High-Tech Fishing Becomes Possible During The Winter

You won’t see ice houses as elaborate as those in the hilarious movie, “Grumpy Old Men,” at the region’s popular ice fishing lakes this winter, but you’ll see some ingeniously designed shelters attached to sleds and pop up tents.

That is, of course, if the ice thickens enough for safe fishing.

When the ice is thick and hard enough to support people safely, some anglers will drag their one- and two-person ice shelters out on the lakes, light heaters and sit in comfort as they pull trout, perch, crappies, bluegills and walleyes through ice holes.

They’ll wear warm, lightweight clothing, insulated boots, expensive ice cleats and fish with 2- to 3-foot-long, specially designed ice rods and reels loaded with special winter monofilament and braided lines. Some will listen to their favorite music on stereo equipment; a few will watch TV programs on portable sets.

Most ice fishermen, of course, will attach cheap ice cleats to their boots, load plastic buckets, ice augers, 5- to 6-foot spinning rods and tackle boxes on small sleds or toboggans and head for their favorite spots.

If the temperature is much below 32 degrees, they’ll spend a lot of time keeping ice holes free of ice and stomping around to keep their feet warm. They’ll also gripe when the wind blows and the chill factor makes them more miserable.

Long ago, many anglers who live in states where the ice gets 3 to 6 feet thick each winter and temperatures are near or below zero much of the time built elaborate fishing shacks and towed them out to ice “cities” with vehicles and small tractors. In the Inland Northwest, however, ice rarely gets more than 18 inches thick and the ice fishing season lasts only a few weeks. Consequently, the region’s anglers haven’t been interested in investing in ice shelters.

That’s changing. Even though anglers can’t count on ice fishing for much more than five weeks, many are buying high-tech equipment designed for ice fishing. Some of the region’s sporting goods dealers are stocking several different kinds of shelters, as well as ice rods, ice-rod holders, tip-up rods and reels, ice-fishing monofilament, ice cleats, sonars made for ice fishing, hand-held sonars, gas-powered ice drills and even ice-hole heaters.

To most ice fishermen, spending $75 to $350 on an ice shelter that will be used only a few weeks each winter is an expense they can forgo. But ice shelters are starting to become popular in Eastern Washington and North Idaho. A few anglers build their own out of scrap lumber and plastic tarps.

Some commercially built shelters are cleverly designed. One company is marketing several that are combined with polyethylene sleds. An angler can unload his sled-shelter, tow it to his favorite spot, erect the waterproof cotton-polyester tent in minutes, drill a hole in the ice and start fishing in comfort. The units are priced from $220 to $350.

Another firm sells an ice-fishing tent kit for $99. All the kit buyer has to do is buy a couple of pieces of plywood for the floor.

If you’ve ever fallen and cracked an elbow or your head on ice, you’re a believer in ice cleats. In the past, most ice fishermen have purchased cheaply made cleats for less than $10 or made their own out of a few links of chain and leather straps. Now, many anglers are buying superbly made $20 to $40 cleats.

Small, lightweight sonar units have become popular the last few winters. The units’ “cones” have small diameters, but anglers can determine exact depths and “see” fish directly under the holes.

Several companies are marketing 24- 30- and 36-inch-long ice rods for $15 to $25.

Tip-up rods are popular in Idaho, where an angler can set out up to five tip-ups.

Cold water tends to cause standard monofilament line to kink, coil and become brittle. A few firms are now selling specially made monofilament, polyethylene and Dacron lines that retain their strength and remain soft and pliable when air temperatures plunge below zero.

Gas-powered ice augers, although convenient, probably will never become as popular in the Inland Northwest as they are in the Midwest. A well made, sharp 6-inch hand auger can drill a hole in a foot of ice in less than 5 minutes.

With all the new high-tech equipment available, today’s ice angler can be as comfortable as the angler who fishes in July.

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The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Fenton Roskelley The Spokesman-Review