Ice Fishing Tips

Success is what you make it out to be.  Last night, Mike and I again headed out to his shanty on good ol' Lake Minnetonka.  Our quest was obviously the state fish.  Our approach was similar to other outings, but with a slight twist.  We didn't have time to move the fish house to a fresh spot, so we decided to hope for the best.  Lately, we have been scoring some nice walleyes before the sun hits the trees, so I opted for a little bit of a mobile approach.  Using the fish house as a base camp, I decided to spend the hour before sunset fishing a new area in hopes of finding a new spot for the house.

If you know me at all, then you know that I have many areas that are dialed in on my GPS.  The best thing about large lakes like Minnetonka, is that there are always new areas to fish.  With this in mind, I took advantage of a definite feeding window, and simply parked my butt on a spot I have never fished before.  My goal with this was to find out exactly if this spot held walleyes.  Knowing that the fish were going to move through at a specific time, I could determine if this spot was any good.  After my research, I could decide to put it into my GPS and return later with the big house, or scratch it from my list.  I didn't need to catch a lot of fish to know if the spot held walleyes or not.  Actually, I just needed to see them come through the graph to determine if I will come back.  Well, the verdict came in as a success!  My GPS has a new spot in it, and you'll almost certainly be seeing pictures from there very soon.   A good approach that I recommend trying.  Many of us use this tactic when we go on a weekend destination trip, but forget about it when we are in our own back yards.  We get comfortable in our cozy shacks, and forget how to be mobile.  As Mr. Dave Genz has preached for years, "Mobility is the best way to ice fishing success."

How did the boys in the house fair?  Well, they did as good as we could expect in a house that hasn't moved in a few days.  They battled some nice fish, and lost one.  I returned to the house later and caught a couple for myself.  A successful outing that will surely turn into another successful outing.  Just because I got off my butt and tried something new.

Tonight I will be hosting the WCCO Radio show live from the studio.  I plan to discuss this topic further with Mr. Dave Genz himself, and local fishing guide Matt Peters.  Tune in tonight from 9 to 10 if you would like to hear first hand what these guys and myself are up to.  Until then, Keep on Livin' the Dream!