The old one-two punch

They call it ice trolling: augering a couple hundred holes across a frozen lake. The thought is to constantly hop hole-to-hole trying to find active fish. In reality, making Swiss cheese of an icy expanse can’t replace 10 minutes of open-water trolling as far as covering productive water. However, winter angling offers one advantage over summer: in Minnesota, you can use two lines per angler, allowing the old one-two punch for winter success.

For each target species the logistics are a little different. However, the meat and potatoes of the presentation remain the same. Each game plan focuses on key components: one rod equipped with an active, triggering style bait, your second offering a more natural, live-bait presentation.

For panfish, I’ll run a three-hole set, like the pattern of a bowling ball. The “thumb” hole is for my graph to cover what’s happening under my two “finger holes.” In one hole I will run a slip-bobber with a plain #6 hook tipped with a crappie minnow or a couple of wax worms. The second hole is for jigging small spoons, Rapala Jigging Raps, or Rapala Rippin Raps. If I can call in the panfish from a distance, they will either commit to the active jigging presentation or veer towards the live bait offering.

When targeting lake trout, the idea is the same, but I will distance the holes 50-75 feet apart. In the active hole I will run my Lowrance graph constantly scanning for suspended arcs indicating trout cruising high in the water column. I fish with an assortment of jigs and plastics and tubes. I also have a jigging spoon like a Northland Buckshot Rattle Spoon ready to roll at all times. In my set hole I run a smelt either off a dead-stick or a tip-up. I will lay the smelt directly on the bottom of the lake. The lake trout often show a day-to-day preference for the one offering over the other.

My aggressive walleye rod is always armed with a spoon. Two of my favorites are the Northland Buck Shot Rattle Spoon or the Lindy Glow Spoon. I work them up and down the water column tipped with a minnow head. For my live-bait option, I set a slip-bobber if I’m going to keep it within eyesight. A tip-up serves the same purpose but spreads the live-bait option out and away from the spoon. Both the slip-bobber and the tip-up will suspend a lively fathead or shiner minnow within a foot or two of the bottom.

Through the ice, pike can be the most aggressive of all the predators. If I have a couple of my kids with me, I like to run a diamond pattern on the ice. The outside holes mark the edge of the diamond and are for tip-ups. We suspend sucker minnows about midway in the water column. In the center of our four tip-ups we drill out a series of holes. These are our active holes. We move around to each, fishing them fast and aggressively attempting to trigger any pike cruising in the area. Some days the tip-ups see the bulk of the action — on other days, aggressive techniques rule the day.

Ice fisherman tend to fall into a couple of categories. The “run and gunners” that will ice troll to their heart’s content, always looking for greener pastures and more aggressive fish. Then you have the “stay-putters,” content to drill a couple of holes and let the fish find them. Either way, the old one-two punch is all about giving fish options. Of course some days you just can’t seem to buy a bite. On these occasions, you can always break out my favorite non-finesse option, at least for pike: the spear.

Bret Baker is a lifetime resident of Cloquet. He is a proud husband, father, educator and outdoorsman. Bret began guiding fishing trips when he was 16 years old. Today, in his 40s, his passion is to introduce people to the tremendous outdoor adventures available in our region.