This page is about ice fishing in Minnesota. It may sound strange to those of you who live where the water stays soft, but ice fishing is great fun. And its not all snow and cold either, not when you dress for the weather, which means dressing in layers of clothes.
Ice fishing is differant from fishing in the summer, both in tactics and tackle.
Generally, the metabalizim of the fish is slower (due to the cold), so the fish are less active. You therefore, need to change your presentation of your bait/lure. Lures and bait must be smaller, the tackle (line, lures, hooks, etc) must be smaller, and action (ie jigging) must be less active.
The heaviest line I use in the winter (on rods and reels) is 6# test ice line (line specially designed to be more limp in the cold). On my tip-ups, I use 20# test black braided line with a 12" steel leader for Northern Pike.
Another differance between hard and soft water fishing is your "boat". Some Minnesotans ice fish in the open, but most use a "ice house" or "fish house". Some are homemade, some are purchased, some portable, some you need a truck to move. In any case, when it's cold and the wind is howling, a fish house and a little heat can make all the differance.
I want to see some pictures....
Heard about the Pro Ice Fishing League? You have got to check out the Minnesota Fighting Ticks, a team in the IPIFL (Indoor Professional Ice Fishing League). The "Ticks" were the 1998 League Champions. Way to go Ticks!!!
When you visit
the Ticks page, be sure to listen to the exciting "sudden death
fish out", during which they won the 1998 season championship.
The winter of 2002/2003 started off much better than 2001/2002. We got a
good early (November) freeze, but were plagued thru-out the season by above
average temps. While great for open air fishing, they caused havoc on the
ice, causing holes to open up on the ice, making it much more dangerous to
travel on, and at times, causing "permanent" houses to actually fall thru
in to open water. But thru it all, we managed to get some time on the ice,
and caught some fish. While I didn't get out as many times as previous years
due to other commitments, I did get some nice fish (size).
The day after Christmas I was left "home alone" - as the wife and kids
left to visit relatives. I took advantage of the "joyous" occasion to hit the
ice. I got a beautiful day, sunshine, mild - the temps hit the mid 30's with
no wind. I went to Cedar Lake in Rice County. I wanted to try some Northern Pike
fishing along some of the many weed beds during the daylight hours, and then
change locations in the late afternoon, and work a spot for crappies.
I got on the ice about 1pm, and started fishing for pike, with tip-ups
and a jigging rod. Didn't get a bite, but did capture this picture of a
spear house that had seen many seasons of use.
At 4pm, I moved to the spot I wanted to try for crappie. As dusk came, and darkness settled in, I began to get a few extremely light bites on minnows,
the kind where the bobber just twitches on the water surface. These turned out
to be small crappie, none over 6" long. I kept trying - and the bobber once
again twitched - I set the hook, and the fight was on - this was no crappie!
I was fishing a slow action rod, with 2# test line, and the drag on my reel
howled as the fish took line - the rod was doubled over into a "U" shape. The
fish took line, I got line back - back and forth we went. Gradually I got the
fish to come up - my slip bobber cleared the ice - and the line went slack!
I had stripped the fish off the hook on the edge of the hole. I was sick.
Then it made sense - what I had seen in a "In-Fisherman" ice fishing video - Al
Linder and his co-horts would guide the line up the center of the hole with
their hands, thus preventing what had happened to me.
My guess is that I had hooked a Walleye or possibly a Catfish, due to the manner
in which the fish wanted to "slug" it out down deep.
Christmas Eve morning found me on the ice, once again persuing trout. This time, my luck was worse - saw 10-12 thru the ice/holes, but unable to hook
any.
I did how ever, have the chance to try out my brand new Eskimo Quik Flip III
portable fish house. The "QF3" is comparable to the Otter Magnum model. It fishes two fishermen quite comfortably, and has enough head room to allow you to stand up with out needing to stoop over.
Our first trip of the year was for trout. There was no snow, the water was
crystal clear, as was the ice, and about 4" thick. The ice was so clear, we
were able to find openings and clearings in the weed lines by looking thru
the ice. We saw many trout, I would say upwards of 30, thru our holes and looking thru the ice, but we only managed one fish.
