Adam Johnson Outdoors • Reading Outdoors

The Benefits of an Eight-Inch Hole

By Adam Johnson

There are some anglers who just hate the idea of having to fish through an eight-inch hole. They like to be casting to cover or trolling suspended fish. When the surface of the water turns hard they cover their boat, pull all the line off their reels and hunker down next to the fireplace to catch up on their reading. What these open-water anglers don9t realize is that ice fishing can be just as rewarding as chasing fish on open water if you set up the pursuit much the same way for each season.

The objective is to find and catch fish. The most important part of this equation is the finding part. On open water you move from one spot to another either casting or trolling baits and watching the sonar for signs of good structure or schools of fish. In the hard-water period you drill a lot of holes and test the spot with lures and underwater cameras until you discover a group of willing biters.

While you can cast, troll or vertical jig in the spring, summer and fall, in the winter you just get to vertical jig. Vertical jigging is the best presentation in the winter because with the water as cold as it is you wouldn9t generate a single bite if you were reeling or trolling that lure. The bait would just be moving too fast. So you see, there is a benefit to being stuck over an eight-inch hole. The restrictive nature of ice fishing requires the angler to incorporate a presentation that actually works under the circumstances.

That's not to say you should feel overly limited with this presentation. With all the different lure styles, colors, and differing ways of attracting fish through glow or rattling baits there9s still a lot of experimenting that goes on to try and discover what will trigger bites.

The need to aggressively seek out fish in the winter months has resulted in a substantial amount of equipment designed solely for the ice angler with success in mind. Today's ice angler no longer just sets back in a stationary shelter waiting for a fish to swim under the hole. Now anglers seek out schools of fish and work them with an array of lures designed to deliver what's necessary to attract fish and trigger bites. Winter fishing has turned into summer fishing on ice.

The one piece of equipment that has allowed anglers to maintain their versatility during the hard-water months is the portable shelter. A canvas cover on a sled is all it is, but the design makes it easy to haul a shelter out on the ice with you. The ability to move quickly with a portable shelter is what has really put the ice-fishing angler on the same level as the open-water angler.

Some things never change. When it comes to hard-water angling you still need a pair of warm boots, a good hat, and some thick mittens. Other than that the entire concept of ice fishing has been through some major changes recently. From someone who really loves open-water fishing, these are definitely changes for the better.