How To Fish Blog! | How-To-Fish.us

Image by Mark Sardella via Flickr

Careful planning and preparation is all it takes to make ice fishing the greatest time of your life or the worst.   Easy?  Take a look at the following tips and see how prepared you are to catch those fish!

Buy early

Make a list of the supplies you used last season and replenish them early.  Make sure you get all those Glo-Buster Bluelights or Lindy Tazers.  All you need to remember is four words: wise up, stock up.

Check the hole on the ice floor

Simply put, make sure the hole is clean.  Chips or chunks of ice could cause entanglements in one’s fishing line and could make you catch fish or literally break your chances of getting any, as these could sever the line therefore losing your chance of getting that trophy of a lifetime bluegill. Remember to keep the hole clear of any barrier.

Fish more, get the big four

The bait you simply cannot go on without:  wax worms, minnows, assorted PowerBait, maggots. It is best

Everyone has heard the saying, “No ice is safe”.  While true, this is not practical advice for many of us in Northern climates where playing or working on frozen water is part of  our lives.  Ice fishing, for one, allows many opportunities for disaster when the dangers of ice are neither appreciated nor prepared for properly.  

Sometimes we tend to simplify the dangers of ice fishing, thinking of all of the fun of catching “the big one” after drinking a case of beer with friends while downplaying or omitting altogether the inherent dangers.  Life-or-death situations can and do occur and often without notice, so it is imperative to take sensible precautions prior to driving or walking on frozen water in search of the perfect winter catch. 

Those who wish to participate in an ice fishing expedition should be in reasonably good physical condition and able to swim or to at least remain comfortable staying afloat.  Should an emergency occur, such as your fishing partner falling through the ice, your physical condition and their