The winter of 2001/2002 shall be known as the year of the portable fish house. We got a very late freeze up - as we didn't have good ice until Christmas or later. On top of this, we had a mild winter, with many days above 40 degrees. Many of the lakes were closed to car/truck traffic due to lack of sufficent ice
thickness. Many "permanent" fish houses never made it to the ice this winter.
Alex and I fished a brand new lake. I got a tip from a DNR officer I know that
we should try Lake X, as there were some nice sunfish biting. We acted on the
tip, and got to the ice about 4.00, only to find the ice at shore broken up
and open water, due to the mild weather we had been having. We finally got on
to the solid ice, but I got wet from the knees down for our trouble.
Finally in the area we wanted to fish at 5.00, I bored some holes, and dropped
the transducer from the Vexilar in the water. 20 of water, fish at 12 foot.
I lowered a pink jig with a #12 hook, tipped with a wax worm and a slip
bobber. The bobber twitched, I set the hook. Fish on!! On 1# test, the
8" sunfish we got gave a good show of themselves. Alex and I combined for
21 sunfish, and 6 crappie. I also caught 1 walleye, which stayed in the
lake (walleye season had closed). The fish bit until 6.10, and then it
was as if they went home. The bite just stopped.
I went to see if I could get some night time crappies. The fishing was slow,
I ended up with two fish. Both caught on minnows. I could "see" fish on the
screen of the Vexilar, but could not figure out what the trick was that night
to get them to bite.
This was a warm day - it was 46 degrees when we left for the lake, myself and
sons Aaron and Alex. We got on the ice about 4.30, and got the house setup, as
it was going to cool down that evening. Since our house will only sit two
fisherman, we agreed to rotate in-out of the house as we got cold. We fished
the same area as on the 20th, but the word had spread. There were many - many
more houses in the area, and many more fisherman. The fish didn't bite as well,
and there was more commotion - but we ended up with 14 crappie and one sunfish
between the 3 of us.
These pictures were taken with a Logitech Quick Cam Traveler, which was a
Christmas gift. Nice little digital camera, unfortuneately, it does not have a flash.
I went to Cedar Lake in Rice County, and got on the ice about 3.00. I got
one perch, then nothing until about 5.30, even having moved the house twice.
At 5.30, I returned to my house, having been outside chatting with other fishermen in the area - for all of us it was equally slow, only
to find one of my bobbers under the ice. I set the hook, and retrieved a fat
sunfish. Then the crappies came. In the the next two hours, I caught 13 crappie,
with 6 of them being 10" or better - they were nce crappies. I used minnows for
bait. I was in 16 ft. of water, the crappies were at 13-15 ft.
We had great late ice in 2001. It lasted in to the 1st week of April
and I took advantage of it. On the 3rd, I went by my lonesome, and got in
to a mess of sunfish and crappie. They were staged up (pre-spawn)in shallow water (5 ft). It was about 45 degrees, so it was very comfortable fishing. I
got on the ice about 5.00, and by sunset (7.30 or so), I had my limit of
sunfish, and 10 crappie to boot. Bait was wax worms.
On the 6th, I talked my co-worker, Dave in to joining me - as in - this
might be it for the year. Dave brought his 10 y.o. son Drew along. Went
to the same spot that I fished on Sunday, and the fish co-operated again
for all of us.
We made another trip to Faribault on Mar. 3. We got on the
ice about 4pm. Nothing much doing for any one - not even
seeing fish on the sonar. At 5pm, we relocated - still in 16
feet of water as we had been. I spotted a fish suspended at
10 ft on the sonar - and caught it, then a 2nd, both sunfish.
Alex relocated - then he began to catch a few, while my hole
quit. I dug another hole - only to see my line begin to twitch,
and blips appear on the sonar - and we were off. The fish
began to bite more steadily as the sun began to go down (about
5.30). We fired up the lantern, fishing by its light until
7.30. We got 17 sunfish, and 13 crappie. The fish were suspended
any where from 8 to about 12 ft of water. They did not bite hard - often the only indication of a fish was a slight twitch
of the bobber - the sonar paid off here - as it would "warn" of
the fish - so that we could pay closer attention to the activity
of our bobbers. We used wax worms, minnows, and euro-larve. I broke off twice - using my noodle rod and 1 pound test line. As we quit - the screen of the sonar was a mass of red blips - each marking a fish. The fish came just steady enough that I never did get a line going in that 2nd hole.
