Scouting lakes before water freezes is an important step in ice fishing success

Scouting lakes before water freezes is an important step in ice fishing success
Ted Takasaki • For the Argus Leader •

Many hunters will spend days scouting the woods in order to find just the right spot to erect their tree stands. How about taking a little time right now to prepare when it comes to ice fishing?

Avoid some frustration by finding several spots on your own far from the maddening crowds. You'll have the best shot to catch bigger fish during first ice, and the fish will stay on less-pressured areas longer.

Once the angling pressure does come, fish will often stop biting - or they disappear in fishermen's buckets. You'll also be more willing to make a long /trek across the ice to a spot you know holds fish.

The best time to find those private spots is right now, before they ice up. It's far easier to locate fish-holding structure and cover from a boat than using an auger to cut through ice in December, January or February.

Pick a nice day, get a map of the lake, launch your boat and follow some simple steps that will help you enjoy good fishing all winter long.

The first factor to remember is this: Tall, green weeds standing straight up will hold fish well after
ice covers the lake. Live weeds give off oxygen that, in turn, attracts microscopic plankton that brings in the baitfish.

Baitfish draw larger species, from panfish to gamefish such as walleyes, northern pike and bass.

Panfish and northerns will often be aggressive during the day. Walleyes move in at dusk or after
dark.

The first step in pre-ice scouting is to determine the depth of the weedline edge. Then look at the lake map and find areas where the contour lines are widest at those depths.

The bigger the patch of weeds, the more fish it will hold. Narrow contour lines signal sharp breaks that will be too small to hold many weeds.

Next, check out these weed patches with your boat. If weeds are standing, they will hold fish. Look for irregularities within the weeds. Mark these good-looking spots into your GPS.

Move deeper if the weeds are dying or lying down. In this case, look for likely structure that may hold fish, such as points and inside turns on the breaklines closest to deep water.


Look for suspended fish on your sonar. Watch for rock piles, brush piles, fallen logs and other cover that fish will use. Enter those spots into your GPS as well.

You'll soon have a good mental picture of what's below by the time you're done, and it will be far easier than if you'd waited until later.

Check your gear

Now it's time to get your gear ready. And you need
to do the little things right:

Start with new line. Old line has kinks in it,
making it impossible for your jig to hang
straight and for you to stay in contact with
the bait.

Check the eyelets on your ice rods with
cotton swabs to identify the ones with sharp
edges that need replacing to avoid putting
nicks in your line.