My twin brother John and I were about six years old the winter we tagged along on another ice-fishing adventure with our dad and his fishing partner, Ed Tyc. After a long walk to a known submerged rock-hump, the father-friend duo took turns drilling holes with a 7-inch Mora hand auger. Meanwhile, the brothers methodically skimmed each hole free of ice shavings.

We used what every ice angler did back then—stick-rods, bait, and bobbers. Trusted electronics, convenient flip-top shelters, even ice-fishing rod and reel combos didn’t exist. Fortunately that evening, 3- to 4-pound walleyes were present and we had our limit before sunset.

A few years later in the late 1970s, three young ice-fishing pioneers—the messenger, a businessman, and one young savant—did their part to modernize the ice-fishing world. Of age in their careers at the right time and place, fruition of their goals arrived with a vengeance.

The Messenger—In-Fisherman Editor In Chief Doug Stange’s foresight and efforts to educate, promote, and grow the world of ice fishing were rooted in his repertoire long before he started his media career, here. He organized and hosted many ice-fishing seminars and penned countless groundbreaking articles that helped readers develop into better ice anglers and ultimately catch more fish. He’s also the man who convinced the “powers-that-be” to agree to covering ice fishing in In-Fisherman magazine and, eventually, to publish this annual Ice Fishing Guide.

“The exact same day in the early ’80s that we decided to expand our ice-fishing coverage in In-Fisherman, a man by the name of Paul Grahl walked into our office,” Stange says. “He brought with him this huge black door-to-door-like salesman’s box that, to everyone’s surprise, contained the most impressive collection of ice-fishing gear any one of us had ever seen. The most important item Paul pulled out of his box of goodies was the Polar Tip-up, one of the most revolutionary designs of the time. Paul guaranteed his plastic tip-up was strong and wouldn’t break and wouldn’t freeze, no matter what the temperature—and he was right. The exact design has worked perfectly all these years.”

A Business Man—According to HT Enterprises’ CEO Paul Grahl, “I can’t tell you how excited I was, by mere coincidence and fate, to be standing in the doorway at In-Fisherman headquarters at the beginning of the ice-fishing revolution. I had all this neat ice gear I was selling door-to-door at bait shops across the ice belt, but it was hard to sell without the right education to create a demand.

“I was aware the market didn’t have anything like the Polar Tip-up in either design or quality,” he says. “And I also knew I could build it at an affordable price. When In-Fisherman started educating people about ice fishing with full-blown feature articles about how to use my tip-up, the door swung wide open to a world full of information-starved anglers. It was a major business boom and we haven’t looked back since.”

ne Young Savant—Meanwhile, an ice-crazed angler (now legendary) named Dave Genz was trying to figure out a way to turn his obsession and knowledge about ice fishing into a career. “I’ve always had such a passion to ice-fish that I don’t even understand it. I absolutely love it and feel like I have to be out there on the ice, preferably every day,” Genz says.

“My dad and uncle Gene (Lease) were ahead of their time as far as the gear they used, along with their ice-fishing methodology. I simply expanded and expounded on the things they created and taught me, which eventually allowed me to make a living in the ice-fishing industry.”

Genz and his family were the originators of the Fish Trap flip-top shelter—today’s most popular design. “The first year we decided to try selling our Fish Trap shelters, my wife Patsy sewed a total of 5 canvas tops,” he explains. “The next year we convinced her to sit and stitch 20 more. But by season three, after I asked if she could hem about 80, she applied the brakes. To our surprise and my wife’s delight, we found a shop that could make as many as we wanted for less money.”

Meanwhile, Genz teamed with Stange at In-Fisherman to write several groundbreaking articles about new concepts in ice fishing. He also helped with In-Fisherman’s Ice Fishing Secrets book. “As payment for my contributions, they gave me free advertising space in the magazine. The combination of the ads and being featured in the magazine catapulted our business, formerly known as Ice Fishing Systems,” he claims. “Instantly we were shipping stuff all over the country as fast as we could get it out the door.”

Genz can also be credited for introducing anglers to the first ice-box (now the Genz Pack from Vexilar), which allowed anglers—for the first time ever—to bring their electronic flashers onto the ice. He’s invented several ice lures, too, like the FatBoy, Pounder, Genz Worm, and Genz Bug. And what about the first graphite ice rods, made available from Thorne Brothers? Yep, they were built for Genz to sell through his business. These are just the tangibles. His fishing concepts, observations, and methods continue to help all anglers find and catch fish.

Truthfully, you can still use a hand auger to drill a hole over a known spot and catch fish using a stick-pole, bobber, and some bait. But to evolve as an angler requires passion, knowledge, skill, and experience. Getting your mitts on the latest and greatest equipment—along with having a mental grip on the best ice-fishing methods—is going to enhance your ice-fishing days.

Evident throughout the pages of this season’s Ice Fishing Guide are the combined efforts of ardent ice-fishing messengers, businessmen, and ice-crazed anglers—like Stange, Grahl, and Genz—dedicated to ice fishing. We honor our deeply rooted passions, here.