Local Columnist turns hard water man

[chiefpanfish]

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[url "javascript:history.back()"][#800080]back[/#800080][/url] [url "javascript:history.back()"][/url] [/size][/font] Find your ice spots before you fish By ROB STREETER
First published: Sunday, February 15, 2004

Ice fishing presents an interesting problem.

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OPEN SUNDAYS - [url "http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/wowads/redir.asp?adnumber=1723328"][#0000ff]Learn more[/#0000ff][/url] - Lakes that would ordinarily be traveled by boat now require walking to move from spot to spot, and in several inches of snow it is slow going. With a boat, it's a matter of cranking up the motor and buzzing to the next spot.

If you are ice fishing, unless you have a snowmobile or an ATV, plain old footwork is required. This makes it important to know ahead of time where to sink holes in the ice.

A frozen lake is an intimidating thing to try to fish. Underwater structure can't be seen, and unless you have purchased a relatively expensive portable depth finder or underwater camera rig, it isn't easy to find weed lines or bottom contours.

Having only recently been converted to ice fishing, I've done some research and development to narrow things down a little. Here's what I've been able to learn.

Professional ice anglers and guides divide lakes into two categories: clean water and dirty water. They are not really talking about pollution, but rather the clarity of the water, which can vary due to algae and other factors.

The test they use is that if the water in the hole changes the color of the surrounding snow when the auger is pulled out, it is a dirty-water lake. If it does not, it is a clean-water lake.

In the dirty-water lakes, which usually are shallower, the winter conditions do not favor a lot of light getting through. There are few weeds during the winter.

In these lakes, the best way to fish is to eliminate the shallow water because the fish won't be there. Concentrate on the deepest parts of the lake, especially for panfish.

Some of the best places to fish in a dirty-water lake are the areas where there are changes in the deepwater sections, such as narrow areas or abrupt changes in depth. Areas where the deepwater basin come to a point or there are big breaks in the depth also are good.

If you know a lake well, it is easy to hit these areas. If not, you will need a lake map. The Department of Environmental Conservation has some lake maps that can be used to locate likely spots. There are also come commercial lake maps available for the bigger lakes in the state.

These maps show the underwater contours, and taking a good look at one shows where you should fish. Walleyes like deep, hard bottom areas. Crappies and perch like to be in around 30 feet or more of water over a soft bottom. Sunfish like breaks in the weed lines.

Clean-water lakes are a different ballgame. Those lakes have weeds all winter, and panfish and other fish hold in them for protection from predators such as pike and pickerel.

Finding the weeds is fairly easy. The edges of the weedbeds will be at a fairly uniform depth, and fishing the edges will produce. If you've fished the lake in the summer, the weedline edges are obvious, and they will be in the same spot in the winter.

If the lake has a lot of weedy areas, then changes in the edge of the weedline such as points or breaks are the best places to concentrate, especially for the predator species.

Once you find the most likely areas one either type of lake, it pays to drill several holes. Fish move, and as soon as a hole goes dead, it is possible to follow the school by switching to another hole.

Drilling plenty of holes and working the active ones will result in more fish than drilling only a couple of holes and staying in one spot all day. This is where a power auger becomes worth the investment if you do not relish the workout of drilling a dozen holes.

While we are in the midwinter period, the weather is improving somewhat and we should be able to look forward to some good ice fishing in March. The panfish and pike become more active at this time of the year, and the weather is a lot nicer for fishing.

Finally, if you are a die-hard ice angler and have the disposable income, give some thought to a fish finder. On clear ice they will determine depth and bottom structure without drilling a hole. They also pinpoint fish, and save a lot of time that would be wasted fishing a hole that isn't going to produce.

Rob Streeter's outdoors column is published Sundays during the winter. He can be reached at robertstreeter@sprintmail.com, or send items to 961 Stoner Trail Road, Fonda, NY 12068. [url "http://ads.timesunion.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.cgi/www.timesunion.com/aspstories/storyprint.asp/storyid=219185/4674/x01/HomePort-061503/homeportad3.gif/554e4b4e4f574e"][/url]
All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2004, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.

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