Keep Your Ice Outings Safe And Successful

Traveling around Central Wisconsin from county to county, probing through the ice on many of  our state’s most popular bodies of water like I do is nothing to jump right into without doing some homework before each and every outing. Whether you are an avid ice angler that spends more time on hard water than in a boat, or just getting into the sport of ice fishing, there are many things to consider in order to keep every adventure safe. I am not only sharing safety tips here, but many different strategies that keep me and my clients consistently successful on many different frozen lakes.

EARLY ICE

Early ice can be some of the best fishing that you get into all winter, but that is also when someone may be at risk of the unexpected “polar plunge.” The three main hazards, when it comes to travel on any frozen lake, are current, cracks, and birds.  I like to start my early ice scouting before the ice is even close to safe by watching with binoculars from land. I will watch for uneven freezing in certain areas; which could be from geese keeping an area open or even wind and current that doesn’t allow the area to settle down and freeze the same day.  These areas are most important to know about for the first few weeks of the ice season until the ice thickness evens out over time. If you are unaware of an area that has just recently frozen over, you are at risk of breaking through.

Once the ice is finally safe, I run through my lake to lake patterns. What I mean by that is some of the lakes that I make my winter living on are always safe to navigate well before others are even frozen.  Shallower lakes like Puckaway, Poygan, and Butte des Morts, are usually fishable and productive far before some of the other big lakes.  Shortly after that I start roaming the river channel of the Wisconsin River, such as Castle Rock and Petenwell. That is about the same time that Winnebago is ready for ATV travel.  I normally have close to two months of great ice fishing in on these lakes and many more before we can start ice fishing on Big Green Lake. Like the rest, Big Green will have areas that are safe and areas of dangerous thin ice. The east half of the lake is always safe first due to more 100 foot depths, unlike the west end having more 200 foot depths. I have always said the most important information to have on any frozen lake is where the thin ice or pressure cracks might be. A guy told me one time that being on the ice every single day was high risk of getting wet, but I disagree. I feel much safer by practically living on the ice and watching new pressure cracks form and observing areas that could be a hazard on a regular basis.

Safety Strategy

Now that I’ve preached a little safety strategy, I can talk about some search techniques. It is hard to beat the run and gun method on most lakes, but I have seen this crazy short window of  fish movement over and over again.  During this short time of each day, you need to have a rod in your hand and not an auger.  What I mean is, I will have scouts and or clients in many different areas of a lake on the same day.  The fish will light up for everybody all at once, then 10 minutes later you would think that they disappeared, but they haven’t. They just don’t move until they want to eat.  This short window occurs at the same time with different fish all over the lake every couple of hours.  Many days of the winter I see these sporadic feeds that will accumulate a nice mess of fish for those who wait them out by staying glued to their locator.  On these days, or locations, the person that moved 25 times will usually have an empty pale at the end of the day. Most likely because during the short feeding window they may have been drilling or driving. By no means do I simply pick a spot and sit there all day on just any body of water. This only works for me on structure such as river channels, reefs, brush piles, stumps, and weeds; places that fish actually live during the winter months.

On the other hand, for some of the lakes that I frequently guide on, it is popular to search the sand, gravel, and mud flats for hungry schools of fish.  While targeting flats like that, I don’t sit still until I land on the fish. The open water flats of Puckaway, Winnebago, and Poygan have schools of roaming fish that sometimes take a lot of work to find.  In these cases, the way I search for schools is almost nonstop drilling of holes. Fishing half of them, and just dropping the locater in the other half to cover more area in less time. I will quite often drop the transducer in and out of a line of a dozen holes before I mark a fish or school of fish.  When I mark a fish, I quickly rifle a Swedish Pimple or Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon tipped with a minnow head or Chena bait down the hole. I try to read the fish by their first reaction, if it ignores my bait and travels by it, it could likely be baitfish or a rough fish. If it comes toward my search bait (jigging spoon), but does not bite it, I will then go to a tungsten jig tipped with either a spike, wax worm, or Chena bait. Another one of my go to finesse baits is a Northland bloodworm. I know it is going to be good when they come up fast and hammer the jigging spoon after a few aggressive twitches.  This approach will often lead us into hungry schools of perch, white bass, crappies, and walleyes all mixed together.  Sometimes it does take 100 or more holes of searching before we start filling buckets with fish.

