If you fish the river a lot sooner or later you will get the urge to go off the beaten track. Drill for holes away from the crowds and explore. When doing this trailblazing it is of the utmost importance that you have an ice bar or an ice spud as they are also called. Moving water causes uncertain ice conditions everyone agrees on that. Though the times I see anglers actually using an ice spud are few and far between.
This is how I use my ice spud when I fish the river or a lake I have not fished yet...I walk on the ice with one hand on my ice shack rope and other hand on the ice spud, I slam the bar into the ice three times. If the bar does not go through I walk about ten steps. I check the ice (drive it into the ice three times) and walk, I do this process all the way to my angling spot.
I have found that I can punch a hole in the ice doing this three times with four or less inches of ice. Everybody has different strength levels so you must do some testing to personally gauge how many strong hits it takes you to punch through 4” of ice. By the way 4” is the MN and WI DNR minimal recommended thickness for walkable ice.
I was recently at Fleet Farm (The Man’s Mall) and I noticed they have ice bars on sale for 16.99. You will not find these for less. These are the one piece bars they also make a two piece for sled storage ease.
Also ice spuds are great for popping open froze over holes, and many other manly activities!
Spend the cash and explore new spots safely. Keep Catchin’
November 9, 2011. After 13 years of guiding I know better than to cancel trips based on the weather mans report…correction…I usually know better. I pushed back a trip for today because the experts said we were going to get a rain snow mix. The white stuff is not a problem in the boat, actually it is fun, but rain and 40 degree temps are not pleasant, especially with a 14 mile per hour wind. Normally with bad forecasts, we still plan to meet at the launch and see if we can get the trip in. I should have followed my procedure today, because I went out by my lonesome and hooked a big one.
I parked my rig, stepped into the boat, and steered towards two spots that I normally skip, but was curious to see if I could get fish there with a jig and minnow, and then jig with plastic. With no action save juvenile white bass, I soon remembered why I skip these spots. Then I decided to test a new crankbait presentation I have been working on, but this time in a tried and true spot that has been holding fish this autumn.
I motored there, and was happy to see not another soul insight, turned off my 150 horse Evinrude, and I fired up the 9.9 horse Yamaha kicker, dropped my Rapala in the water and started trolling. I caught some nice white bass right away, turned around and pulled through again in 24 feet of water and the rod doubled over, no doubt not a white bass. I fought this slugger and it went right, left, deep and then up to the top and jumped back behind the boat. Without a clear look, it looked like a buffalo, but green...the fish went down again, then left, and up, I got it up to about where I would net it, and I gazed at the biggest smallmouth bass I have ever seen firsthand on the water. I scooped up this football shaped bass, saw a shad minnow squirt out of its huge maw, got it down to the bottom of the boat and measured it at 23”! A giant smallmouth! I thought of mounting it, but seeing how big and beautiful she was, I decided to let her go to maybe catch again…
Moral of the story, do not always believe the weather man, and go fishing!
Keep Catchin'
Turk
If you fish the river a lot sooner or later you will get the urge to go off the beaten track. Drill for holes away from the crowds and explore. When doing this trailblazing it is of the utmost importance that you have an ice bar or an ice spud as they are also called. Moving water causes uncertain ice conditions everyone agrees on that. Though the times I see anglers actually using an ice spud are few and far between.