside my hut were in the teens, and I had layers peeled off inside while wearing just a flannel shirt!  The shanty also provides a nice wind break, making it easier to see bites without the wind messing things up.  Plus, the extra warmth helps keep the holes from freezing up on you.

And, if you like to fish in privacy, it's a great way to escape the eyes of neighboring anglers that might want to get in on your action if you're catching fish.  Usually, I don't mind company, and I like to share my spot with friends, but, it's nice to have a couple fish under your belt before they all come join you.  Sometimes, their holes are producing anyway, so they may not have the need to fish close to you.

I've been using a flasher style sonar on the ice for over thirty years now.  My friend and ice fishing mentor, Jeff Redinger, not only taught me the fine points of ice fishing, he also was the first person that I ever saw using a flasher on the ice.  I fished with him for a couple years without using sonar, relying on him for intel as to where the fish were.  I can tell you that, even though he shared info, he always out fished us by at least 8 fish to our one, maybe even more.

One of the guys who introduced me to ice fishing and the use of sonar on the ice, including teachings of Dave Genz, is my good friend and ice fishing mentor, Jeff Redinger.  Here Jeff shows the results of his talents with a couple jumbo slab crappie.  

Jeff was a big fan of Dave Genz at the time, and used what he learned from Mr. Genz to become a top notch ice angler.  Dave Genz basically made famous the use of sonar to find and catch fish through the ice, and his tactics of constantly moving to find active fish, rather than sit on one hole all day waiting for a bite.  Jeff was my mentor, but I have to also give credit to Mr. Genz for what he showed the world.  He wasn't the first or only person to use sonar on the ice back then, but, he certainly made it famous.  As far as his strategy to find fish, many people did that too, but, he was certainly a pioneer in that regard as well.

Jeff, a couple other buddies and I went to a particularly good lake known for big crappie in hopes of repeating success that he had on a previous trip.  We fished hard all day long and caught fish here and there.  We set up at right before dark at an area where Jeff marked fish earlier and caught a crappie.  He used his sonar while fishing small live minnows on a light aberdeen hook with a split shot on one rod, and a jig tipped with a waxworm on the other.  We jigged glow jigs tipped waxies within 12 feet of him.

Jeff relayed info to us about what depth he was seeing fish.  As he yanked in one after another, it was apparent that we pay heed to what he was saying if we wanted to catch fish.  Without sonar, most guys, including me at the time, would fish the bottom three feet.  He'd tell us that they were suspended at a certain depth, so we'd try to keep our lure at that depth and jig.  We had to guess that we were at the right depth, of course.  

By Jeff using his sonar, he could see his jig, see the fish, and see how they reacted to his jig.  That feedback allowed him to alter his jigging cadence to get the fish to bite.  He could also see his live minnow and if fish were looking at it or not, and adjust if necessary.

Here, you can see fish suspended on my flasher on the right side of the sonar screen, at two o'clock down to a couple feet off the bottom at 5 o'clock).  I try and drop my jig just above those marked fish

We caught fish, just based on what he said, that we probably wouldn't have caught had he not been there, or if he didn't have sonar.  Fishing with sonar through the ice is so valuable to me, and many anglers, that after purchasing one, we can't realize what we'd do without it, and wonder how we caught fish all those years without using one.  

Using sonar was quite a revelation, let me tell you.  Definitely, a game changer.  My friend, Glenn, purchased one the next year, and I got one the year after that.  Ever since then, it changed the way that I approached jigging for panfish forever.

I have to give credit to the other guy that introduced me to ice fishing, my good friend, Glenn Cumings.  If it wasn't for Glenn convincing me to go to one of his ice fishing workshops, I would never have set foot on the ice. You see, people just didn't ice fish where I live.  I met Jeff at that first workshop.  A few days later, they talked me into going to ice fish a local lake.  I was scared to death out on four inches of clear ice, but, I was hooked after that.  Here, Glenn shows a crappie caught at night during a recent trip.

Not only that, while fishing other lakes with my new sonar, I had people come up to me and ask what I was doing.  I showed each of them how the sonar worked, that you could find and see fish, that you could see your lure, and you could see them react to your lure.  In most cases, I gave up my seat and let them try it out and catch a few fish.

As time went on, over the years, some of them found me on the ice or on the ice fishing forums and told me that they wound up purchasing sonar too as a result of that experience.  I became friends with most, if not all, of those guys.  Some of them recognized me on my favorite ice fishing forum, Iceshanty.com.  By the way, my user name on that forum is also Fat Boy (the origination of the Fat Boy name for this blog).

Over the past 30 years, sonar has become more and more widely used.  In fact, almost everyone that I see on the ice today has some form of fishing electronics with them.  I'm certain that the popularity of flashers started with television shows and magazines, but it really exploded as the internet emerged as a dominant source of information for anglers.

So, how does a flasher style sonar unit help at night while fishing for crappie?  Well, in my opinion, I feel that crappie tend to "feed up", so, when I'm successful at night fishing for crappie, I try to entice them to follow my lure by fishing my lure just above their depth.  When they chase or follow my lure, I know pretty much that I'm going to get a bite.  So, having the sonar is key to knowing what depth to fish.  How can you work a lure above them if they're suspended, and you're fishing the bottom?

Crappie often suspend, and seeing them on the sonar helps you figure out best how to work your lures.  It also helps you determine if the fish are in a biting mood or not.  In this photograph, the bottom is at about six o'clock on the sonar, and the red marks are so thick that they fill up the screen all the way to four o'clock.  The green marks above that are suspended fish.  Usually, those are the most aggressive.  On this particular trip, the fish were all seven to nine inches long, not big, but, we caught a lot of them, so it was fun.

Well, experienced anglers that don't have sonar know that crappie suspend, so they set baits at various depths (especially if using live minnows) to try and tempt fish that may see their baits.  They also jig the entire water column, starting at the bottom and working their way up.  That works, but, it's certainly not as effective as if you use sonar.

