Utilizing electronics for ice fishing can be incredibly productive. And a good portable
shelter combined with a small propane heater can make ice fishing downright warm and toasty.
Frozen Lakes, Fiery Bites: The Ice Belt’s Best Crappie Fishing Secrets
Photos and Story by Rob McDonald
The time is here when fishing in North America’s ice belt brings brutal cold, stocking caps, and short days providing the perfect recipe for hooking up with hard water crappie. From small community lakes to the largest frozen waters in the north, wintertime schools of crappie are prime candidates for ice anglers. North America’s ice belt offers crappie anglers an early jump on the season, providing some of the hottest fishing in the coldest weather, through the ice. In my mind, the ice belt includes a band of geographic areas encompassing all of Canada, the Northern Rockies, most of New England, and the Great Plains States from North Dakota down into Kansas.
SAFETY FIRST
Safety on the ice should be the primary focus. Thick, clear ice is the safest ice, but no ice is ever 100 percent safe. Utilize a spud bar for navigating across frozen bodies of water, periodically testing the ice thickness and strength. Items like ice fishing safety picks and flotation suits provide ice anglers with an additional layer of safety on the ice. Remember that wind, sun, and snow load can affect the integrity of ice conditions from day to day.
WHERE TO DRILL
Anglers should key on a variety of features when locating wintertime schools of crappie under the ice. Basins, submerged brush piles, and weed bed edges are all examples of structures that hold crappie. Affordable electronic ice bundles like the Garmin Striker 4, all the way up to the latest and more costly forward-facing live imaging, will go a long way to finding both structure and fish under the ice. Utilizing a popup hub style shelter, or a flip over type sled with a propane space heater will help make the day more enjoyable. Investing in a lightweight ice auger with nylon flighting that is operated by a heavy duty cordless drill makes hole hopping and finding fish more productive.
When scouting for fish, focus on the areas just above the structure, and on fish suspended higher in the water column; these areas hold the most active fish that are willing to bite. Late-winter crappie will often become most active at dawn, dusk, and for an hour or two right after sundown. Factors such as snow cover on the ice can affect the crappie bite. Snow cover blocks out sunlight through the ice, often making the fish much more active during the late afternoon hours. Fishing just before a fresh cold front moves in can be incredibly productive.
ICE BELT TECHNIQUES
Cold weather and winter patterns will have crappie stacked into underwater cover. Vertical jigging straight down with a tight line to suspended fish is the name of the game when it comes to ice fishing. Many state and community fishing lakes offer maps indicating where brush piles and sunken fish habitat that hold crappie have been placed. Moving around and drilling multiple holes through the ice and dropping in a transducer is a great way to find fish and stay with schools as they move across a body of water.
Winter pattern crappie can often be finicky, eagerly taking a wide variety of bait one minute, then presenting a case of lockjaw the next. Successful hardwater crappie anglers pack a variety of presentations for a day on the ice. Both live bait and artificial presentations can work well when targeting crappie through the ice. Two-inch to three-inch minnows, mealworms, and wax worms are all fantastic choices when it comes to live bait for ice fishing. If your local tackle store isn’t well stocked with live bait during the winter months, be sure to check the neighborhood pet store; they often have a variety of options for feeding reptiles that work great for panfish bait.
WHICH LURES LURE ICE BELT CRAPPIE
Small tungsten jigs in a variety of colors are the staple of a panfishing tackle box for ice fishermen. White, black, chartreuse, and orange are must-have colors, but don’t let that stop you from trying other combinations. Tungsten is denser than lead, dropping to fish quicker, and holding the line tight as you fish. Tungsten jigs tipped with live bait or artificial plastics are a great way to go. It’s critical to make sure your knot is tied on the hook side of the jig’s tie point, ensuring the jighead lies correctly in the water. A loop knot helps ensure the correct presentation. Utilize fluorocarbon or monofilament line formulated for ice fishing to help prevent loops and line memory in extreme cold.
For active fish that are chasing baits, spoons, and glide baits up to two inches are fantastic options. The Swedish Pimple White Ice with a bleeder blade in 1 ½” is my go-to. These baits can make a lot of commotion in the water, calling active fish to investigate. Don’t be afraid to tip the treble hook on a spoon with a minnow head, or even an eyeball (be sure to check local regulations).
Sizing down, dead sticking, and triggering a chase are tactics that come in handy when the crappie bite gets tough. Dropping way down in size to a 1/64 tungsten fly or bead head presentation is often the best medicine for finicky fish. Slowing your presentation to an absolute crawl, or even a dead stick, can make fish finally commit, and slowly pulling a bait up and away from fish is often all it takes to trigger a bite.
This winter, when old man winter gets his grip on fishing holes all across the north, head out for some of the best crappie action of the year. Be sure to use caution on the ice, and adopt these tips and tactics for a great day of crappie fishing out on the hard water!
I’ll see you out there!
Rob McDonald is an outdoorsman and angler from the Flint Hills of Kansas. A lifelong angler, Rob enjoys pursuing crappie in all types of conditions, utilizing a variety of techniques, always trying to learn from the fish. A freelance writer, Rob contributes to many print and online publications regularly.