Follow the preseason scouting tips to assure safety before traveling on any frozen bodies of water. Remember, knowing the type of lake or structure that you are targeting will tell you whether to wait for the fish to wake up and start to feed or if you need to travel and fish aggressively to find them. Also start with a louder shinier lure to locate fish then switch to more subtle lures if the fish don’t get fired up for it.   You will also find more helpful ice condition reports and fishing tips at www.Lake-Link.com

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Gear & Tackle to Kick Start the Ice Season

First Ice

By: Kyle Sorensen

My favorite time of the year has begun, and I have looked forward to this time since March. The anticipation has just been killing me up to this point, burning what feels like a hole in my chest.  It has seemed as though the days on the calendar have really taken their time to turn, even though in reality, the time within each day has remained the same.  I look forward to this time as there are many factors in play, and to me, it’s not just the ice fishing, but the entire experience and the challenges first ice presents. 

First ice is challenging.  It takes a lot for an angler to be able to successfully, and safely, tackle the first ice fishing environment; a lot of it relies on preparation.  As the temperatures are dropping, I am checking that “reliable” forecast coming in on my phone, hoping and praying for bitter cold numbers, with minimal wind.  Here on the Winnebago System (as with a lot of other places), this optimal forecast has been pretty hard to find the last few years.  Once I see something looking all purdy, such as a single digit temperature with a light and variable wind forecasted for a couple days, I’m ecstatic.  With that being said, the last few years I have found myself to be devastated when the numbers change and we pop up into the upper 30’s, leading me to feel like sitting on a beach somewhere, and the wind speeds of 15mph, relating to hurricane force winds in my mind… Yeah, it’s not that bad, but I don’t know how else to explain the feeling. 

It all starts with a skim layer of ice.  When it has been seen, the many trips to the bays and the Upper Lakes’ launches begin, along with the preparation.  Prepare?  What’s there to prepare for?  A nice, balmy 40-degree day to mess it all up?  Probably, but I’m sure a few of you go into preparation mode same as I do.  The rods are checked and rechecked.  The tackle is given a couple more once-overs, and the auger is probably started a couple more times in the garage, (just to let the neighbors know you’re ready).  The watching and re-watching of YouTube videos climbs to new heights because you never know if you saw every detail.  The one thing we do the most during this time is hope, hope for it to get here… now. 

On December 12th of last year, I made my way out onto Lake Poygan for the first time with a couple buddies.  Looking at the lake before stepping foot onto it gave me a very desolate feeling.  The only sound I heard was the small pieces of snow, gracefully dancing across the ice.  Even though I have spent many hours on Lake Poygan over the years, this adventure, like all, needed to have all of the safety aspects addressed.  I had my Frabill i-Float suit zipped and clipped, the phone was in a waterproof case, and a throw bag of rope was strapped to my hip… one CANNOT be too careful on the ice at any time of the season.  With safety concerns addressed, Ryan and I had the spuds at the ready, while Jason carried the Nils auger as we stepped onto the hardwater of Lake Poygan for the first time that season. 

Poking and prodding, zigging and zagging, we moved in and around the easily visible (and hidden) ice variations; it definitely took some time. About an hour and a half in, we had done it.  We had made it to some fishable water!  What a workout, but it was needed as we had passed areas with open water to about 6” of ice.  Standing out there, taking in a 360-degree view of what was around us… it was an amazing feeling.  I couldn’t help but thinking that we might have been the first individuals to walk onto the hardwater on Lake Poygan that season, able to access fishing ground. 

So how was the fishing, you ask?  Well, guess what, we didn’t even wet a line!  We did all that work for nothing, right? No.  This is what I’m getting at.  First ice is an experience that I love.  It challenges us in many ways, mentally and physically, to be able to feel the adrenaline rush of adventure.  A few days later, that “reliable” forecast I previously mentioned came around and messed up the ice conditions on our system.  With that, I was back on the hunt. 

Last year I wrote an article about traveling to find ice (from 2015) which lead us to Lake Nokomis.  It was a fun trip, and certainly one full of learning.  Well, we did the same last year, up into the same area but landed at Lake Alice this time.  The warmer days leading up to the trip only gave us 6”-7” of good ice without any snow cover to speak of so the snowmobile was grounded and the walking adventures began.  It was a fun trip and we caught some small walleyes but the feeling of getting onto the hardwater to get the lines wet for the first time was great. 

On the last day, we were blessed with a few inches of snow.  This lead me to walking across lake, spudding my steps, and checking the ice thickness to make my own trail for my sled to get across the lake to the marked snowmobile trail on the other side.  When that was accomplished, my wife and I jumped on the sled and got to experience some trail riding.  It was her first time and she loved it… I thought maybe I could convince her that I “needed” to upgrade my old sled for this year.  Tell me if I’m wrong, but if we don’t jump on the chance to take advantage of a situation such as this, we might miss the chance, right?  At least that sounded like an optimal time to bring up the conversation… but it failed… for now. 

