By Steve Weisman

I am a true ice fishing fanatic! There’s just something about dragging my portable ice shelter out on the ice, drilling a hole, getting everything arranged, sitting down and pulling the cover of my Clam Legend over and shutting out the world! It’s just me and, hopefully, some fish!

If I can have everything exactly perfect, I’m fishing in an area where I can sight-fish. To me, looking down that ice hole and seeing everything all the way to the bottom tops everything off.

I’ve fished a lot off the north end, the Triboji area, but that has been in 17-18’ of water., and it requires using my Vexilar FL 28 to electronically “see” the bluegills and crappies.

However, there was one bright sunny day about mid-morning in late December that the water clarity was good enough that I could see down about 14-15’ down. So, that meant that I could see within 2-3’ of the bottom. I happened to look down, and I could see my red tungsten jig tipped with a wax worm about 14’ down.

I continued to use the Vexilar, and when a mark became solid, I knew a bluegill or crappie was close. So, then I would look down the hole to see what was going on. When the fish were there, I would look down, and I could pick out the fish moving around. I wanted to do this because when I was marking the fish with my electronics, even with a spring bobber, I was missing a lot of bites.

By sight-fishing, if I looked closely enough, I could see when the fish inhaled the bait. My catch rate greatly improved. They were nice 9”+ bluegills and 11”+ crappies. However, that was the only day I could do that.

This winter most of my sight-fishing has been in the Harbor, Little Emerson Bay and Little Millers Bay! Talk about fun! I’ve seen a lot of crazy sights! Here are a few…

• In the Harbor, I’ve had schools, and I mean big schools, swim right on through for at least 20 minutes just after sunrise as if they were on a mission.
• Another time in the Harbor, I watched a muskrat come from the left about halfway down and pass on through. About 5 minutes later, it came back and tried to come up the ice hole and right in my shack with me. A good heel kick sent it on its way.
• I always jiggle my bait with a certain cadence. As the fish approach, I can decide to keep it the same or change it based on the reaction of the fish.
• I’ve been able to watch big bluegills come rolling right in and just grab the bait without any hesitation. At the same time, I’ve had them come flying in and flat out miss the bait-just go right on by. Then I’ve had them stop and come back around to try it again. Other times they just keep on going.
• I’ve had two or three come in, racing each other for the bait. Sometimes they even collide, knocking each other off and none of them ever bite!
• I’ve had small, medium and large bass come in to check out the bait. Often times they will just look and then swim on, but every once in a while, they will open their large mouth to inhale the little jig. I’ll raise it up, let them go through and then drop the jig on their head or back to get them to leave. Once in a while, I’m a little off, and the bait disappears in their mouth. If I keep the line loose, they sometimes will spit the jig back out. If not, it’s a run and a line snap, followed by putting on a new jig.
• The coolest one this winter happened as I brought up a nice 9” bluegill. It went round and round fighting on the way up. When it was barely an inch or so from the bottom of the ice hole, a big northern pike (maybe 5 pounds or so) shot right through just missing the bluegill. I swear his back nearly touched the bottom of the ice hole. That definitely got the heart rate going!

Yup, I am a sight-fishing fanatic! It’s even more fun when the bluegills are 9” and larger and the crappies are pushing 12”.

(photos by Steve Weisman)

Author holds 11” crappie taken sight-fishing.

Author’s grandson, Hunter and his fiancé, Elle Johnson with a pair of bluegills caught sight-fishing.