The ice fishing rig
The basic ice setup is two lines: a small jigging spoon or tear-drop jig you work by hand over a hole to call fish in, and a tip-up or dead-stick nearby with a bait left still for the fish that wants an easy meal. It takes perch, walleye, lake trout and wakasagi. First, though, the ice has to be safe.
| What you'll need | Spec |
|---|---|
| Worked line | Light braid or mono (around 4–10 lb) on a short ice rod (around 60–90 cm / 24–36"), small reel or inline reel |
| Jig / spoon | A small jigging spoon (3–14 g) for perch, walleye and lakers; a tear-drop jig (tiny, 0.5–2 g) for panfish and wakasagi |
| Tip-up / dead-stick | A tip-up (frame, under-ice spool, spring flag) or a second rod in a rest, with a small swivel and a leader to the hook |
| Hook / bait | Live or dead minnow on a single hook for walleye, pike and lake trout; a grub, maggot or small minnow for perch; red maggots for wakasagi |
| Pike trace | A wire or heavy-fluoro trace where pike are about (their teeth cut light line) |
| Ice safety kit | An auger to cut the holes, ice picks worn round the neck, a throw rope, a flotation suit or PFD, and a way to check ice thickness |
What it's for
Fishing through a hole in a frozen lake, for perch, walleye, lake trout and wakasagi (and pike, whitefish and char on the same waters). Winter is the main event on many cold lakes: the fish are still feeding, they stack up over known depths, and the ice lets you walk or drive out to water you could only reach by boat in summer. The setup is simple. On one rod you work a small jigging spoon or a tear-drop jig up and down to draw fish in with flash and movement. On a second line, a tip-up or a dead-stick, you leave a bait sitting still nearby, so the fish that comes to the commotion but wants the easy option finds one. You jig, you watch the flag or the soft rod tip, and you move holes until you find them. The one rule that comes before all the fishing is the ice itself: it has to be thick enough and sound enough to stand on, and that is not a thing to guess at.
The rig at a glance
Two holes, two lines. The worked line: a short ice rod with light braid or mono down to a small jigging spoon (around 3 to 14 g) or a tear-drop jig, hanging straight down the hole and worked by hand with a lift-and-drop. The still line: a tip-up (a frame that sits over the hole with a spool below the ice and a spring flag that pops up on a take) or a dead-stick (a second rod in a rest), with a bait left at a set depth, a live or dead minnow for the predators, a grub or maggot for the panfish. The defining detail is the pairing: the jig calls fish in with movement, the still bait nearby takes the ones that want it easy. You fish them a rod-length or two apart over the same depth.
How to build it
- Check the ice and cut your holes. Before anything else, confirm the ice is safe (see the safety note below), then drill or chip two holes a rod-length or two apart over the depth you want to fish. Go with someone who knows the lake or an established hut operator if you are new to it.
- Rig the worked line. Tie the small jigging spoon or tear-drop jig to the end of the line with a Palomar knot, or an improved clinch knot on mono or fluorocarbon. For the freest flutter on the drop, tie a non-slip loop knot so the spoon can swing. Tip the jig with bait if the fish want it.
- Rig the still line. Set up the tip-up or the dead-stick: tie a small swivel into the line with a Palomar knot, add a short leader, and tie on a single hook (or a wire trace and hook where pike are about) with a Palomar. Hook a minnow or thread on a grub, set the depth so the bait sits just off the bottom or at the level the fish are holding, and drop it down the second hole. Set the tip-up flag.
How to fish it
Drop the worked jig or spoon down the hole to the depth the fish are holding, then work it with a lift-and-drop: lift the rod tip to make the lure rise and flash, then let it flutter back down, and pause. The pause is where most takes come, often as a soft tap or the line going slack, so watch the line or the rod tip and lift gently into anything that feels different. Vary how hard and how high you jig until the fish tell you what they want. Meanwhile the still bait on the tip-up or dead-stick sits nearby; when the flag pops or the soft tip pulls down, a fish has taken it, so get to it, take up the slack, and set. If a hole goes quiet, move: drill fresh holes and search until you find a depth or a spot that produces, because the fish stack up in particular places under the ice. Perch and panfish come to the tiny tear-drop jig, walleye and lake trout to the spoon, and walleye especially feed best at dawn and dusk. Wakasagi, the tiny Japanese smelt, are fished down the hole on a fine multi-hook string of their own (see the wakasagi guide). Lake trout hold deep, so fish the spoon down on the drop-offs and ledges.
Where this rig works
Ice fishing is the winter way to fish many of the cold lakes on the atlas. It is fished on Lake Simcoe in Ontario, one of the busiest hard-water fisheries in North America, for jumbo perch, lake trout and whitefish; on Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, where an ice road runs out onto the lake for the big "greenback" walleye; on Lake Saimaa in Finland, the vast island-strewn lake, for perch, pike and burbot through the winter; and on the cold Japanese lakes, where wakasagi are the hard-water speciality. As the atlas grows, every lake with a winter ice fishery will link to this same page.
Ice fishing rig questions
Two lines over two holes. On one, a short rod with a small jigging spoon or tear-drop jig that you work by hand to call fish in. On the other, a tip-up or a dead-stick with a bait left still nearby for the fish that wants an easy meal. It takes perch, walleye, lake trout and wakasagi.
As a general guide, at least 10 cm (4 in) of clear, solid ice to walk on, and far more (30 cm / 12 in and up) before any vehicle. But thickness is not the whole story: clarity, snow, current, springs and recent weather all change how strong the ice is. Drill test holes, never go alone, and if in doubt, stay off.
A frame that sits over the hole with a line spool below the ice and a spring-loaded flag. You set a bait at depth and leave it; when a fish takes and pulls line, the flag pops up to tell you. It lets you fish a still bait on a second hole while you work a jig on the first. A dead-stick (a rod in a rest) does the same job.
Perch and other panfish on a tiny tear-drop jig, walleye and lake trout on a small spoon, pike on a baited tip-up (use a wire trace), and wakasagi, the Japanese smelt, on a fine multi-hook string. Whitefish, char and burbot come too on the right waters. Walleye feed best at dawn and dusk; lake trout hold deep.
A Palomar knot does almost all of it: the spoon or jig, the swivel and the hook. It is strong and simple, which counts when you are tying it with cold fingers. An improved clinch is the alternative straight to mono or fluorocarbon, and a non-slip loop lets a spoon or jig flutter more freely on the drop.