Do you need sonar to be successful fishing for crappie at night?  No, but it certainly helps.  If you know a good spot, and it's consistently good from year to year, then you can set up and fish without sonar and catch crappie.

I can remember at one lake that we used to love to fish, a bunch of guys would sit together in a circular group, each with two holes cut, one for each rod rigged with minnows, and each having a lantern fired up.  All those guys, lanterns and minnows grouped together over a good spot resulted in them catching a lot of nice sized crappie.  We saw them almost every time we visited that lake.

But, think about it.  All of the elements that I've discussed in the last example, save the sonar, were at play.  There is also a social benefit to fishing this way.  At least now, with COVID guidelines, people can't get too close to fish to you if they follow the six foot distance rule!  Even that is too close sometimes!!!

What kind of lures do I like?  Crappie will hit a wide variety of ice fishing jigs and spoons.  There's no denying that.  I have my favorites, and I'll share them here.  Some work really well for me at night, and those are my go to baits.

Probably my favorite rig is two glow colored Custom Jigs n' Spins Ratsos rigged in tandem, one above the other about 8 to 12 inches apart.  These lures have caught me more night time crappie than I can ever count.  The slow fall and enticing plastic tails tempt crappie just about every time I'm out at night fishing for them.  They also work great during open water fished under a float.  They come in various sizes, but I like the two smaller sizes the best.  Guess who turned me on to the Ratso?  Why, Jeff Redinger, of course!

One of the first lure combinations that I've had great success with over the years was a simple 1/64th ounce jighead teamed with a Bass Pro Shops pumpkinseed Squirmin' Grub.  Panfish love 'em.  For night fishing, put them on a glow jighead, or even a Ratso head.

The smaller Ratso in this picture (middle column, third from the bottom) and the Bass Pro Shops Squirmin' Grub in pumpkinseed (just below the Ratso are two of my favorite crappie ice fishing favorites.  I like the Ratso's glow colors best (pink, blue and green) when night fishing.

Another favorite when targeting big crappie for me is the 1/16 oz. Cicada.  It produces a lot of vibration and calls fish in nicely during the day or after dark.  I haven't caught a ton of fish on this lure, but I've caught my biggest crappie on this lure.  I pull this one out when I know that the lake that I'm fishing has jumbo sized crappie up to 15 inches long.

I always have a blade bait rigged up.  Often, if I need a break to stand up or the fishing slows at the hole that I'm sitting over, I'll get out and bounce around and try this lure at every open hole around me.  I can cover a lot of water quickly.  I drop the blade bait down to the bottom, lift it up to just off the bottom, then rip it up so that my rod tip is about eye level.  Then, I let the jig fall on a tight line.  Hits will come either on the fall or as the lure stops at the bottom.  

I can't tell you how many bass and big crappie that I've caught this way during open water or through the ice.  You don't need your sonar for doing this, but it's fun to watch, so also try it at the hole that you were fishing before too.

The 1/16 oz. Cicada (right side, middle row) is one of my favorite lures when targeting big slab crappie.  I've caught some real hawgs on this lure.  Bass and other predators like it too.  

Another really good ice fishing jig for night time crappie over the years is the Custom Jigs and Spins Demon in the orange glow brite color, but any of the glow colors will do.  I carry a variety of sizes and colors with me.  This is probably my favorite vertical presentation bait.  The glow feature on these are fantastic, and offer a bigger glow profile than other jigs.  They flutter on the fall like a spoon, and are deadly when tipped with waxworms or spikes.

This is the Custom Jigs and Spins Demon jig.  It's a vertical jig that has lots of fluttering action.  The glow colors glow exceptionally bright, making them one of my favorite nighttime crappie jigs.  This isn't the smallest size, maybe the next size larger than the smallest.

I also carry a whole bunch of ice jigs in various sizes and colors.  I have a good selection of horizontal jigs (like the Ratso) and vertical jigs (like the Demon).  I also fish a bunch of different sizes and colors of the tungsten jigs like the Fiskas jigs that you can get at Your Bobbers Down.  I've caught crappie on the smallest and largest sizes.

You can tip these with live bait like spikes or waxworms, or fish them with a variety of soft plastic lures.  I choose something that glows for night fishing.  Some of them have a glow bead, that shows a small glow profile to the fish at night, while other colors might cause the entire jig to glow.   Try different ones until you find one that works the night that you're fishing.  In general, if they're finicky, I go to the smaller sizes.  Conversely, if they're really aggressive, I'll choose the larger sizes.

But, honestly, you don't need to carry a ton of lures around with you.  I think that I can catch fish on usually what I have rigged up.  But, there are times when fish are finicky and you need to solve the puzzle, when a different lure might make a difference.

Here are some slabs that my Brother, Kyle, and I kept one night.  Kyle and I, caught a bunch of fish that night and kept just enough for a couple meals.  These fish hit a tiny Marmooska jig  with a small glow dot on the front of the lure tipped with a couple spikes.

Tungsten jigs fish heavier than lead because it's a much more dense material.  What that means to me is that I can fish a much smaller jig and get it down to the fish faster than a lead jig.  When they're aggressive, especially in deeper water, after you catch a fish, you want to get that lure back down there quickly before the fish move off and lose interest so you can catch another one.  

OK, so let's discuss the Ratso.  What makes this lure so special?  It's not tungsten, but is lead, so it has a slower fall than other lures.  I think that, in itself, draws strikes when faster falling jigs don't.  I like it best when the fish are holding in 25 feet of water or less.  I'm not afraid to fish it in deeper water, but it takes a long time to get the lure back down there to the fish.  The soft plastic is small, relative to the Bass Pro Shops grub or soft plastic tube jigs.  But, that stinger tail will twitch on the slightest movement of your rod tip.  One is great, but two in tandem are deadly.  