Alex and I made our first trip to the Faribault area. We got
on the ice about 3.30pm - fished until 6.30. We were in 12 foot of water, the fish were hugging the bottom - 6" to a foot. We used wax worms and crappie minnows. Got 24 sunfish, 11 crappie and 4 perch. We noticed that one hole of our house must have been over some bit of structure - possibly a rock pile, as that hole out produced the other 3, regardless of which one of us fished it.
Spent the afternoon by myself - no one to fish with me - everyone was busy. Fished until about 7.00, got one nice rainbow trout -
13 3/4", roughly 1 1/2 pounds - fish fought well, was using
a jig and wax worm in 16' water, using a ultra light rod with
2 lb. test line - the fish excerised the drag quite well, making
several good runs.
Also saw a 21" rainbow caught the same afternoon - a very impressive fish. It was caught by a young boy 11 years old - he
had quite a tussle.
Made a get-a-way trip with my son Aaron. We caught about 20 fish, but they were all small, with the exception of one fat perch, and one keeper sunfish.
On this particular day, I didn't get out icefishing, but heard a great tale
about icefishing. My Missouri buddie Mel called, and related a story which I
have placed on its own page complete with pictures . I laughed so hard as Mel told this tale. I hope you enjoy it.
We got off to a good start for the winter of 2000-2001. We fished
twice, and did well on trout both trips. On our first expedition on Dec. 10, we got on to the ice about 3pm. By the time we quit
at 5.30, we had 4 nice trout, and a couple of small-ish crappie.
3 of the trout measured 10 1/2 - 11 inches, and one measured
14". This was a very nice fish. I must confess that I caught one
of the 11"ers, and Alex caught the rest. We were fishing in
10 feet of water, and used waxworms and minnows for bait.
Alex and his 14 inch Rainbow. We tryed to show the fish size in this pic - but the numbers on the rule on the wall of the fish house didn't show up in the photo.
Alex with the fish we got right before we packed up to go home.
Our next trip to the ice occured on Dec. 23, which is Alex's
birthday. On this trip, we got on the ice about 10.00, and by
12.30, we had each taken limits of Rainbow's. We fished in nearly
the same spot as on Dec. 10, using the same tactics. My Vexilar
sonar proved very useful, as I was able to see the fish I caught
come in, and was waiting for them to strike. High tech equipment
proved no disadvantage for Alex, as he pulled in two beautiful
13" fish on this day.
Alex and the first of two 13 inch fish
he caught. Alex and his other 13 inch fish. I claim full responsibility for the angle at which this
picture was taken - no excuses.
We were unable to get out fishing on the first two weekends of
the month, but have made up for it the last two. On the 20th,
we fishing two lakes - got one sunfish, two perch on the first
lake - so we moved. On the second - to remain un-named - we
got in to some sunfish in about 6' of water - fishing both small
grub worm type baits and minnows. Action picked up substantially after
3PM. We filled out limits about 5.45, so we were about to leave,
when we found out crappies were biting on the same lake after
dark - so we relocated - set up the house, and fished until
7.30, and got 10 crappies to boot.
Alex and a 'gill. Notice the snow? Now keep
scrolling and look at things on Feb. 25....
On the 25th, Alex and I visited the local lake we fished in
December. We caught 12 crappie, and each of us got one good bite
by a trout - mine was a really good fish - it fought well - taking line in short spurts - I got the fish up to just under
the ice, and I lost it. Argh!!!
I was using #2 glow
Swedish Pimple tipped with a small crappie minnow. The Vexilar
(depth finder) really paid off here - we were in 14 ft of water, and were able to put our baits in front of suspended fish at varying depths.
Alex fishin' crappies. Notice the distinct lack of snow? This is what 5 days of 40-50 degree temps and 2" of
rain did for us.
On the 27th, we took friends out for an afternoon, and got them
in to sunfish. The lake looks much differant from a week ago - where there was 10" snow - now there is just ice - thanks to
a week of 40-50 degree temps and a couple inches of rain. We
still have a good 12" of ice, but the warm weather has caused the
edges of the lake to start to melt, so getting to the thick ice
may become a bit tricky.
