Ice fishing: Putting Extra Weight on Proven Bait!

When it comes to ice fishing, a big fish will hit a little bait more often than a little fish will hit a big bait. This is where a tungsten jig may fit the bill.

It doesn’t matter what species you are after; perch, bluegill, walleye, bass, trout...when the water is cold a fish's metabolism slows and they just don’t feed as aggressively as they do in open water, but that doesn’t me that they don’t like a little snack now and again!

Obviously, you can still catch a pile of fish in the winter, if not, why would millions of anglers around the world ice fish every day!

Fishing with minimal gear

What makes ice fishing fun for everyone is that you can fish in a variety of spots on a lake without having to spend a king's ransom on gear. You don’t need a boat to get around or a big truck to haul it, you can get by on a minimal amount of tackle and bait and use your feet to cover as much water as necessary.

You can still catch fish on ice gear that your Grandfather used or used ice stuff you can find your neighbor selling or you can gear up with as much high-tech equipment as you feel you need.

I’ve been ice fishing for over thirty years and the catching has never been better. The lakes are full of fish and I’ve got gear to tackle every situation available.

I often ice fish alone and I’ve got to be careful. The early season often requires heading out on questionable ice. A Graff USA Floatguard Pro Ice Suit (model215-OB-3) is literally a lifesaver.

A long metal bar (spud bar), ice cleats on the bottom of my lightweight Graff USA boots with cleats and ice picks hanging around my neck are the way to go. As the season progresses, my ATV is fully equipped with GPS, flotation, and a winch.

Early season fishing means walking out with a minimum of gear to get to those willing bluegill and crappie in the shallows. River backwaters and shallow weedy bays are great places to start. I like to use a long rod, at least 40” with a good spring bobber, and a cheapo plastic reel spooled with some bright orange or yellow line.

Lead or Tungsten Jigs?

My favorite early-season panfish jigs are lightweight Custom Jigs & Spins Demons, Ratfinkees, and ‘Gill Pills. These jigs each have a unique different action on the jiggle. I’ll tip them with a few wax worms or spikes.

When the wind is blowing, it is often tough to fish out in the open, that’s when tungsten comes into play. Jigs like the NEW Puki, Wolfinkee, and Chekai jigs are then tungsten versions of the big three jigs mentioned. We have put on extra weight to proven baits when we designed these jigs in tungsten!

Lead jigs and spoons are lighter than tungsten so they have a slower drop speed and more flutter on the fall. Tungsten is nearly twice as heavy as lead so it gets into the fish zone quicker and the jigs fish faster.

Sometimes fast is good, other times not so much. Smaller is better when it comes to big bluegill, crappie will hit anything that looks tasty when they are in the mood.

Go out with a fishing guide

If you want to learn a few tricks and catch a bucket of fish it is best to hire a guide. Most guides will take out more than one angler, you just tag along in the group, and the guide drills your holes, gives you a rod, electronics, bucket...everything you need, and puts you on top of the fish. Brian Zubke (Big B’s Guide Service (608-219-0505)), out of Madison Wisconsin, is one such guy. He is called Big B for a reason, he puts you on the giant bluegill.

Caption: Madison area guide, “Big B” helps us get after the perch!

Another great guide that fishes for panfish as well as white bass and walleye early on is Jesse Quale (608-547-3022). Jesse focuses on backwaters, flowages and lakes in central Wisconsin. I’ve fished with Jesse for probably 30 years and he is always on the hot bite and we always catch a pile!

Caption: Central Wisconsin guide, Jesse Quale really puts the fun in ice fishing and fish catching!

Fishing shallow water and crowds

As the season progresses, there are still plenty of fish in these shallow water haunts but more and more ice anglers appear. It can get pretty dicey as hundreds of folks ascend in areas that just can’t support that much activity and fishing slows.

Larger lakes freeze and more great fishing areas open up to everyone. Last year, though the ice season was pretty iffy in most places, vehicles weren’t able to go everywhere and permanent shacks spent the season up on shore. Enterprising anglers and guides used their feet and portable pop-up shacks to set up camps for perch, walleye, white bass, and trout.

Hardcore guides adapted with airboats. A lot of these airboats. travel where no anglers have gone before; virgin backwaters on the Mississippi River for monster perch and un-fished waters for walleye on Winnebago, Green Bay and Lake Erie.

I traveled around the Winnebago system with Wisconsin guide Justin Kohn (920-229-3494) and we socked it to the perch, walleye, and white bass at the tail end of the season last Winter. These fish were super aggressive as we tested the NEW size 4 Puki spoons tipped with fatheads. You could hang your rod off a bucket with a tail hooked minnow or hook it through the head and work it aggressively and hang on!

Fishing with guide Justin Kohn is always an adventure!

Another guide who has adapted to the sketchy ice with an airboat is Bret Alexander (920-851-4214). Bret offers guided trips for perch, whitefish and trophy walleye. He has dozens of permanent shacks that he moves to the hot areas when the ice is good, gets you out safely by foot in the early season, or will take you out in the airboat for a true adventure! He employs an army of guides and has a warehouse full of gear.