Custom Jigs and Spins now offers a tungsten version of the Ratso that is called the Tutso.  I plan on getting some of them too for fishing deeper water.  Edit:  I just ordered some of them directly from the company.  Please don't tell my wife about that!

Generally, if I'm marking a lot of suspended fish, I let the lure drop down through the school and watch my line and rod tip.  If I see the line go slack, then I set the hook.  That means that a fish intercepted the lure and inhaled it as the lure fell.  If there are a lot of fish down there, it's tough to distinguish your lure from the fish.  

If I don't draw a strike on the fall, then I'll jig it up slowly, using 1/8 inch hops of my rod tip, raising the Ratso 1/8 inch at a time.  I don't hop the jig up and down.  I just jig it up and keep it up.  I keep raising it to see if fish follow it.  If they do, I keep on raising it up.  My favorite cadence is almost as if my rod tip is like a pencil, and I'm drawing a pig tail style line from bottom to top vertically with 1/8 inch circles.  I don't know, but doing that keeps me focused on that spring bobber.  I do all of this when I have the attention of the fish.

But what if they don't seem to be interested?  Sometimes, they just aren't looking in the direction of your lure.  You have to jig more aggressively to get their attention.  Once they react to your jig, especially if they move right to it, then the above cadence works great.  

What if you were marking lots of fish, but, then they seem to vacate your screen?  Try aggressively jigging again to "call" them back in.  Once they show up, usually others follow.  If you try this often and no fish appear, then perhaps it's time to scout out other holes and move.  For me, once I'm on fish at night, they rarely leave.  I think that the lantern lights attract and keep them there.  Plus, the activity of fish feeding (being caught) seems to draw others in.  That's my theory, anyway.

Speaking of spring bobbers, for my Ratso rig, that's a key component.  Crappie are notorious light biters, and often, you don't see the bite with just a rod.  With my spring bobbers, I can see the bites easily.  If a fish hits without pulling the spring down, it may create slack line, and often the spring will move up, or relax.  If you see that, set the hook.  

In the video below, I talk about my tandem Ratso rig and my home made DIY ugly as sin but effective spring bobber.  What I don't mention in the video is that the light wire was purchased from a lure making vendor so I could make weedguards for my buzzbaits.

Icefishing Ratso Rig Video

Even though I make my own spring bobbers out of light lure making wire, there are some very good commercially made ones out there that fasten to just about any rod that you own, and, they're much prettier than my springs.  I highly recommend that you have at least one spring bobber set up for fishing at night for crappie, or at least, a very sensitive rod.

This is one of my home made spring bobbers.  It's not pretty, but it works.  Basically, I bent the wire to my desired shape, added a bead at the end so it's easy to see, then formed a loop that my line goes through.  At the other end, I shrink wrapped the end and glued it onto the tip of an old broken rod.  Years ago, I accidentally broke the tip off the original rod, which I loved, but now, it catches even more fish with my spring at the end.

Sometimes, when they're really aggressive, they'll charge right to the lure and hit it.  Other times, they'll follow it way up the water column, maybe a few feet or even all the way to just under the ice.  As long as a fish is interested, I keep working it until I get a bite.

If the fish is just below the lure, you can see that separation on your sonar.  When the fish is even with the lure, take your eyes off of the sonar and watch your rod tip.  If you see anything out of the ordinary, from slack line to a tiny twitch of the rod tip that you didn't do, set the hook, it's a bite.

If you know that the school is aggressive, you can drop the lure to just above the school, and they will rise up to your lure.  If I'm using my tandem Ratso rig, then I'll drop the bottom jig right to the top fish or just below.  Why?  I might catch two at a time that way.

When the fish are really inhaling the lure, your rod tip or spring bobber might bend slowly and strongly.  When that happens, you know it's a good crappie swimming off with your jig.  Set the hook!

I don't always catch big crappie at night, but many of my bigger crappie do come at night.   

Everyone knows about that magic hour during the last hour of daylight.  Some stay a while longer.  But often, after most leave, and you have the ice all to yourself, the action really picks up.  

There is a small lake local to me that we fish often.  It closes at 9 PM, so we have to be off the water by then and packed up, ready to leave the property.  Anyway, it always seems that there is a lot of activity at dusk, and for the next hour or so.  Then, it slows a bit.  But, it always seems to pick up around 8:30 PM, of course, on this lake, right as you have to leave.  

On other lakes when you can fish all night, you'll find that often the action is steady all night.  During our last trip, we were planning on leaving for home around 9 PM, but, the crappie kept on coming.  We kept fishing until just before midnight, and with our three and a half hour drive home, wound up getting back around four in the morning.  But, it was worth it.

Fishing at night can be fun and rewarding, especially when you get on some big slabs.  Hopefully, my strategy and tips will help you find crappie at night.  If you enjoy catching panfish through the ice during the day but have never tried ice fishing for crappie after dark, give it a try.  You might discover a whole new aspect of ice fishing and make it your favorite time to be out fishing on the ice.

Introducing A Bud to the Hardwater

One thing that I've always enjoyed in any of my activities is to introduce someone that activity who has never done it before.  Even more rewarding is that if they have fun and want to go again.  Last weekend, I took a fishing buddy, Rodger, who swore a couple years ago that he'd never do it, out on the ice for an icefishing trip.  Well, never say never because I convinced him to give it a try, and I think we hooked him.  Now we have to reel him in...

When taking someone out for the first time on any outdoor activity, the best way to get them to go again is to make sure that they have fun the first time.  With icefishing, the first thing is to make sure that you pick a lake that has a bunch of willing fish, because catching is more fun than working hard to catch them.  The lake we picked has a reputation of that, with a mix of average sized panfish along with some jumbos, and they're usually very willing.  You can't beat jigging for panfish when the action is hot, a perfect recipe for a newbie to have fun at icefishing.

