ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN B

BY: MIKE HOWE

While open water fishing trips can be impacted by weather, rarely are the conditions as severe as they are in the winter. A little wind, a little rain, maybe some road construction, but usually it is not insurmountable. When planning to travel for ice fishing however, there are dozens if not hundreds of things that can impact travel plans, not the least a worldwide pandemic!

When planning to travel for an ice fishing trip, whether it is a destination bucket list trip from the Midwest to Fort Peck in Montana, or as far as Lake Cascade in Idaho, it is important to prepare for obstacles that can pop up so you have an opportunity to salvage your best laid plans. Basically we are talking road trips here, and it can apply equally to a weekend trip up to Lake of the Woods or a three week trip across the ice belt states. I’ve done both types and had it easy and had it where everything conspired against me. At no time did I tuck my tail and return home, we fished even though it wasn’t our original plan.

Many, MANY ice anglers who travel to Canada every winter have had to make alternative plans due to border closures. My outfitting business should be hosting hundreds of anglers this winter who have called and said “We’ve always wanted to come to Peck, this is our year”! But guess what? NO ICE at Fort Peck as of mid January, and we aren’t sure when we will have any.

The plan B for these anglers? I am now licensed to guide in North Dakota as well, and will be hosting some of these groups on waters from Devils Lake to the Canadian border! We won’t be targeting Lake Trout and 30” Walleye, but will be fishing and

introducing anglers to new waters. And if winter decides to show up at Peck before then, they can drive right on by and revert to the original plan.

Maybe you need a Plan B because a couple of buddies had to bail out at the last minute and you don’t want to change your plans, time off from work, non-refundable deposits, whatever. Get on the internet and start looking for something closer to home, or better yet, arrange to fish with some locals or hook up with some others planning the same trip. There are so many ice fishing groups online these days that a call to action will return dozens, if not hundreds of responses.

And of course, there is winter weather at play here. Blizzards, storms of the century, road closures or airport delays and closures can all destroy a plan. A few years back, some friends were coming out to NW Montana to ice fish for a week, but weather at the last minute stopped them before they could get out of Northern Wisconsin.

There was no way they were going to detour South around the storm and make it to Montana in time to make it worth their while so I got on the horn with some friends in South Dakota, who had some friends in the Glacial Lakes region and got them on some great Yellow Perch, Pike and Walleye fishing! In return, I gathered some intel that I was able to use a couple years later when I travelled through that same area!

Lastly, lets talk about equipment problems. As a guide, am fortunate in that I have a lot of duplicate and triplicate equipment. Not everyone has the luxury of four Vexilar FLX28’s at their disposal, but just about everyone can have a spare FL-8 as a back-up. Or a small pop-up shelter if their main flip over gets mangled on the ice. I have learned to separate my favorite jigs and lures into two identical tackle boxes that are never on the ice at the same time.

No matter what your winter fishing plans involve, you have to think about some alternate scenarios, rather than sitting at home or worse yet, a hotel, waiting for a situation to change! There are dozens of ways to prepare for worse case scenarios so that your precious ice time does not suffer when Mother Nature, Mr. Murphy or your best buddy tosses you a curve!

NO MATTER WHAT YOUR WINTER FISHING PLANS INVOLVE, YOU HAVE TO THINK ABOUT SOME ALTERNATE SCENARIOS, RATHER THAN SITTING AT HOME OR WORSE YET, A HOTEL, WAITING FOR A SITUATION TO CHANGE! THERE ARE DOZENS OF WAYS TO PREPARE FOR WORSE CASE SCENARIOS SO THAT YOUR PRECIOUS ICE TIME DOES NOT SUFFER WHEN MOTHER NATURE, MR. MURPHY OR YOUR BEST BUDDY TOSSES YOU A CURVE!

UT

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