The following article is courtesy of Traditions Media.

When Ice Finally Comes
Where you catch fish at first-ice will depend on when it forms.

By Mitch Eeagan

Seasonal depression.

A lack of daylight isn’t triggering this disorder.

Anglers know the real cause: no ice.

First-ice is the best time to catch most species in the sport.

That makes this ailment tougher.

During a winter like this, when El Niño keeps the climate in disarray, lakes might see no fishable ice until mid-season.

Gloom? Despair?

Cheer up. Ice will come.

But late formation begs a question: Is the first-ice bite so grand because of the sudden change in environment, no matter when the water hardens?

Or is it because of time of year?

In other words, are factors like the moon phase, amount of daylight and weed decay the cause?

I probed the minds of two preeminent ice anglers.

They felt it was the latter, the time of year.

But they also said there’s no black-and-white answer, and many gray ones.

Both admitted that finding fish, when first ice finally comes, will take time.

And that having the correct gear will speed up the search.  

Where you catch fish at first-ice will depend on when, exactly, it forms.

Start Where You Left Off

When ice forms early, the first place you should drop a line is where you last caught fish in late fall.

But whether fish will be there when the ice-making season starts late will depend on the health of the weeds.

“There’s still the prospect of finding fish in your best first-ice spots of the past, if the weeds are still standing and green,” said Minnesota fishing guide Brian “Bro” Brosdahl.

“But don’t rely solely on past memories and spend all day there, if the plants have started dying off.

“When the foliage is brown and down, the fish will have started migrating toward their mid-winter haunts.”

As soon as Bro bores a conservative swath of holes, he deploys his Humminbird Ice Helix 5 Sonar GPS, shown in the photo at left,  to check the depth under each, as well as for any sign of fish.

Bro recommends not over-drilling an area, because fish are skittish under a thin, clear veil.

If fish are seen, he’ll drop quickly.

If none are present, or they spook, he’ll switch to his Aqua-Vu AV Micro DT underwater viewing system.

Of course, he’s looking for fish, but what he’s even more interested in are green weeds.

“Underwater plants do more than give bugs and minnows a place to hide from predators,” he said.

When weeds are still green, they give off the oxygen needed to support aquatic life.

Decaying weeds, however, produce noxious gasses and repel fish.

If Bro spots still-standing vegetation through his hole, he’ll drill more holes as close to the edge of the bed of foliage as possible.

He’ll give the zone a good half-hour, before moving to deeper water.

Bedazzled

No matter who I talked to in the professional-fishing world, they brought up the importance of starting out with lures that flutter and flash on the fall.

This is because it takes lots of sparkle to catch the eye of fish buried in the weeds. 

Spoons that tumble on the drop -- like Custom Jigs & Spins’ Slender Spoons and Keweenaw Tackle’s Fin-Wing, in the photo below -- are easy for fish to zone-in on.

The lures impart a blaze of reflection, and a fish’s lateral line easily picks up the vibration.   

If panfish are your quarry, smaller offerings, like the 1/16-ounce Slender Spoon, 1/4-ounce Fin-Wing and Bro’s Northland Buck-Shot Flutter Spoon are prime selections.

Simply go up the totem-pole to larger sizes of the same baits for predators like walleyes and pike.

No matter what size your targeted species, employ a lift of the rod tip with a quick drop, so the spoon rips up through the water column, and then free-falls toward the floor.

Deep Thoughts

If your shallow spots dried up by the time safe ice formed, head toward the lake’s main basin.

But don’t forget to check all likely spots in-between.

Enter Custom Jigs and Spins’ pro-staffer Russ Maddin.

This iceaholic is a hole hopper if there ever was one.

Armed with nothing more than a Frabill sled, hand auger, couple of rods and a small handful of baits, Maddin hoofs it by foot through the deep, lake-effect-snow on the ice of northwest lower Michigan’s lakes.

“I’m drilling holes, lots of holes, as I head toward deep water this time of year,” he says.

“Even though it may be first-ice, technically, the fish might already be migrating to deep water.”

But they’re not all going to be there at the same time.

Rather, they’re spread out on structure along the way.

Maddin’s a fan of heavy jigs for hole hopping, making sure to fish every one, whether he sees fish on his sonar or not. 

Chekai and Majmun tungsten jigs tipped with spikes, waxies and/or Wedgee and Micro Noodle plastics are his go-tos for panfish.

The larger, 1/4-ounce to 3/8-ounce Lightnin’ VertiGlo Spoon, in the photo at left, with a lively minnow on the hook, takes his top honor for bigger predators.

So does the Pro Finesse Drop Chain tipped with grubs.

Though he fishes every hole, Maddin doesn’t stay long, if no fish show up on his sonar.

The fish can be really spread out when first-ice comes later in the season, he says.

There’s lots of water to cover, so it’s often just one fish here, one there.

But the next thing you know, you’ll have a bucketful of fish, if you keep moving around.

When Ice Finally Comes

So where will the fish be when the ice is finally thick enough?

That will depend on when it finally forms.

Check out your usual first-ice hot spots, and use lures with lots of flutter and flash.

But don’t stay there, if the weeds died off.

If that’s the case, head to the lake’s main basin.

Just make sure to stop and fish along the way. 

Mitch Eeagan is a writer and photographer from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.