The next thing is to make sure that you teach them what you know, including how to use your electronics, what to look for, how to read the moods of the fish, and most importantly, to improve the odds that your newbie friend will have a better chance at icing some fish.  That means that you may have to sacrifice your fishing time to do the teaching, as well as the use of your electronics and other equipment.  The purpose of this trip wan't for my icefishing fulfillment, but for the fulfillment of doing something rewarding, putting my buddy on fish and introducing him to the sport.  Fortunately, I had a spare sonar unit so I wasn't fishing blind either.

Rodger watching the fish react to his jig on my sonar unit while we were searching for active fish.  Eventually, we found active fish and Rodger caught a bunch, and had a good time.

Rodger is a little sensitive to the cold anyway, so picking a good day for comfort helps.  I was worried a bit that he'd be too cold to enjoy it, but as the day went along, everything worked out.  He dressed for the occasion, perhaps overdressed a bit, but at least he was pretty warm.  He also brought a bunch of hand warmers and used them as well to help.  I also let him use my Fish Trap pullover shanty for most of the afternoon once we found fish.  Again, that meant that I had to bear the elements like the good old days prior to me owning a Fish Trap.  But, that was OK, except that the wind was a bit annoying, and was a constant reminder of how much I love using my Fish Trap!  Remember about picking the right day?  It's about as much as for you as for your buddy.

My other friend Glenn and I used our sonar to search for active fish.  We both took different directions and cut a bunch of holes and checked them with our sonar.  We were hoping to mark fish, and hopefully, a bunch of them suspended off the bottom.  To me, those are active catchable fish.  I don't mind finding fish on the bottom either, and they're worth checking out for sure.  A faint flicker of the bottom on the sonar could indicate fish holding tight to the bottom.  Those fish are usually a bit more finicky, but not always.  Definetly, they are worth dropping a lure down to.

And that is what we did.  We marked fish, dropped lures down to see how active they were, then either fished them a bit or moved on.  If you want to catch a bunch of fish, you need to be mobile.  It took a while to find fish, and we were looking for biters, not lookers.  There were a lot of lookers early on though.  But eventually, Glenn found a bunch of active fish on a point and gathered us up to join him.

Glenn was the first to find active suspended fish off a point at the channel edge.  After locating fish, he called us over to join him.  Thanks to Glenn, Rodger caught a bunch of fish shortly afterwards.  That may have been the difference if Rodger icefishes again or not.  It works to team up to find fish for everyone, and is a common practice among friends.

I had been cutting all of the holes up to this point (between Rodger and me), so as to teach, I had Rodger cut a few holes so he could learn how to use the hand auger.  He cut two holes and that was all he needed.  We marked a bunch of fish in the very first hole, suspended as much as five feet off the bottom to the bottom.

He used a jigging rod with a spring bobber that I set up with two jigs in tandem about nine inches apart, the top jig being a red glow Fat Boy (namesake of this blog) and the bottom a gold Fiskas jig, both tipped with a few maggots (aka spikes).  On the first drop, the fish hammered one of the jigs and Rodger had his first fish on the ice.

I quickly cut another hole set up my Aqua-vu camera in the same hole as my sonar transducer, so he could fish out of the second hole and reduce fish tangling in the camera and sonar.  Once we had the camera set up, I set up the pullover shanty and had him snug as a bug indoors and catching fish.  I could hear him giggling and laughing a few times, so he definitely had fun.

This is a pic from a prior trip of me holding a bluegill, but shows my setup inside my shanty with the sonar and camera in one hole, as I fish out of the other.  This is what I wanted Rodger to experience, catching a bunch of fish, seeing them on the camera and using the sonar.

Meanwhile, as I ran back and forth to check on him, I cut a few more holes and found some fish, but not as thick as the spot that he and Glenn were on.  At this point in time, they were caught fish about two to my one.  At my spot, the fish would show up suspended, and I could get them to bite, but then they'd leave.  The fish never left at Glenn and Rodger's holes.

At my spot, I caught some medium sized crappie and some yellow perch, and then hooked into a big fish that went ballistic on me at the hole and popped off.  My initial thought was bass or walleye because it was a bronze color, but the fight didn't match, and the fish looked to be about 15-16 inches long or so.  I later found out that there are brown trout in there, so that is probably what I had on.  It was exciting, but it would have been nice to land that fish and get a picture.

As darkness approached, we set up for the night bite, hoping for crappie or anything else.  By that time, I'm sure that Glenn and Rodger caught twice as many fish as I did, and that made me happy, knowing that this trip was a success.  Now it was time to teach Rodger how to catch crappie at night.

I put the camera away, although it is fun and useful, it's not as helpful at night fishing for the suspended fish, at least in my opinion.  The model that I have tends to attract a ton of daphnia and other tiny aquatic life, making it difficult to see your jig or the fish after dark.  Plus, removing the camera reduces the risk of fish tangling on the camera cable.  Plus, fish can suspend at any depth, especially at night, sometimes right under the ice.

I cut a hole just North of Glenn, closer to where the point meets the channel and wow, when I checked it with my sonar, that hole was stacked from the bottom to about ten feet full of fish.  I couldn't fish there earlier because some other guys were close to that spot, and I didn't want to encroach on them.  I explained those ethics to Rodger as well, to not encroach on another angler's spot, whether it be jigging or a set of tip ups (which they also used).

After cutting that hole, I tore up the medium sized crappie until we had to leave.  At one point, I caught crappie on 16 consecutive drops as they were very aggressive.

This crappie was a bit on the small side, but I caught several dozen crappie that averaged about 9 inches or so all night long.  The fish were stacked on a point near the creek channel.

Glenn and Rodger stayed at their holes and continued to catch fish.  Glenn eventually hooked into something huge, and fought it for twenty minutes before the two pound line finally gave out and broke off as the fish made a last charge before coming to the hole.  We never saw the fish.