If presented with less than optimal conditions again this year, who knows where I’ll end up chasing ice this year during the first ice period.  It’s always great to have backup plans in place in case our home bodies of water don’t freeze as quickly as we want.  The hunt for first ice can take us to many locations and present us with some amazing experiences.  Just like with everything else, you must work to be successful while chasing the feeling first ice can give you. 

If you want a fun adventure this year, I want you to do something.  Pick out a body of water to fish this season that is within two hours from your house, preferably north as you have a better chance at getting better ice conditions earlier in the year.  Plan for a shorter trip, a few days, so in case something goes wrong in what I’m suggesting, you won’t be wasting a full week or more.  If it does pan out, you’ll be mad that I only suggested a few days.  Either way, it will be an adventure, this I promise. 

With that said, make sure the body of the water that you pick out is something that is fishable and has somewhat of a reputation, as long as it’s a decent one.  Then look into lodging.  The place you stay certainly doesn’t need to be the Taj Mahal, just something to keep you warm and in an ideal location to the body of water you plan to target.  Check out VRBO and local tourism websites for the best/cheapest deal.  Once your lodging is set, pick up a topographic map of the body of water you are fishing and study it to its fullest.  Do all of the online research you can do and make some calls to local establishments. Try not to solely rely on what bait shops tell you. You might think this sounds absurd to not include the top resource, but trust me, it challenges you more to learn, possibly new things at that, and that makes the experience so much more fulfilling when doing it on your own, at least in my book.  Speaking from experience, if you go onto a brand new body of water and you are even the slightest bit successful, it will be an awesome feeling.  I have seen joy-filled faces, including on the Winnebago System, when a rookie (which could be any one of us) gets to fish an active school of fish. 

I have every bit of feeling that this year is going to be an amazing year on the hardwater.  I know so many of you are as excited as me and for good reason, especially on the Winnebago System.  This fall/late summer bite that we are slowly transitioning out of has been one of the best, if not the best, late season bites I have ever experienced on our system.  I truly hope this bite continues into the hardwater and we are able to land on one of the massive “zombie” schools of walleye we saw all last year.  Hopefully this year, those zombies will come to life and it will be some fast-paced action for the record books.  As the first ice hits, keep an eye on the OB Outdoors Facebook page for updates, and as always, until next time, “Tight Lines. Stay Dry.” – Kyle 

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Thermacell Product Review

New Thermacell Products

Effective, scent free, easy to use.

These are the three ideas every outdoorsman wants to hear in their equipment. Thermacell has come out with the new Radius Zone and MR450 Portable! These new Thermacell products complement the outdoorsman with just a push of a button.

Radius Zone

The Radius zone is a huge advancement in bug repellent technology. With just a push of a button you will become bug free! Being the first of its kind as an all battery powered product, the Radius Zone features a compact and slick design that creates 40 hours of protection. Stop dealing with messy and sticky sprays and check out what Thermacell has to offer!

The Radius Zones specifications are as follows:

• Push-button simplicity. Turn it on…Mosquitoes Gone!
• This product is temporarily unavailable in California
• No messy sprays or lotions. Scent-free and DEET-Free.
• Air travel friendly and consistent operation at any elevation
• Rechargeable – 6+ hours of operation per charge, and can operate while charging
• Includes automatic off timer mode
• Lasts up to 40 hours of operation on a single refill (40 hr refill sold separately)
• Compact and powerful. Protects a 110 square foot area
• Package contains: 1 rechargeable Radius Repeller, 1 12-hour refill, and 1 USB battery charger

Click Here for Radius Zone

MR450 Portable Mosquito Repeller  

The MR450 features an armored casing that helps protect itself in the most extreme weather conditions. The MR450 is built to last and handle any amount of Mosquitos that come your way. With a scent-free and deet free formula the MR450 tackles a radius of 15 ft, perfect for any outdoorsman. The MR450 features ZoneCheck technology which allows you to see a visual indicator (blue light) when the scent zone is created. Further, upgrades to the switches and ignition buttons allows for a positive connection and an 80% drop in noise upon ignition.