I have been out on the ice twice so far. On January 16, I went
fishing for trout again. Got one small crappie, and one really good bite, but was too slow to hook the fish.
Took Alex fishing for crappie on January 30, on a lake near
Faribault Mn. The bait shop folks told us to fish in about 40
foot of water, and that the fish were at about 35 feet. This
fishing wouldn't be fast, but stay long enough and "you'll get
some...". We did get some fish. Good thing Alex was along, as
he upheld the family honor. He got two, I missed 4-5.
Took my son's and daughter fishing on Dec. 23. We went to a small, local lake, spending about 4 hrs. on the ice. We caught
4 rainbow trout, ranging in size from 11-13". Alex, the youngest, caught 2, on his birthday no less. Aaron caught 1, as did I. Amy
hooked and lost a good fish - she had the fish's head and part of
its body out of the hole. The fish was thrashing, and the line
(2# test) snapped. Based on what the boy's saw, we are guessing
that Amy's fish weighed 3-4#.
Alex's first fish. He caught this
on a minnow and bobber setup.
His other fish.
We made 4 additional trips to various lakes over Christmas
week. Only 3 fish to report, a perch and two sunfish. One of the
trips we went after walleyes, but the fish were very fussie - bites were very light, and very infrequent.
This is my son Alex, with a sunfish on a late
March trip we made. I did him a dis-service, as I had him
looking in to the late after-noon sunshine for this picture,
so there is a good reason for his squninting. On this trip,
we got a nice assortment of sunfish.
The pictures which follow were taken in February of 1999 unless
otherwise indicated. My friend
Melmac, a Missouri resident, came up for a ice fishing trip. He had never icefished,
and I was his guide for the weekend.
This
is Melmac, and this picture was taken our first morning on the ice. The weather
was extremely mild, and we stood out in the open. The fish
were biting, except for me, as Mel and the guys around us
were catching fish. I had several bites, but couldn't hook
one. This fish (a rainbow trout) was about 10-11" long, and weighed about a
pound. Mel caught it on a jig and minnow.
A nice 17" Rainbow trout, caught thru the ice on a wax worm. This fish was caught by
another fisherman, who was fishing near by - I'm sorry to
say I never got his name. I had fished this particular lake several times during the 1999 season, and never did catch
one of these fish, although I hooked one (got it up to the point of being just under the ice, then I lost it.)
On one trip (not this one), I watched the fish thru my hole. They would swim up to my minnow, bump it with their "nose", then
swim away. When I saw this one, I had to take a picture, as proof they exist.
My fish house, loaded with gear for a
trip down the lake.
Myself, caught by Melmac, in the process of putting a hole in the ice. By the time this
picture and the previous picture was taken, we had switched lakes and the weather had changed. A brisk wind picked
up and it got quite humid - there was a definite chill to
the air - so we had the house and heat. On
this lake we really got in to the sunfish.
This picture was taken in January of 1999.
It was a slow day on the ice, and we had moved the house
several times, before we got in to school of small yellow perch, one of which is shown here. Not what I wanted, but it got me a
ice fishing buddy, and that is the important part. Since that
time, Alex has been with me on a number of trips and is contributing to the freezer with the fish he is catching.
Hey, whats that in the background?! That can't be a mirage. That's
got to be a beach-nymph!! Where the heck did she come from? They're supposed to
go south in the winter... The "nymph" was added by Melmac, whom you have already met. He is a graphic artist. :):)
The pictures which follow were taken in Jan 1974, while I was
on "Christmas" leave from the Air Force. It was cold that year, many of the days were sub-zero. Fishing outdoors was mostly out of the question, especially with my limited supply of cold weather clothing.
My future in-laws had a spear house, and we "fished" (speared) northern pike from it. A spear house, or dark house,
is a small fishhouse, for one or two people. There are no windows, only a door, small stove for heat and a bench to sit
on. The entire interior is painted black, so as to maximize the
light that comes into the house from the hole which is cut in
to the ice - most of the floor is a large hole, which is used in turn to look into a the lake, via a large hole which is cut thru
the ice, something in the range of 2x3'.