About an hour and a half after dark, Rodger and Glenn were still catching a fish here and there, but I was slaying them, so I called them over.  I gave up my hot hole and gave it to Rodger, while Glenn fished an old hole that was nearby, and they both marked and caught fish right away.

I cut another hole about ten feet closer to the point and still marked a bunch of fish, and continued to catch crappie one after another.  At one point, about an hour before we stopped fishing, I counted thirty five crappie iced since dark, and then lost count.  I guess I landed a dozen more after that plus one bullhead.  On the day, I caught about 50-60 fish, so it started very slow for me but turned out to be a good numbers day for me.

This bullhead was suspended at ten feet off the bottom and slammed my soft plastic jigs.

Glenn and Rodger probably caught about the same number of fish that I did.  Between the three of us, we caught a total of six species, crappie, yellow perch, bluegills, pumpkinseeds, a creek chub, and a brown bullhead.

Of course, when you bring someone on the ice that is new to the experience, there is an element of fear.  I found it important to talk about ice safety several times, and I have more to teach him on future trips.  One thing that he discovered was that while ice forms, pressure builds up and forms cracks and makes booming noises.  I explained to him that was a good thing, but a couple times, pressure cracks shot past him at a very close range and prompted him to yell out some words that I can't type here!  I told him that was music to my ears, that the ice was building, and is always a good thing.

The fishing was still hot when we decided to leave, but I had a long drive home, and I was very tired.  I considered fishing all night, but was just too exhausted, and I wasn't sure if the other guys could do that or not, so we left the ice at 10 PM.  The fish were still biting.  It is tough to leave fish that are active.

The downside to this trip was that it was a good 3 hour plus of a drive one way for us.  We arrived late, so it was important to us that we caught an active bite, and we did.  But, I'd rather have had an earlier start, several events happened that delayed our fishing start time.  I won't get into that here though.  It was a good thing that we ended the day on a good strong evening bite, because it made that ride home a bit easier.  That is a problem every year for me though, finding good ice close enough to home.  I love icefishing so much that I'd drive further away to do it than I would otherwise to fish during open water.

The bigger story, however, is that I think that despite the long drive home and getting home late, that Rodger had a fun day on the ice, caught fish, and learned why we like icefishing so much.  Both Glenn and I taught him many things that day, and Rodger caught on, and joined the fun.  That's what it's all about.  That's how Glenn and my good friend and icefishing mentor, Jeff Redinger, got me hooked.  I was merely passing that on.  At this point, Rodger is now an ice angler!  Now that he's hooked, let's see if we can reel him in for another trip!

My ice fishing mentor and good friend, Jeff Redinger, posing with a huge sunfish that he caught through the ice.  Jeff introduced me to sonar, and taught me the importance of being mobile to catch fish through the ice on my first ice fishing trip 27 years ago.  

On the Hardwater - Attacking a Small Lake for Panfish

Why people ice fish means many things to many people.  Some like the outdoors experience, just being out there, opting to not sit on the couch watching outdoors shows on the television.  Others like the social aspect of ice fishing, even bringing cooking devices out on the ice to have a big party while catching a few fish.  It's all good!  But my goal is to catch as many fish jigging as I can...that's how I have fun on the ice.  Smaller lakes often give you that opportunity.  I like to improve my chances by hitting the hardwater on the smaller lakes.  So, how do I approach my goal?

Small lakes offer an easy advantage to finding active panfish because you can cover a ton of ice in a single day.  During mid winter, I like to start deep near dams or creek channels, then work towards more shallow types of structure, or cover like weed beds or tree blowdowns.

I like solving the puzzle, not only finding where the fish are, but where I can find the ones that are willing to bite.  Sometimes it takes a little work, and at other times it could be a lot of work.  Rarely, you might cut only one hole!  But the most fun is catching them, one after another.  It takes some knowledge, either learned via experience or from various media, such as videos, magazines, books, television shows, fishing forums and even from other ice anglers.  And a little luck doesn't hurt.

The first step is to pick a lake that has a good panfish population.  When I'm talking about a small lake, I'm thinking about a two hundred or so acres or less.  The vast majority of the lakes in my region are man made, featuring a dam, flooded creek channels, points, islands, and other structure.

An advantage of finding a gem of a small lake is that you can cover most of if not then entire lake to find fish. You can still make that major change if the bite is off by fishing a totally different area on your lake or by having another nearby small lake as a back up plan.  Sometimes, that major change will put you on active fish.

My favorite fish to target through the ice are crappie, but I also love a good bluegill or yellow perch bite.  So I tend to prefer lakes with historically good crappie populations and size.  

Mixed bags of slab crappie, yellow perch, and bluegills are a real fun time.  These fish were all caught in thirty feet of water over a creek channel not far from the dam.  Smaller lakes give you the opportunity to catch a bunch.

Small lakes offer an advantage over larger ones with respect to finding fish simply because you have less water to search to find them.  But panfish size vary from year to year, especially with crappie populations where sizes often vary.  Some years yield those fat slab crappie, others give up the medium sized ones.  The same holds true for perch and bluegills.

Other lakes may have large populations of "dinks" and but sometimes give up the larger ones.  Those bigger fish are harder to find.  But if you're into dinks, move to another location on the lake and hunt for the bigger ones if you know that lake supports them.  This frequently occurs with bluegills and perch one some of the lakes that I frequent.

If' I'm marking a lot of fish, it's tough to leave them.  But if they are four to six inch perch, or tiny bluegills or crappie, it's best to move from my experience.  Usually, I'll move to a different structure or area of the lake.  If the dinks are deep, then I move to weedy break lines, for example.  Often that change results in bigger fish.

