Walt Matan has some tips on how to make ice fishing less work and more fun.

Looking back on more than three decades of ice fishing, a lot has changed. In the beginning, I was young and strong, I could drill a dozen holes with my hand auger, move around and drill a dozen more. I could drive four hours to fish, fish for eight, drive back, clean the fish and go to work after a few hours sleep. Nowadays, I try to take advantage of everything I can to make ice fishing easier.

Two years ago, I fished with NAIFC tournament angler Kevin Fassbind. He is a master at finding good quality panfish. He mixes new technology with old school fishing. When we hit the ice, he immediately began drilling at least 40 tiny holes all around, just big enough to drop his micro camera transducer down. He’d spot fish, but kept moving and checking until he found the largest pod of big bluegills in the area. Then he’d start fishing.

Last year, I fished with him again, and this time he had the Garmin Panoptics Livescope. That day, he only drilled a few holes, dropped the transducer down and rotated it to scout the area, before drilling a single hole that produced more whoppers than I knew existed.

But, when it was Kevin’s turn to fish, he put away the electronics and picked up his trusty homemade long rod with a spring tip, a purple Majmün tungsten jig and a single red maggot. He’d stare at the rod tip and slowly bob the rod up and down, ready to pounce when the spring moved. He was rocket fast on the hookset—the bluegills didn’t stand a chance!

Me, I went semi-old school. I drilled two holes, spotted fish on the flasher and started fishing. I was catching fish a half hour before he ever dropped a jig down the hole. Then, when my action slowed, I moved over to the area where he was and stole his Livescope, so that I could watch the action and how the fish reacted to my presentation. And I started catching once again.

Different areas require different tactics. I fish the shallow Mississippi River backwaters a lot, and fishing there is pretty low-tech. You don’t need an arsenal of jigs, but you do need a variety of shapes and sizes so that you are ready for whatever mood the fish are in.

The one technological advance you really need to easily catch more fish is Tungsten jigs. Tungsten is nearly twice as heavy as lead, so it gets down to the fish zone fast and allows you to use smaller jigs than the lead versions.

Case in point: Take one of my favorite jigs of all times, the Custom Jigs & Spins Ratso. When it first came out, I used a black Ratso for two years before tying on another jig. I still always have a Ratso tied on. And because it comes in three sizes, I’ve caught bluegills, crappies, white bass, walleyes, catfish, whitefish and trout on it!

But, the Ratso head is made from lead. So in order to get down deeper with a Ratso without changing sizes, we at Custom Jigs & Spins developed the Tütso. It has a tungsten head with a gold Mustad super-sharp jig hook, a Finesse Plastic body and some wild paint jobs. It comes in three sizes, for all species of fish. We extensively tested the Tütso last season and man, did it deliver! Not only were the size 8 and 10 great for deep-water panfishing, but when we hit a school in shallower water, boy, did it get down fast to keep the action going. Plus, there is definitely a correlation between color being better on specific bodies of water and the hot color changing during the day!

Another big advance is the fishing rod. While I still swear by my 30-year-old Silstar rod, my 20-year-old Frabill quick tip and my 15-year-old St. Croix Legend with Greg “the Prowler’s” spring tip, I’ve found two new rods by Eyeconic that really opened my eyes to matching rod action to jig size—the Eyeconic 32-inch Medium Lite, Extra Fast is my power rod for bigger crappies, white bass, walleyes and trout; and the new Eyeconic 25-inch Ultralight is my favorite rod for all my panfish jigs.

I’m out to have fun catching fish. Having the right equipment and mindset to do the job will make you a lot more successful.

Don’t miss out on anything. Find the information you need in the winter issues of MidWest Outdoors, by subscribing on our website