Ice fishing techniques

It’s beginning to look like the ice fishing sea- son will come early this year.

Temperatures have been ping ponging with days above freezing and more below with chill factors reaching below zero sometimes.

When I think the ice is safe I often head for a farm pond to enjoy first of the season bluegill fillets, and through the ice they’re not only easy to catch, but coming from cold water as tasty as they’ll be all year.

Why farm ponds? Because being small they’re invariably the first to freeze into safe ice, and I definitely want safe ice.

On initial trips my tactics for filling a bucket don’t vary much.

I’ll arrive at a farm pond that I know holds good size bluegill and bass, and maybe a bonus of channel cats which bite well under the ice, and crappie.

I carry a five gallon bucket that holds a pair of small ice rods, extra gloves, a little steel box with ice fishing spoons, splitshot, and a couple of spare bobbers, along with a fold up little seat, and my ice auger.

First move is always to step out on the ice just three feet or so, and bore a hole.

If the ice depth turns out to be just three inches or so, I’ll turn around and go home.

If four, even five I might still not fish unless it’s clear, hard ice, and if I choose to fish with ice that thin, I’m not ashamed to haul along 100 feet of light rope, then tie one end to a sturdy shoreline bush and the other around my waist.

I consider ice fishing the most dangerous of all outdoor sports, and since I usually fish alone, I take no chances.

First of the season fish are almost always in the deepest water

OUTDOORS the pond has to offer, so I bore my first hole in water near the dam.

Lacking a dam, I head for the middle.

Gear is simple.

I tie a quarter ounce sinker on lines end, and above it a short side line with a half inch jigging spoon attached and adjusted so the spoon rides a few inches above the mud.

About a foot above that I tie another side line with a second spoon to take any fish that are suspended a foot or less above the bottom.

My colors don’t vary much. I like a white spoon on one line and a green or yellow one above, and while bluegills and other species will eat maggots, mousies, and commercial baits.

I favor waxworms above all others and bait each hook with one.

To be honest I’ve caught bluegills more than once on colorful little ice flies, and even tiny jigs, but the spoons work best for me, so I use them

Then it’s time to drop the rig to bottom, adjust a quarter sized float so it’s half submerged and will sink at even the lightest bite and begin jigging gently with a twitch the tip a few times, then wait, and twitch again.

If fish are there, I’ll have some within ten minutes, and if not I’ll move and bore another hole, maybe moving a little shallower since this is mid-season and oxygen levels might be low in the deepest spots.

When fish start hitting the ice, I drill a second hole about five feet from the first, adjust my seat between, and begin jigging one rod then the other.

The second rod is rigged like the first, but with different colors of spoon.

If I catch more on one color, I’ll switch another spoon to that color.

Often enough within an hour or two I’ll have all the panfish I want to clean, and am ready to head home.

A simple business that falls far short of rocket science, but it works for me year after year.

Hooks & Bullets

— The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has Step Outside Grants to encourage outdoorsmen to share the love of their sports. Grants are available for volunteers and organizations who conduct clinics on fishing, hunting, trapping, traditional archery, shooting and similar events. To review a grant application, visit wildohio.gov.

— The ODNR is asking deer hunters in portions of Wyandot, Marion, and Hardin counties to send samples of harvested deer for Chronic Wasting Disease testing. Testing is voluntary, but highly encouraged. Harvested deer can be taken to the Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area Headquarters for testing, For questions, call 1-800-WILDLIFE.

— Why waste a Christmas tree? When it’s time to discard your tree, place it (or several together) tied with a cinderblock and when ice is good, place it on your favorite farm pond. When ice melts it will sink and make good cover for bass and bluegills.

Dick Martin is a retired biology teacher who has been writing outdoor columns for over 30 years. You can reach him at richmart@neo.rr.com.