DAY ON THE ICE WITH DAVE GENZ

It wasn’t exactly a day for being on the ice when I sat down to visit with ice fishing legend and longtime friend, Dave Genz. Although it was cold and brisk outside, there was no ice. However, like any other activity that someone is passionate about, finding time to talk ice fishing and do a little pre-ice preparation is completely kosher, even if the lakes are still open.

So, our morning began with a cup of coffee and a little reminiscing of past adventures. Before long, Genz was digging out jig boxes, packages of lures and other ice fishing equipment. The first jig box he opened gave me some insight into one of his favorite lures. It was filled with Clam’s Drop Kick tungsten jig. It was easy to see that glow red was high on the list of colors. However, he did say that he really liked black later in the year because it matched the color of the invertebrates panfish were eating.

In addition to the Drop Kick, other favorites he commented on were the Pinhead Minnow and Half Ant.

As he opened packages and added a few new lures to the mix, he was careful to clean all of the paint out of the jig eyes before securing them in the box. This led to a whole discussion about efficiency and preparation.

Because Genz spends little time inside of a warm, cozy fish house, pre-planning is critical to ice efficiency. Simple tasks like cleaning the paint out of the jig eye is easy to do at the kitchen table but a monumental event on the ice when the wind is blowing and your fingers are frozen.

He went on to talk more about the little tasks that need to be done before the first trip to the ice.

These included things like charging batteries, putting new blades on the auger and changing line.

I asked about his line preference for both panfish and walleyes. For panfish, he mostly used Frost threepound-test and for walleyes, it was six. He estimated that he changes line about three times a year on his favorite rigs.

The next step in his preparation agenda somewhat surprised me. He opened up a package of Silkies and began to thread one onto a jig. The “Silkie” discussion that followed was very interesting. Whenever I utilized Silkies, I always pushed them all the way up the shank of the hook to the jighead. Although Genz said this will work, he has found that when the Silkie is left at the curvature of the hook, he has a higher success rate. Genz went on to say that he uses Silkies most of the time when fishing. He believed that the more they were used and the more worn out they became, the better they worked.

Somewhere along the line, we started talking about the longrange planning of trips. This involved a discussion about the seven states he fished in last year as well as where he hopes to travel to this winter.

And then there was the need to update his supply of jigs and equipment. He believed that anglers needed to get their orders in early and make purchases before items started to disappear off of the shelves.

Eventually, the coffee disappeared and the sun peaked out and it was time to switch gears. With Genz, switching gears means going from one fishing topic to another. With our warm, ice fishing clothing along, we loaded up the boat and headed to the river to continue our discussion while sticking smallmouth bass.

BECAUSE GENZ SPENDS LITTLE TIME INSIDE OF A WARM, COZY FISH HOUSE, PRE-PLANNING IS CRITICAL TO ICE EFFICIENCY. SIMPLE TASKS LIKE CLEANING THE PAINT OUT OF THE JIG EYE IS EASY TO DO AT THE KITCHEN TABLE BUT A MONUMENTAL EVENT ON THE ICE WHEN THE WIND IS BLOWING AND YOUR FINGERS ARE FROZEN.