My brother Kyle poses with a dink perch.  If you're catching dink perch like this, move and go find bigger panfish.  Tiny perch like this often group in large schools like this as a defense against predators.   Later, we'd find a nice mixed bag of  bigger panfish to bring home for a fish fry.

Finding good sized panfish on larger lakes (near 200 acres) could prove to be tougher.  Basically, you have to break the lake down into more manageable water size to cover.  Use lake contour structure maps to locate an area where the structure is more suitable for panfish and work that area.  Have a back up location if you have to make a spot change to get on fish if your first spot doesn't pan out.

It helps to have experience on a particular lake.  I have a few favorites, and patterns from one year to the next tend to hold true depending on how late you are in the ice season.  Sometimes that past experience pays off by cutting down on the time spend searching for fish..

During early and late ice, I look for mid depth fish first, fifteen feet or less, then adjust accordingly.  But it depends on what species your targeting.  Weed lines or flats near structure, points or a creek channel, are good places to find perch.  The creek channels tend to be good crappie spots, or any cover, such as a sunken tree or brushpile, or man made fish structure.

After cutting a bunch of holes, we finally found some bigger panfish and a bonus stocked trout.  These were stacked up near a creek channel off the end of a long sloping point on one of my favorite small lakes.

During mid winter, my approach is to start deep, then work shallower.  The Eastern waters that I fish are usually small reservoirs, with maximum depths of twenty to forty feet.  I typically look for fish in the twenty to thirty foot range first, them move deeper in my search.  If that doesn't pan out, then I move shallower.

I've found that schools of crappie during mid ice tend to hold over the deeper basins of lakes that I fish, or off creek channels near dams.  Often, you'll find yellow perch and bluegills with them this time of year.  Our lakes are man made, so most of the time there are creek channels, flats, points, primary and secondary drop offs to check.  I like to search the channel edges first.  As you move shallow, search for weeds because they could be the key when the deeper waters seem like a dead sea.

To me, crappie like this slab are what I look for and expect on the smaller lakes that I fish.  I am in seventh heaven catching crappie like these through the ice all day long!

Start by using either your own past experience on the lake, where you've caught crappie during mid ice, or locate the type of structure that you'd like to fish on a lake contour map.  Start by cutting a series of holes over the location of the structure, or where you think it may be.  I use a hand auger because, in my neck of the woods, the ice rarely gets thicker than a foot.  So, cutting a good number of holes becomes an obvious workout the thicker the ice gets.  That's when a power auger becomes effective.

I use my Clam Fish Trap Pro as my home base, then start cutting and checking holes.  Don't waste time on inactive fish.  Move and find fish.  Small changes at first might work.  If not, think bigger changes.

I usually cut a half dozen holes to start, then check them with my sonar.  I search for either suspended fish, or fish marked on the bottom.  For those fish on the bottom, the sonar shows the bottom jumping.  When the fish moves, the mark flickers, and if that mark is close to the bottom, it appears as if the bottom is flickering.   If the bottom doesn't jump or move, most likely you're not marking fish.  If your sonar transducer hangs or is supported by a float, make sure that it's stabilized and not moving, which could give you a false reading of marked bottom fish.

If I mark fish, then I'll drop a lure down and see how they react.  I can see my jig fall as a bar on my sonar toward the bottom.  If another bar moves off the bottom toward it, then I know the fish are active, and that means a fish is either moving toward my lure or interested in it.  When the bar representing the fish meets the bar representing my jig, I take my eyes off the flasher (sonar) and watch my rod tip.  If there is any movement of the rod tip or line, set the hook.

Now, marking fish is one thing, even ones that appear interested, catching active fish is another.  Just because a fish moves in to inspect your lure doesn't guarantee a bite.  Fish sometimes are curious, but finicky, and it either takes extra effort to tease them to bite or they just aren't interested.  We call those "sniffers."  If you routinely mark sniffers, move.  If they are in every hole that you cut, move and cut more holes.

Later in the day though, it might be wise to remember where those sniffers are, especially if you catch one and it's a good sized fish.  Because, often low light conditions, commonly thought of at the magic hour, that last hour of daylight, finicky fish might become more active later.  If you get into a good bite and it dies off, it may pay to go back and recheck the sniffer holes again.

Some anglers may try a variety of jigs to tempt the sniffers into biting, hoping that the magic jig will turn on the bite swtich.  At times, making changes in your offering, either tipping with bait or downsizing, will work.  But more times than not, moving is the key.  While those guys are trying to get that one fish to bite, I'm looking for multiple biting fish.  You can pad your numbers in a hurry by finding those biters.

Another thing about sniffers.  They may not be big finicky fish, but rather could be dinks.  Dinks often will sniff because, quite frankly, your jig might be too big for them.  If you mark a fish that charges up to your lure but then gets spooked the second that you give it a jig, most likely it's a small fish.  Move!

Since I really love crappie fishing, I tend to search for suspended fish.  I have very little patience when dealing with sniffers and fish that won't rise off the bottom much.  I search for suspended fish when I can.  There are times when you won't find them, but sometimes you do.  When you do, the reward usually means more bites and active fish.  Perch really like to feed off the bottom, so that might explain why my crappie and bluegill numbers when catching a mixed panfish bag are higher than my perch numbers.

This is what I'm looking for when searching for big schools of panfish.  When reading this sonar, the bottom was nineteen feet, shown at about eight o'clock.  The surface of the sonar is at twelve o'clock.  All of the marks in between are suspended fish.  Fish also were on the bottom.  We call this, "sonar lit up like a Christmas tree!"

When I finally find the crappie, I will fish that hole out because they usually hold in big schools.  If they are suspended, often you'll catch perch and sunfish that suspend with them.  That situation may result in that nice hundred fish day!  If you plan on fishing for crappie after dark, remember what holes you caught them in because it's likely those holes may produce near or after dark. I'll provide some night fishing secrets in a future post.

