Dec
21
Open-water fishermen follow the calendar – Opener is the same Saturday every spring; shallow smallies on rocks by mid-June; big walleyes on steep drops in late August. But safety concerns can prevent ice anglers from fishing the same spots at the same time, one winter to the next. Continue reading
Dec
21
Just as you can easily upload updates to your cell phone and apps, you can now upgrade firmware for your digital MarCum fish finders. Continue reading
Dec
21
The shanties of yesterday were little more than four walls and a floor, but have slowly evolved over time. In fact, ice fishing can take credit for the earliest appearance of what is known today as a “man cave.” While it all started with the first wood stove in a tar-paper shanty, ice shacks today feature push-button retractable wheels, plush carpet and satellite TV. Continue reading
Dec
21
Even before Calvin Svihel bought his first flasher with college-loan funds, he’d been a student of schools of fish. That he’s now an ice-fishing teacher is testament to how much he’s learned. Continue reading
Dec
14
Complete terrain domination – for Chris Granrud, who makes a living putting clients on productive ice-fishing holes, that’s more than a nifty slogan. It’s a necessity. Continue reading
Dec
14
Where’s the Beef? Rockin’ out on the ice, that’s where!
Surrounded by thousands of the best fishing lakes in the Ice Belt, ICE FORCE Pro-Staff Bryan “Beef” Sathre considers himself blessed to be able to spend as much time on the water and ice as possible. Continue reading
Dec
14
When fish move, they don’t bring baggage. Ice anglers don’t have that option. Good thing we’ve got StrikeMaster augers.
“The fish don’t lug gear when they move, so they’ve got a head start on us ice anglers,” says ICE FORCE Pro-Staffer Tony Roach. “StrikeMaster’s light, easy-starting and fast-cutting augers help me catch up to them quicker. If my auger was heavier and slower cutting, it would be hard to keep up with the fish and stay on a bite.”
That’s the StrikeMaster difference. Continue reading
Dec
14
What if you took the most advanced ice fishing sonar on the market and merged it with the highest-resolution underwater camera?
You’d get the MarCum LX-9. Welcome to the future of ice fishing. Continue reading
Dec
6
Like the St. Louis River he grew up fishing, Grant Sorensen is strong, spontaneous and a little untamed.
“I guess I’ve got an adventurous personality,” says Sorensen, 22, ICE FORCE’s youngest pro-staffer. “I have the ability to do what I want to do and go where I want to go, so I take a lot of spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment trips.” Continue reading
Dec
6
Winter’s gauntlet poses less threat to your Otter ice house than a summer in your garage. So no matter what your Otter survived last winter – gale-force winds, rocky portage trails, 30-mile tows – how and where you stored it after ice-out will determine how much maintenance it requires before this season’s ice-up. Continue reading