A spear house is located in the shallows, so that the bottom
can be seen, and in turn the fish. Your bait is a large
sucker minnow, or as my in-laws used then, a wooden or fiberglass decoy. The decoy was used to attract the fish in to
the hole, and then the fisherman would "throw" the spear. If
you were fast enough, and your aim was true, you could get some
fish.
This was my only encounter with spearing.
More pictures will be coming....
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Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003© Jim Laumann.
Pictures of myself, family members, and friends - by year
2002
December
Dec. 26
By my count, this ice fishing veteran has seen 23 seasons on the ice.Dec. 24
A side view of the QF3. Dec. 8
I got this 13.75" trout on a red glow Angel Eye JR jigging
minnow tipped with a 1/2 minnow. We saw many fish (sight fishing), but could
only convice this fish to bite. This one I got by seeing the fish come to look
at the lure, and then slowed reeled up the lure and minnow. It made 3 swipes
at the lure before it caught up to the lure. This picture does not do this
fish the credit it deserves.February:
Feb. 23
Feb. 16
January:
Jan. 26
This is a left and right hand view of the scene when we arrived. There were 3 or 4 times the number of houses and fishermen on 26th, as comparded to the 20th.Jan. 20
Jan. 1
Alex and I traveled to Beaver Lake, in Steele County. Beaver is
about 80 acres, and heavily used by ski boats and jet skis in the summer - but
this was ice time. We set up about 30' from a public fishing pier, near a
weedline - my hope being that we might find a Northern Pike or two. Instead we
found yellow perch, lots of yellow perch. In 5 ft. of water, we had an afternoon
of them. They were 8-10' long (the big ones), and hungry. We threw alot of smaller ones back, but got enough for a nice meal. Granted, these weren't the
"jumbo" perch northern Minnesota is known for, but they tasted just as good in
the frying pan.
2001
December
We almost didn't make it on to the ice this month. Alex
and I spent 3 hours on it on Dec. 31. We tryed our hands at trout, but they
had been heavily pressured by fisherman who were able to get on the ice before our schedule allowed, so they were scarce (stocked lake). Neither of us got
a bite by the trout, although Alex did catch two small crappie.
April:
March:
February:
Feb 18:
Feb 11:
January:
January 5:
January 1:
2000
December:
February:
January:
1999
December:
March:
This is my youngest
son, Alex, with his first fish caugh thru the ice. It's not the
greatest picture, as I had my camera set for panorama shots, and
its somewhat dim, but I think you can see that he is pretty happy.
1998
The following photos were taken on Dec. 26, 1998, on Lake
Jennie, located in central Minnesota.
Dawn on Lake Jennie. It was crystal clear and
crisp this particular morning. The sunrise was so pretty, I
just had to snap it. This picture was taken before 7am, just as we got to our location on the ice.
This is my brother-in-law, Loren, with a really nice walleye he caught. This fish weighed 6.5#.
Myself on the same trip with
a nice LM Bass. This fish was caught in 10-12 ft. of water while jigging
a Chartruse #3 Swedish Pimple tipped with a minnow. We never weighed this fish on a scale, but I am guessing it was in the 4-5 pound range.
On this trip, we (myself, my son Aaron, brother-in-laws Brian, Loren and
Lee) caught 12 keeper Walleye's, a Nothern Pike, and
this Bass. Not a bad mornings work......1974
As it went that year, they were not seeing fish, so one afternoon, Bruce (wife's brother) & I moved the house to a new
spot. I took this picture of Bruce moving the house away from
the "old" hole - which can be seen in the shadows.
After we moved the house, Bruce went to check how the fishing was with someone else he knew
on the lake, leaving me alone in the house. A northern came in
to the decoy, and I did just as Bernie (my future father inlaw)
instructed - lower the head of the spear in to the water, until the entire head and part of the shank is in the water - then use
the shank as a aiming device, throw the spear at the fish. My aim
was off a bit - but I got him - it was a 3# pike. I yelled for
Bruce, he came back and joined me. A second fish came in - this
one Bruce took - it was a pike of 6#. In this picture - that is
my arm - I am holding the 6# fish, as mine had already been filleted by the time the "take a picture" cry was sounded. I can't remember who of my wifes family took this picture, but I
think they must have been more impressed by the fish than me!