The key to being successful to this type of fishing is to move when things aren't going well, and find those active fish.  It may mean cutting a ton of holes or making major spot changes, but the reward could be worth it.  This isn't a new concept.  I learned it many years ago from my ice fishing mentor, Jeff Redinger, who taught me the Dave Genz approach, using sonar to find fish and a comfortable portable shanty that allows you to easily make those important spot changes.  I'm sure that there are other pioneers out there, but that's how I learned.

My ice fishing mentor and friend, Jeff Redinger, posing with a massive redear sunnie.  Jeff has caught countless slob sunfish like this over the years using the techniques that he taught me, techniques made popular by ice fishing legend Dave Genz.

Many of you may apply these tactics already and have experienced that success.  But some of you may not have learned this yet, and my hope is that this helps you.  Just because you have a sonar unit and are marking fish, doesn't mean that those are the fish that you should be targeting.  Move away from sniffers and go find some biters!  Move away from dinks and go find bigger panfish!

My best of luck wishes go out to all of you hardwater anglers, and please be safe during these next few weeks of late ice!

Why Do You Love to Ice Fish? i.e. Why I love to Ice Fish!

I haven't done a generic type post about ice fishing in a long time.  But after discussing a certain topic about ice fishing with someone on my favorite web forum, Iceshanty.com, I got to thinking...why do I still love to ice fish?

I mean, after all, most people, my wife included and most of my friends (since I live South of what is really ice fishing territory) think that I'm nuts.  And, we ice anglers really are off our rockers!  We spend all kinds of money on stuff to keep us comfortable to cut a hole through the ice and fish, and in some cases (even though we know it's "safe") there is enough risk that we always have to be careful, and often we're out there in cold nasty weather when 99% of society would rather wrap up in a blanket next to a fire and rent movies all day.  I won't go into how ice anglers spend a ton of money on ice fishing tackle, gear, and clothing just to catch fish through a hole in the ice.  All anglers are considered crazy for our fishing spending from the viewpoint of the non-angling crowd.

So, why do you love to ice fish?  What is it about our sport that pushes your buttons to keep on getting out there, year after year, in sometimes brutal conditions to try and catch fish through the ice?  Please feel free to post your answer in the comments section.
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OK, for me, here it goes.  First, I like the fact that I can catch fish all year, and ice fishing extends my fishing season.  I like the fact that you really never know for sure what you're about to catch.  I like that you can pretty much get to fishing holes that only a boat can get to, and sometimes get to hot spots that boats can't even get to.  And, not only that, you can find fish and stay over them and not worry about drifting away.  No boat control to worry about!  And, you can catch fish, often a lot of them, and sometimes bigger than any other time of year.  And, you can haul all kinds of gear out there to catch fish and to keep you almost as comfortable as those folks wrapped in their blankets next to their fires watching movies.  Ice fishing can also be a great social activity shared with friends, or to make new friends.

Of course, a joy of ice fishing is when you can share it with friends, or even make new friends.  Here, my good friend Jim Cumming sports a fat largemouth bass that he caught while tending his tip-ups.  I was fortunate enough to introduce Jim to ice fishing many years ago when he lived down my way.

But, that's all great, and many of you probably share the same views.  But here's what really gets me stoked up, why I love ice fishing more than just like to do it:

I have always enjoyed vertically jigging for active fish.  On the ice, I mostly target panfish.  I still primarily target panfish but also bring enough tackle to jig for predators.  But really floats my boat is jigging over active fish and watching it all on my underwater camera, inside my portable shanty, and doing it productively.

Many ice anglers appreciate the seclusion of fishing in a shanty.  It's quiet.  Just you, your gear, and the fish, and you're out of the harsh elements.  But it's also quite beautiful out in the open air.  I always try to spend some time jigging outside too, to gain that appreciation and beauty of my surroundings, and move around and hit a few holes nearby to cover water.

So the crux of this post is basically that I really get my jollies while using my underwater camera.  When fishing with an underwater camera, the question I always read on forums is:  "Do you need to or not?  Or, do you wish to be more challenged or not?"  I guess it's like cheating to some, but I think it's more fun to watch the fish eat your lure than to watch a rod tip.  So yeah, I'll "cheat" for that extra fun.  Heck with the challenge.  If I want challenge, then I'll find some open water and musky fish.  If I find active panfish, then I'll watch, fish, and catch them.  If they are finicky, like most good ice anglers, I will move and use my sonar to find another school of active fish, then drop the camera down there again if I'm getting multiple fish.

This is my set up under my portable shanty...you can see the bottom and my jig easily.  It's great once you find a school of active panfish like yellow perch especially when the schools hang around for a while.  I can observe their behavior, figure out exactly what they want or what turns them off, watch them inhale my lure, and...SET THE HOOK!  It's so much fun.  

Sure, you can catch a bunch of fish using your sonar and not bring a camera!  But I think that the camera nets me even more fish under certain conditions than I would if I didn't use the camera.  Why?  Because I can see bites that I would definitely miss watching my sonar, a rod tip, a spring bobber, my line, or while trying to feel a bite.  I used to come home from a trip and dream about my spring bobber.  Now I dream about watching my camera and catching fish!

Sure you can catch plenty of fish using just your sonar.  I used to do it all the time, and still often do.  My buddies Geoff and Jack are doing just that in this picture.  It's a ton of fun too.  While they were catching a ton of fish, I was doing the same thing using my camera and took a break to get a picture of them in action.

Sometimes the fish bite so light that even a spring won't detect it.  But that camera doesn't miss the bite.  When you see your bait disappear, set the hook quick enough and you will get that fish.  If you miss, then it's not the fault of your electronics, it's probably due to slow reaction time (old age can cause that speaking from experience).  I just get a kick out of watching the fish and their reaction to what I'm doing.  When fish leave my bait or lose interest, usually I can see exactly why (like the lure spinning thing or if they've cleaned the maggots off my jig).

