Late Ice Renewal

As we begin to enter the second half of the hard-water fishing season-and in my mind at least, the better half-we’ve experienced both good and bad. The good part being, we had favorable ice conditions form early on this year, and as is often the case-made for some fine fishing opportunities.

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Late Ice is Great Ice

I’m not talking about the quality of the ice itself but the about your opportunity to enjoy some of the best fishing of the hard water season. Once the calendar roles around to late February or early March a lot of the enthusiasm for ice fishing has waned. Just as you begin to notice less and less anglers out, all species of fish activity will be increasing proportionally

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Last Chance

Once November rolls around in the upper Midwest, we as fisherman enter a very strange period, as far as activity is concerned. Meaning the angler-not the fish. The fish remain quite active, probably even more so than on the much touted Harvest Moon nights we’ve been programmed to believe hold some mystical status

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Large Baits and Late Ice

In my neck of the woods (Northeastern South Dakota) I consider late ice, to be the period from mid February until you can no longer safely venture out. By this stage in the game most of the enthusiasm for drilling holes has greatly diminished.

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KISS

KISS is a widely known acronym for Keep It Simple Stupid and it seems to have special (although often overlooked) meaning in many aspects of the lives of those like myself who tend to overthink and over-do far too many things. Occasionally it does hit home, but usually after the fact and becomes another lesson not learned soon enough, often forgotten, and with a need to be re-learned more than I care to admit

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In-Line Attractors

With all of the uncertainties of early Spring (unpredictable weather, spawning, baitfish runs, etc.) behind us, we can now concentrate on putting some firm and relatively reliable late Spring and early Summer patterns together as walleye’s will become much more responsive and begin to feed in earnest.

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Night Your Walleye Ice Bite

As we begin to enter the months of January and February; the Walleye bite tends to become a bit spotty at best. The initial willful abandon that the fish show at first ice is long gone. This is due to the fact that they are no longer on a feeding binge, in preparation for the long winter.

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Ice Fishing In The New Millennium

If you haven’t kept up with the latest innovations, I think you’ll be truly amazed at just how comfortable and enjoyable this sport can be. The days of being hunched over a five gallon pail, hoping to catch a fish, before frost bite sets in are long gone.

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High, Hard, and Fast

As anglers, we often find ourselves depending much too heavily on what’s “supposed” to work, in any given set of circumstances. The problem with this is that there are no absolutely hard and fast rules that will apply to all situations…at all times. All of us have been thoroughly and painfully taught this lesson more than once. When we are truly most vulnerable to a poor outing is when we “think” we have them figured out. You know what typically results.

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Have to Haves for Hardwater

It’s now time to drag out all of our ice fishing gear and put some serious thought into what goodies you need to add to your arsenal. Be sure to jot down a list of what you just can’t do without; and conspicuously leave it lying around the house as a not so subtle Christmas wish list. With that in mind, I’ll list some of the most notable new equipment for this year.

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