We all benefited when Dave Genz got so hyped about ice fishing over 30 years ago that he gave up anything resembling a real job and poured time and energy into his primary passion. Forever trying to learn, year after year, he tinkers relentlessly, restlessly with equipment, digging into the science of winter lakes and the fish in them. And while most of us should keep our day jobs, on your days off here are some of his hottest and all-time-best panfish tips to consider.
1 Fall Observations
“More than we realize, our ice-fishing fortunes are influenced by what the weather was like during the fall,” says Genz. “If the winds are calm and we have lots of sunshine in late fall right before freeze-up, weeds can start growing in the shallow water again. The weeds might die and lie down when the first cold fall weather comes, then suddenly a winter warming pattern rolls in and they start growing again. Bug hatches can occur in the shallows if the weather is warm, too. Sunfish and crappies can be mighty shallow as long as food, cover, and oxygen hold out.”
“On the other hand, on the same lake next winter,” he cautions, “there can be no fish in the shallow water if the weather is nasty right before ice-up and all the weeds are down. When late fall is consumed with cloudy, windy, nasty days, you can suspect most panfish to hold in deeper water.
“Depending on how long ice covers the lake, and how much snow covers the ice, you can have shallow panfish populations through the ice season when weeds remain healthy. Again, It all depends on how the fall goes. You have to recognize these things. What happens in the fall can completely change the lake for the whole winter.”
2 Buy Both, Use Both
People always ask Genz, “What should I buy, a sonar or an underwater camera?”
He has the same answer for everyone: “Unless you can afford to buy only one, buy both. Even the most mobile of anglers can quickly set up and take down the combination flasher-camera setup. Downviewing with the camera in conjunction with your sonar is the best option, which is done by lowering the underwater camera down the same hole you fish from, with the camera aimed straight downward. Then put your sonar transducer in the same hole, too.
“The key is to set up your gear so that your eye can easily see everything it needs to see. I use a bracket I invented that lets you temporarily mount the camera on the framework of your seat in a Fish Trap between your legs. That puts the camera monitor between my eyes and the hole. The flasher is placed on the ice, at the backside of the hole. Hang the camera cable around one of the gimbal mount brackets on the flasher case. This forces the cable to the back of the hole. If you fish out of a 10-inch hole, and if your flasher case is on the small side and the ice is slippery, be careful or the camera cable might pull the entire works into the hole.”
3 Finesse versus Aggression
Sometimes, it’s not the fish’s response to our bait but our response to the fish that determines whether the fish bites or not. Sometimes the best option is to keep doing what brought it to the bait in the first place as it closes in.
When we can see a fish with our own two eyes, whether we’re sight-fishing or looking at an underwater camera monitor, instinct causes us to slow. “When people actually see the fish come in, they slow down. Both slow and fast can work,” says Genz, “but we need to mix it up or keep doing what we were doing before we spotted the fish. Even when you’re sight-fishing, the speed might trigger the fish instead of slowing it down. You can watch the fish and see what excites it. If you try the slowdown and the fish drifts away, try to bring it back with a more aggressive presentation.”