But even cameras have limitations.  For the type of productivity that I describe above, you really have to find a good school of fish or have a great spot.  It takes some time to set up your gear over them.  You lack the mobility and ability to follow a moving school.  Using the flasher, you can stay more mobile.  When you're having one of those "one fish per hole" days, those are the days that the flasher works much better than a camera.  Both are tools, use them under the right conditions to maximize your catch and your fun.

My underwater camera model doesn't work well at night for that evening crappie bite.  At least, I haven't figured out how to make it work.  The light needed to generate an image on the camera end attracts zillions of zooplankton grouped in a cloud that is so thick that you can't see anything, much less your lure or fish.  The newer models of underwater cameras have come a long way though, and may have solved that problem.  Some day I will investigate and get back to you on that.

I recommend bringing both a camera and sonar for your day trips.  Use the sonar to locate large schools of active fish.  Cut a ton of holes if necessary, but be active and find them.  Once you find them, set up your camera and have fun.  If the fish disappear and you stop seeing them or stop getting bites, start the process over and find new fish.  Also, the sonar will save you at night for fishing for suspended crappie.  At least in my case, the camera isn't that useful after dark, but the sonar always shines.

A huge advantage using the underwater camera is that I always know what type of fish are down there, whether or not they are dinks or fish worth targeting.  And it's really cool when a predator stops by.  Yeah, you can see the blip on your sonar, but you really don't know what kind of fish it is.  With the camera, you can identify it and see their mood and why they appeared.  Was it random or did you jig that fish in?  It's a big fish, but is it a carp, a bass, a pike, or a big walleye?  If it's a larger predator, then I can quickly adapt and drop something down there that might tempt them more than a tiny panfish jig.  Also, it's pretty fun when you're fishing for, let's say yellow perch, and all of a sudden a bass, pickerel, pike or musky shows up and tries to eat the camera!  My camera is an Aqua Vu and the camera is shaped like a fish.  I guess I need to attach a treble hook to the camera!

But using a camera can clue you into bigger fish too!  I dropped a bigger gulp minnow down the hole to catch this bass that was drawn in with my smaller panfish jig and wouldn't bite it.

With sonar, you can get a general idea of what the bottom is like, if the bottom has weeds, or is soft or hard.  But with the camera, I can see exactly what makes up the bottom.  I not only see weeds, but what type of weeds.  I can see logs, stumps, rocks, algae, if it's a muddy or a rocky bottom.  I can see baitfish move through and predators follow.  I can see why the fish are there.  I can see pretty much everything.  It's like fishing TV and I'm the producer.  I wish I could be the director and then I'd even catch more fish!

I've seen other guys hole hop and use the camera in shallow water flats to search for pods of fish, and that's effective too.  But for deeper water (10 to 25 feet deep or deeper), which is just about everywhere in the lakes that I fish, I cut a lot of holes and use my sonar to find fish then hone in and watch and fish with the camera.

My friend Scott using his old Aqua Vu to check a bunch of shallow water holes to locate schools of fish while positioning  it to view horizontally so that he could see all around the hole, not just under it.  He'd drop the camera down and spin the cable 360 degrees to check out the areas around the hole to look for schools of fish.  If he spotted a bunch nearby, he'd stop and drop a jig down there and catch a bunch of fish.  It's a great technique to find shallow water bluegills and other panfish, and also to get an idea what type of cover is down there.

Another thing that I do that most people don't like doing is that I like to set my camera to look down on the fish.  I feel that I can more effectively target them while viewing down on the fish.  I can see the fish come from any angle.  Sometimes, if the water is clear enough, I can set the camera about six to eight feet off the bottom and see all the way to the bottom.  It's not right or wrong if people like to watch horizontally, in fact, most people probably fish with their cameras that way.  I simply prefer to look down on 'em..  I rarely see fish approach from above the camera, but sometimes they surprise you and do just that.  But if you're using your camera to find fish in the shallows, then it's probably better to set the camera to view horizontally for sure.

Here's a nice sunfish caught while jigging and using my camera.  You can see the actual camera unit laying on the ice showing that it's shaped and painted to resemble a sunfish.  Maybe this fish was attracted by the camera thinking he met a buddy?

It's so fun to fish that way to me that I think that it's kept my interest up in ice fishing even more than ever, especially given the lean ice years we've had the past decade that really make me wonder of those long drives to even find ice are worth the effort or not... Now I'll make those long drives like I used to do when I was younger and first addicted to ice fishing in general.

These fat yellow perch and a nice chain pickerel were caught using a camera while jigging.  It was so fun to see that pickerel move in, literally with it's snout right up against my lure.  When I gave the jig a quick snap up, he attacked with lightning speed and the fight was on.  Not only did the camera help me set the hook, but I was able to witness the entire scene!

You know what is funny?  When the Aqua Vu first came out, I was a skeptic.  I thought it was a waste of money.  Now I think it's the most fun thing about ice fishing to me.  It's like I'm down there diving with them!  So really, I can be warm and toasty in my portable shanty and watch TV all day long just like those folks wrapped up in a blanket on their couch renting movies on TV, but even better because I'm a participant!

So now you have somewhat of an understanding about my approach to ice fishing.  I love to jig, I try to use my electronics effectively, and most of all, I have fun doing it.  That's what it's all about.  Since we've had some cold temperatures, snow and our lakes are icing up recently, my mind has been occupied about getting out on the ice again to do some jiggin'.   Maybe I'll see you out there!

Please also visit Iceshanty.com if you are interested in learning more about ice fishing.  If you're an avid ice fisher, then I believe that you'll enjoy the site just as much.  It's free to join, no spam and it's a very friendly web forum with plenty of people to interact with that are more than willing to help you about our sport.  Hope to see you on the forum!

So, please leave a comment and tell me why you love to ice fish!