Winter fishing in Minnesota: Ice is nice

Ice fishing has come of age in Minnesota, as anyone who attended the St. Paul Ice Fishing and Winter Sports Show at RiverCentre last weekend can attest. Aisles were packed and equipment -- everything from fish-bite indicators priced at a few bucks to mobile fish houses costing many thousands -- seemed to be selling.

Among reasons:

• While ice fishing can cost a lot of money, depending on equipment purchased, it doesn't have to. No boat is needed. And the gear itself, from rods and reels to lines and lures, generally is less expensive than the equipment anglers use in summer.

• Winter anglers often are successful. Panfish particularly can be suckers for cold-weather tear-drop jigs and waxworms or other bait. Also, on the right lake at the right time, particularly in early season, walleyes and northerns are regularly winched through the ice.

• Ice fishing can be enjoyed alone or, if your fish house is big enough, with as many as a dozen others.

• Getting started is easy. You need an auger. Also a rod and reel (some winter anglers use jig sticks, which don't require reels), a few bobbers and a dozen or so small jigs. Most everything else is optional.

When to fish

Answer: When ice is safe.

That said, four anglers were spotted a few days ago on South Center Lake near Chisago, fishing over what could only be 2 or perhaps 3 inches of ice, with open water nearby.

Which is a fun story if everyone makes it to shore.

Anglers on the ice at the earliest safe time have the right idea, however.

Panfish and walleyes are usually at their hungriest during the first weeks of ice fishing, when underwater lake and river vegetation dies, forcing the small critters living there to head for shallower water.

Hoping to munch on these tiny prey, panfish, walleyes and northerns follow.

As winter continues, most Minnesota fish, with the exception perhaps of lake trout, become less active and eat less frequently.

They can still be caught, but usually not as often as in early season -- thus the emphasis on being on the water as soon as possible after safe ice forms.

But so far, winter isn't unfolding as ice anglers would like. Ideally, November would have been much colder than it was, allowing lake and river ice to form before the first heavy snows arrived.

Instead, November was warm and ice hasn't formed very solidly in most parts of the state. Also, as you read this, it's probably snowing -- a bad combination that can significantly slow development of uniformly sturdy ice.

Still, Scott Edwards of Cyrus Resort on Lake of the Woods said at the Ice Fishing show last weekend that winter angling on the big lake won't be far off, assuming the low temperatures the region has experienced in recent days continue.

Where to fish

The Twin Cities area is loaded with first-class winter-fishing lakes and rivers. Minnetonka and Waconia are great. Also, White Bear, Bald Eagle, Chisago, Big Marine and the St. Croix River, to name a few.

Local bait shops near these waters are a good source of information. So are specialty retailers such as Gander Mountain, Cabela's, Dick's, Joe's and Thorne Bros.

On some of these lakes and rivers, rental fish houses are available, as they are up north, on Mille Lacs, Leech, Winnibigoshish, Upper Red and Lake of the Woods, to name a few.

(Find rental outfits by searching the Internet using as key words the lake name and "rental fish houses.")

More exotic trips also are possible. Dog sled outings into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for a day (or days) of lake trout fishing aren't soon forgotten. (Trout lakes can also be reached by skiing cross-country.) And Devils Lake in North Dakota usually provides memorable outings for perch.

The (not so) optional stuff

Ice fishing can be done on the cheap. But anyone who takes the sport even halfway seriously soon adds at least some of the following to his or her arsenal.

• Depth finder/fish locator: Spend an afternoon or evening with a winter-fishing friend who uses a Vexilar, MarCum or other specialized depth finder and you'll soon be ordering one yourself.

Not only do these gizmos help catch fish, they're entertaining in ways your fishing partners only imagine themselves to be. With one of these units you can watch your jig drop to the bottom of a lake and see also a fish approach the lure, allowing you to set the hook at just the right time.

• Portable shelter: Clam is a big name here. So is Eskimo. And Frabill. And Canvas Craft in the Twin Cities is an innovator of portable shelters on trailers that can also tote four-wheelers.

• Hard-sided portable shelters: Built on wheels, these homes-away-from-home are a big hit among serious and even quasi-serious winter anglers. Easily moved from location to location, they nonetheless are well insulated and heated, and often come with stoves, ovens, beds and even bathrooms.

Dennis Anderson • danderson@startribune.com