ADAPTION FOR

By: Ice Team Pro, Ryan Salemi

Adaptation = Panfish success on the ice throughout the winter...

As an ice angler, it’s very important to keep an open mind as you journey through another full season on the hard top. Conditions can change day to day, sometimes hour to hour, lake to lake and therefore, so must we change or adapt. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when it comes to navigating through some common situations, we here in the ice fishing community are all faced with every year when it comes time to start punching holes.

THE GIN CLEAR WATER SITUATION

Clear bodies of water can be very tricky to fish. Not only can the fish get a good look at your bait but in most cases, they can also detect your presence as well. In order to stay consistent and produce positive results, here are a few tips I live by to keep fish coming through the hole. Approach your targets in stealth mode under the cover of darkness. Clear water lakes that get moderate fishing pressure during the day can almost not be worth fishing. Combine the noise from the abundance of anglers, the fact that the fish are being bombarded with several baits, and the fact that they have a clear line of sight and feel, can spook them greatly...I’ve seen it play out on camera. Approaching them at night or during pre-dawn hours gives us our best chance to seal the deal due to the fact most anglers will have pulled off the ice, or are still in their sleep attire, along with this being the time frame we can get some heavy bug movement taking place in the water column. This will be our best chance to present a quiet, stealthy and natural presentation to the fish below as they feel more comfortable in their surroundings and they will be feeding on the various bugs floating in the water column. Now, if you’re forced to fish a clear body of water during the day...my advice would be to fish well away from the crowds and find some deeper water where the fish will be less spooked. Also, a big key for me is to downsize my presentation. Often the winning presentation is a single spike or waxie offered on a 2 or 3mm natural color patterned tungsten with a #14 or #16 hook. I’ve had some of my best outings taking this approach.

If you reside up in the Northern parts of the country where most ice fishing is done, you’re bound to come across tannic or “tea stained” water. These are my absolute favorite bodies of water to fish! Why? Well for one, darker stained water will afford you the ability to sleep in a little...I like sleep. Fish roaming in these darker waters tend to be on a “Banker’s Bite” schedule. You’ll often find the hot bite taking place from 11am to 3pm which can often be the most comfortable part of the day for us anglers out in the elements. Approaching these waters before or during sunrise and at dusk into the night can often give the impression of a dead sea due once again to visibility and comfort. When the water is dark and the conditions above are dark, it can cause the fish to be lethargic and unwilling to eat or chase your presentation. Snow cover can increase this effect as you start taking away plant life and menu options floating around for our finned friends. Simply put...sleep in, eat a nice warm breakfast and approach these darker stained waters when the sun is out and piercing through into the world below creating visibility and signs of life. Your catch rates will be far greater during these peak hours on these types of water systems. Some of the newer UV and glow color patterned baits are top choices for these conditions.

THE DREADED WINTER DOLDRUMS

As we start to approach February, some of our “honey holes” located on man-made lakes or reservoirs tend to start fizzling out a bit. Why is this? Well, once again numerous factors are at play here. By now, most areas have a decent amount of snow cover, which in turn blocks out a great deal of any burst of rare February sunshine we might be lucky enough to see. This can play a big part in photosynthesis...in simple terms: lack of sunlight causes most freshwater plant life to die off, which can then cause a lack of oxygen in the water, especially lakes and reservoirs that have very little current. As you would expect, if you have little remaining plant life, the underwater food chain also takes a major hit. Most importantly, the lack of quality h2o remaining below the ice really slows down the metabolism of a fish and creates a difficult angling situation as most fish can seem to have gone dormant. It’s important to remember that these fish will still have feeding windows, but they may not be as prevalent as during early and late ice. During these times, my focus turns to fishing flowages, river backwaters or natural lakes containing freshwater springs. Why? One word...Current. Current equals oxygen, oxygen equals a greater chance of active life (plants, aquatic insects, baitfish etc.). Thus, the circle of underwater life remains healthier than it would be in a body of water that is lacking current. The fish seem to have a little more fire in their fins when there is some type of flowing water and a thriving zoo plankton population. The month of February can be lights out hot, just like December and late March if you adapt and put yourself in the right situation... on the right bodies of water.

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