The ice fish cometh

Photo by Bill Eden

By Mary Beth Hartill

The sounds of motorboats have gone, there are no more paddles dipping into the water and the sounds of children frolicking and splashing are no more. The water’s surface has become solid and bit-by-bit, ice huts are making their way onto area lakes.

Experienced ice fishermen like Bill Eden know the lakes. They map out the location of fish in the summer from their motorboats and return in winter to fish those spots, moving from location to location to get the best fishing – waiting diligently for their prey.

But not everyone is as experienced in the ways of ice fishing. For families or first-time fishermen Eden recommends contacting an ice fishing operator or guide, going where the action is and heading out on the ice on a nice day.

“Don’t go out when it’s 40-below and the wind’s blowing,” he says. “There are some nice days when it’s bright and sunny and plus two – it’s lovely.”

He says pick on the perch, rock bass, crappies, or fish that are in abundance. That way your family won’t get bored waiting for a bite.

“Take the kids some place where there’s lots of action,” he says. “When you get the kids into it it’s a really nice family get-together. Lots of action, lots of fun. It’s a blast. If the kids get sick of catching perch and want to go for something bigger then they’ll understand that its not going to be a fish a minute – it’s going to be a couple of fish a day and you have to wait them out.”

Basic gear for ice fishing is an ice fishing rod and reel package that retails for about $40 and a six- to 10-pound test line. Or, Eden says, use the reel from summer fishing and attach it to a shorter rod.

Ice fishing adventurers will also want to wear warm clothing, appropriate winter footwear and take along an extra pair of dry socks, just in case. He also thinks that hand warmers are a great idea.

Eden says going with an ice fishing guide is advised, not only because they have knowledge of the lakes, the fish and the regulations set out by the Ministry of Natural Resources which vary from lake to lake, but they have a responsibility to keep you safe.

Whether fishing with kids or just for a first time out, Eden still recommends perch fishing.

“Perch are abundant, there’s lots of them,” he says. “You’ll catch like 20 fish a day, in all sizes. If you want something that’s harder and bigger, well then go pike fishing along the weed beds in the shallower water. You’ll find pike there in the wintertime and the summertime.”

As always, safety on frozen water is key and a minimum four inches of ice is advised.

“Do not take your ice auger out to see if the ice is thick enough to hold you,” warns Eden. “Because you’re standing on the ice, drilling a hole between your feet.”

Instead he recommends an ice pick to gauge the depth of the ice.

“If you drive it into the ice it will go through at least two inches of solid blue ice. That’s a good thing because you can stand on two inches of ice,” he says.

To see if the ice is safe, use a step-pick-step-pick technique and always head back across the path you’ve tested. It’s also very important to know exactly where you are because out on a frozen lake it is easy to get lost once the landmarks are out of view.

“In some spots there are cities or villages out there,” says Eden of the groups of ice fish huts that pepper the lakes. “You’ve got roads plowed all over the place so you can just hop in your truck and travel when the conditions are right.”

In some cases there are not only cleared roads, but signs directing fishermen to bait shops and ice fishing outfits, too.

“Where these people congregate it’s not necessarily the best fishing. It’s just the easy access to get on the lake,” he says. “In January the guys are taking their sleds and four-wheelers out. It’s usually the end of January, early February before they’ll start taking their pickup trucks out on the lake, depending on the year.”

Unlike the folks that fill these villages, Eden prefers the quiet that he finds during his ice fishing.

“I like the solitude. I like to be out on the lake,” says Eden, who keeps moving for the sake of the hunt. “In a normal day for me I’ll dig about 25 or 30 holes.”

Just like in any sport, when you’re around other ice fishers there are manners in play.

“There is proper etiquette out here. You can’t walk out and cut holes against somebody’s ice hut. Our rule of thumb is you can’t be any closer than what the depth of the water is around the guy’s hut,” Eden says. If you get any closer than that, lines might get tangled. “Then you’ve got one awful mess going on.”

And just because it’s cold doesn’t mean the ice is safe.

“If we get a cover of ice on the lakes and then we get a dumping of say, 12 inches of snow, you’ve got bad ice now for the rest of the winter,” says Eden. “You’ve got that thin layer of ice on the bottom that’s really not hard enough to hold you, then you’ve got snow on top that’s an insulator. It never freezes for the rest of the winter.”

The result: dangerous ice conditions with snowmobiles and people landing in icy waters. Again, a pretty good reason to head out on the ice with an ice-fishing guide that knows what he’s doing.