Ice fishing tip
Use the smallest bobber when fishing as long as it remains afloat. You’ll want the least resistance from the fish when you are still-fishing with a bobber. If you find you’re stuck with a large bobber, you may be able to counter its resistance by adding one or more split shots.

Bobber stops
I didn’t realize it, but some companies that sell the very little rubber stops that move on one’s line for slip bobbers can come in two sizes. If your rod tip has a small diameter it can cause problems when trying to cast. Most rod tip guides are big enough to let the larger bobber stops glide right through, but not so with all rods, especially they are 7-foot rods or are longer ultra-light rods.

Ice fishing for pike
Experts say that most trophy northern pike are caught in relatively shallow waters during winter. Pike like depths 5 to 10 feet and enjoy dead baits rigged on tip-ups.

Ringed perch
The ringed perch (yellow perch) is found in deeper waters during the winter months, and may strike more often using a dropper rig. Tip your hook with a minnow or a waxie. Periodically use a snap-jig motion along with short quivering.

Porcupines
Some quills on African porcupines are more than a foot long. The only place on a porcupine that is not protected by quills is its belly. Quills are actually modified hairs. Porcupines grow new quills when others are lost. The average porcupine has about 30,000 quills on its body.

Bioreactor trenches
This is yet another solution in curbing the increased “dead zone” in the Mississippi River Basin and southward. The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is now over 5,000 square miles. It’s said by experts to be the result of rainfall and irrigation that pulls nitrogen from the soil and then the subsequent depositing of it into our streams, rivers and ultimately into the Mississippi River where it’s then carried to the Gulf. A typical “bioreactor trench” might be 100 feet long by 20 feet wide and covered with 1 foot of topsoil. The trench is 3 1/2 feet deep and filled with carbon-rich food sources for bacteria. Without going into more detail, the main purpose of the project is to clean the water that eventually flows into this “dead zone.”