Friday, January 31, 2003
A different approach to wintertime fishing
Through the ice

BY MARK TAYLOR
OUTDOORS EDITOR

   In Northern states and Canada, ice fishing is a wintertime institution.

    From late fall into early spring, hordes of fishermen spend countless hours crouched over their holes. Many fish from elaborate shacks outfitted with heaters and TVs.

    They ice fish because it's fun, because it's effective, and because it's yet another excuse to spend time with friends in the outdoors.

    In Virginia, opportunities for ice fishing are rare. When the window opens, it closes quickly, often after just a couple of days.

    One of those windows opened late last week, and I was able to persuade my friend Brian Stephens to join me for some ice fishing.

    Despite the relatively long cold snap, finding good ice was no guarantee. We considered heading to Skidmore Lake, a high-elevation impoundment near Harrisonburg that can offer good ice fishing for trout. Worried that we might make the long drive only to find the ice too thin, we decided instead to try a small private farm pond near Blacksburg.

    Friday afternoon we headed out on a scouting mission, hoping to find a good spot at which to spend most of Saturday fishing.

    The farm pond was completely iced over, but it took only one step to confirm that the pond wasn't fishable. The ice was perhaps two inches thick, nowhere near what we needed.

    The next stop was Pandapas Pond, actually a set of two connected ponds just outside Blacksburg on national forest land. Friday we focused on the smaller and shallower of the two ponds. If the ice failed, at least the water was barely waist deep.

    This seems like a good chance to talk about ice fishing safety.

    I follow the words adhered to by some ice fishing veterans: There is no such thing as safe ice. Some ice is less dangerous than other ice, but frozen bodies of water are inherently dangerous environments.

    As a rule of thumb, four inches of clear ice will be strong enough to hold an individual or small group of fishermen. Ice thickness can be affected by many factors besides temperature. They include water depth, current, wind, sunshine and even concentrations of schools of fish.

    When testing ice, walk first over a shallow area. It's not a bad idea to wear a personal floatation device. I go even further, wearing a military surplus, full-body flotation mustang suit, such as those worn by cold weather Coast Guardsmen. Other safety gear includes a rope, and a set of wooden-handled ice picks or screwdrivers. The picks provide grip if you need to pull yourself out of a hole and back onto the ice.

    Chipping our first hole with a hand-held chisel, we found the ice to be at least 5 inches thick. I baited a small trout jig with a minnow, dropped it into the hole, set the rod on a buck and moved 20 feet away to make another hole.

    I hadn't started chipping when I heard a noise from the direction of my first hole. I looked over to see the short ice-fishing rod bucking.

    A few seconds later I slid a 2-pound chain pickerel onto the ice.

    Not bad for a scouting trip.

    Fishing in the same area early the next afternoon, Stephens and I each landed another chain pickerel before we decided to fish the main pond, which is stocked with trout.

    The trout turned out to be tougher quarry than the aggressive pickerel, and it didn't help that we were allowed to fish with only rod apiece in the designated stocked trout water. Each of us had multiple bites, but hooking the light nibblers was difficult. We got two stocker rainbows up to the holes, but only one made it onto the ice.

    The Pandapas Pond area is popular with hikers, but we were the only ice fisherman out there. During the day we attracted no shortage of gawkers, proof that ice fishermen are a rare sight in Virginia.

    "Catching anything?" they would ask.

    "A few," we would answer.

    "Really?"

    This week's relatively warm weather has rendered Virginia ice unsafe for fishing. It's possible we'll get another chance this winter, but more than likely we won't have another ice fishing window until next year.

    When it happens, I'll be out there sitting on my bucket. I wouldn't mind a little more company.

    MARK TAYLOR can be reached

   at 981-3395 or mark.taylor@roanoke.com.

   Ice fishing gear

    Because ice fishing opportunities are so rare in Virginia, it would be foolhardy to invest a lot of money in ice fishing gear. It's not really necessary, either.

    Ice fishing rods must be short, so the angler can be as close as possible to the hole. The tip section of a light action fly rod or spinning rod will work fine. A cork handle, available from rod building suppliers, is the best handle, but a simple wooden dowel will do. The handle can be taped to the butt of the tip with electrical tape. An inexpensive ultralight spinning reel can be taped to the handle.

    Inexpensive, short kiddie pole outfits also make fine ice fishing rigs. One of my ice fishing combos is a 3-foot-long Tweety spincaster that cost $9.

    Some serious ice fishermen like to use tip-up rigs, mechanical contraptions rigged with spools of line. When a fish bites, a flag shoots skyward. They are relatively inexpensive, starting at about $5, not including the cost of line.

    Because winter fish can be shy biters, baits generally should be small. It's hard to beat live minnows, which are excellent for popular winter species such as trout, yellow perch, crappies and pickerel. Tiny jigs tipped with wax worms are great baits for bluegills.

    Simple utility chisels will work for chipping out holes as long as the ice is no thicker than six inches. Attaching a chisel to a metal pipe is a cheap way to make a basic ice spud.

    A plastic five-gallon pail can carry gear and serve as a seat.

Let any elected or appointed official know what you think and how you feel by CLICKING HERE.