Ice Tackle For Ice Fishing

by admin

My first ice fishing rod was very basic. It was a piece of wood dowel with an ice pick in the end to jab in the ice and two pegs that came out of the side to wrap fishing line on. The line was just a braided line with a piece of monofilament line at the last two feet. When you had a bite, you simply pulled the line in hand over hand. Ice tackle today can still be that simple, but there is really some nice tackle out their.

The basic ice tackle you need to ice fish is an ice drill or chisel, an ice skimmer, a fishing pole as simple as described above and good ice. Let’s take a closer look at these basics.

The first piece of ice tackle you need is some sort of ice drill or chisel unless you think the fish are hitting on the surface! The most basic way to cut the ice is with a chisel. This may work well for opening holes in thinner ice, but an auger or drill is required for thicker ice. If you get a hand auger, keep your blades sharp and you will be able to drill holes with ease. One drawback of the hand auger is in thicker ice, you may be kneeling down on the ice and cranking. If you like to move around or fish a lot, invest in a power auger. There are several major players, Eskimo, Jiffy and Strikemaster just to mention a few. Most of these are gas augers but electric models are also available. Don’t skimp, this is the piece of ice tackle that must operate for you to fish.

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