Gary Engberg Outdoors

Open Water and Ice-Fishing Comparisons 1-18-2012

gengberg January 18th, 2012

Open Water And Ice-Fishing Comparisons

In many areas of the Midwest this winter, there’s been as much open water fishing going on as ice-fishing. In a region where ice-fishing usually dominates in December and January, warmer-than-ordinary air temperature have enabled anglers to extend their open water fishing. There are obvious differences in ice-fishing and open water fishing, but when it comes to lure presentation, there are a good number of similarities.

Expert anglers like Gary Roach know that lure color can be important whether you’re fishing open water or under the ice. When we talk about lures for open water or ice-fishing, color is always of big interest. Some anglers feel that lure color is very important, others don’t think it’s that critical. Both are right. When the fish are aggressive and want to eat, they’ll often take a lure regardless of color. Purple clown or plain white, they don’t care: Put the bait in front of them and they’ll eat it.

Unfortunately, fish aren’t that aggressive most of the time. When they aren’t, color can become a very important consideration. In open water or under the ice, a pretty good rule-of-thumb is to go with brighter colors in stained water and more natural colors in clear water. Glow is an especially big deal in stained water under the ice. Some baits are treated with a glow paint that is charged by a little flashlight such as a Glo-Buster Lurelight. Northland puts a glow paint on some their ice-fishing baits that retains the glow for a long time. In stained water, especially under the ice, a bright glowing bait really helps. In clear water, experiment with various colors until you find what they want.

Lure size is also important when ice-fishing or open water fishing. When the fish are finicky, go smaller. If they’re hitting good, go bigger. Bigger baits catch bigger fish.

How you work a lure is especially important. Sometimes the fish want a lure moving quickly, other times they want it stationary. A couple of years ago in South Dakota while perch fishing this became very apparent. We were fishing on a lake that had been getting a lot of fishing pressure, and a weather system had just gone through. Heavy fishing pressure and a weather change often create tough fishing, and it certainly did so in this situation. The perch didn’t want to eat. We could see them on the sonar, but we just couldn’t make them bite. Finally a member of our group tied on a tiny jig and tipped it with a Gulp! Maggot. A perch came in and just looked at it for maybe twenty seconds. Finally it ate it. We had tried live waxworms on the same jig, but the perch wouldn’t eat those. We guessed they were wiggling too much. The Gulp! smelled alive and looked alive, it just didn’t wiggle, and that’s what the fish wanted in those tough conditions. Again, experiment with lure action and let the fish show you what they want.

Whether you’re going ice-fishing or open water fishing, keep these ideas in mind and you’ll be more successful.

–Bob Jensen

Catch the newest episodes of Jensen’s Fishing the Midwest television at www.fishingthemidwest.com. Join Bob at Facebook.com/fishingthemidwest