Though it may be brief, the ice fishing season in the Mid-Atlantic region can also be productive and fun. Yet many people won’t experience this sort of adventure because they don’t have the basic gear nor the basic knowledge needed to make it happen. Trust me; ice fishing will turn out to be worth it. To be doing such a blatantly nutty thing as chopping holes through a frozen lake and then experience success is something of a shock, and the tough conditions make victory that much sweeter. https://youtu.be/tGiSiAWJPqw Pop open a number of very widely spaced holes right from the start. Once you find a good hole or two and can get a read on what general area is productive, pop through a few more holes in that zone. If there’s one particularly hot ice hole, try opening another just a few feet away. If you don’t know a thing about the place where you’re fishing, choose likely looking areas exactly as you would when fishing from a boat. Points, drop-offs, and the mouths of creek arms are all good choices. Old ice holes cut open by other ice anglers are a good sign. Fish just under the ice for trout, and down deep for just about everything else. Walleye, perch, and bass are usually caught just off bottom. Crappie and bluegills will suspend sometimes, especially if there’s structure like standing timber. Bluegills also suspend over weedbeds. The best way to locate a weedbed is to look for weeds on top of the ice. Other ice anglers will have snagged and reeled in the weeds, which then invariably end up littering the ice. FishTalk Magazine Angler in Chief Lenny Rudow enjoyed some ice fishing success at Deep Creek Lake in January. If you already know the basics of angling, it’s easy; just treat it like static bait fishing and/or vertical jigging. The fish are popsicles and will be moving in slow-motion except when they actually strike. A sharply jerked lure usually scares the bejesus out of them. Keep your jigging strokes short and slow, and try quivering or micro-jigging motions followed by a few seconds of dead-sticking. For more pertinent information, including important safety tips and how to corral some cheap gear, see the January issue of FishTalk magazine or click to the online article Cheap and Easy Ice Fishing. by Lenny Rudow