The MR450 specifications are as follows:

• Added features include: Rubber armored, ZoneCheck, Belt clip, Quiet ignition, Reengineered grill and switch, Improved ergonomics, and Accessory mounting system
• ZoneCheck provides a visual indication when zone of protection is created
• Ideal for repelling mosquitoes from the backyard to the great outdoors
• Portable and lightweight
• No spray and no mess. Scent-free and DEET-free.
• No open flame, no smoky candles
• Package contains: 1 MR450 Repeller, 1 belt clip, 1 CR2032 battery, and 12 hours of refills – 3 repellent mats and 1 fuel cartridge

Click Here for MR450

Accessories

Looking for accessories? Check out the links below!

• Multipurpose clamp
• Tree Hanger
• Holster
• All purpose swivel light
• Carry bag

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VIDEO OF THE DAY

Ice season is upon us! Check out this crazy video!

Massive Trout While Ice Fishing…

Must Watch! These guys will make you want to go fishing Credit unknown, please message page.

Posted by Basscasters on Tuesday, February 27, 2018

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Potential State Record Musky Caught in Washington

Potential State Record Musky Caught in Washington

David Hickman caught this 37 pound 14 ounce tiger muskie on Curley Lake in the state of Washington. If approved, it will be the next state record

It’s been a big year for big fish in the state of Washington and we may be able to add another record fish to the books. A potential state record tiger muskie was caught on Curlew Lake, Washington, one of the state’s best Tiger Muskie fisheries. Earlier this year a new Washington state record walleye was caught as well. 

Fisherman David Hickman caught this 37 pound, 14 ounce Tiger Muskie on July 25th. The fish was 50.37 inches long and was weighed on a certified scale according to the Spokesman Review.  If all is approved by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the muskie will top the current record of 31.25 pounds that was set back in 2001.

Muskie fishing is a sport of it’s own and features some of the most hardcore anglers in the world. Tiger muskies are a cross-breed of female muskies and male northern pike. They are a sterile fish and they are stocked in Curlew Lake in Washington without fear that they’ll take over, since they can’t reproduce. The giant muskie that Hickman caught was 12 years old and was planted in the lake back in 2002 along with 335 others.

Washington state fishery biologists were not surprised about the catch and Bill Baker said that he thinks Curlew is one of the fastest growing and most robust tiger muskie fishing spots in the state.

According to Muskies Inc., an organization promoting muskie conservation, Washington produced eight of the top 13 all-tackle tiger muskies officially recorded in the U.S. in 2013, and eight of the top 10 in its fly-fishing category.

We’ve seen some great muskie photos coming in lately and the hot season is creeping up. What’s the biggest muskie that you’ve landed?

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Tackle Organization

Tackle Organization 101…Class is In Session

By: Glenn Walker

Many anglers spend their time during the winter and early spring getting their fishing tackle ready for the next year, while others are just getting their tackle all set for this fishing season. Regardless of the scenario you fall into, there is never a bad time to look over your tackle and make sure it is all organized.

As a tournament fisherman I have found an organized tackle box is one of the most important things to help maximize your time and efficiency on the water. The time you spend in the offseason organizing tackle will aid in you finding the items you need quicker next fishing season, resulting in more fishing time.

To keep my tackle organized in my boat, I use a variety of Lure Lock plastic cases to customize each case for certain bait styles and bodies of water. This way I can easily re-rig rods in the evening before a fishing trip and even more importantly find that key lure when I’m on the water.

For all of my hardbaits – like crankbaits and topwater plugs – along with terminal tackle items like hooks, weights and jigheads, I use the Lure Lock cases that have the proprietary blue gel in the bottom of the case. This gel secures items to the bottom of the case, so as I’m running down the lake, my baits stay in place. The result is fewer damaged lures, or lures with boat rash, and your hook points won’t rub on one another or the side of the plastic case and become dull. Heck, I can even turn the case upside down with tackle in it and they won’t fall out.

Sorting and separating

I organize my crankbaits by how deep they run and style of crankbait. Now if I have a lot of a certain style, I have one case for one color palette and a separate case for another. This is similar for lipless crankbaits as well. I have one case for shad-colored baits and another Lure Lock case with crawfish and chartreuse-colored baits.

I feel organizing your baits in a layout like this is beneficial because you can grab the cases you need for a particular fishing trip and leave the others at home. This way you limit the amount of tackle you are bringing with you, which 1) reduces the amount of clutter and weight in the boat, and 2) keeps you focused on fishing and not always looking for that next lure to tie on.

For my terminal tackle items, I only want to bring enough weights or jigheads to get me through that day on the water, as I can restock that evening. A handful of weights in each size will easily stay secured to the gel in my cases and keep from coming in contact with each other and chipping off the paint chip. The same goes for my shaky head and jig-worm heads. A few heads in the needed sizes will keep the weight in my boat down.

 

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