If you’ve never been up north, it’s quite a treat as it’s big water where there are hundreds and hundreds of icehouses on the ice, every size, shape and variety.

As a matter of fact, this year, the Zippel Bay Igloo made its appearance on the ice.

Resembling a large igloo, this large icehouse/bar is a big attraction as it has a full bar, big screen TV, tables and benches where you can not only eat a pizza, you have an opportunity to wet a line while enjoying your favorite drink.

The largest fish taken by anglers in the Igloo is a 48” northern that Desire, the young lady that runs the establishment took the first week in February.

Ice fishing is extremely popular on Lake of the Woods, part of the reason being that in the winter you’re allowed to use two rods and the limit for walleye and sauger is raised to eight (4 walleyes and 4 sauger).

Walleyes are the larger cousin of the sauger, reaching over 10 pounds with the average size probably being in the 2 to 4 pound class.

Walleyes are identified by their greenish gold color along with the white tip on their lower tail fin.

Sauger on the other hand are much more streamlined and more aggressive than walleyes. Primarily a river fish, the average size for sauger would be 1 to 2 pounds with a fish over 3-pounds being a real trophy.

Getting on Lake of the Woods out of Zippel Bay is easy as ice roads are plowed out onto the 30” of ice, allowing fishermen easy access to their houses.  Streets are all marked with street signs such as Perch, Big Fish and Walleye, making it easy for anglers to get to the right spot.

On this trip, we were filming with Nick and Deanna at Zippel Bay Resort. Joining us were Team Outdoorsmen Adventures members Larry Myhre, Sioux City, IA. and Jon Thelen, Crystal, MN.

Our plan was to start shallow in the morning, working deep during the day and then back shallow for the last light bite.

A cold front had rolled in the night before, which generally shuts the fish down or at least makes them a harder to catch so we knew that it could be a tough bite.

To combat the cold front, we went to live bait, (small hook, split shot and micro bobber) while downsizing our presentation using baits like the 3/16th Lindy Frostee Jigging Spoons.

We were using fat head minnows, going with the smaller minnows the majority of the time.

When using the jigging spoon, a whole minnow may be too much for cold front fish, so we went with a partial minnow (minnow head) as this worked best for us.

Every once in awhile, we’d drop down a Lindy Darter which not only caught a few fish, it also attracted fish into the area as several times our locators would light up below the darter and then our livebait rigs would take a fish.

We were fishing in icehouses placed over rock and rubble, fishing the shallower water on the top early and late and as the sun got brighter moving off the edge into deeper water.

Since it was such a lite bite, we needed to keep our live bait rigs at a minimum, going with a small hook, lighter split shot and a bobber.

When fishing cold front conditions, you want you bobber to verily float on the top of the water so that the fish feel no resistance when they mouth your bait.

I like to use a very small slip bobber, one that is just visible in the ice hole.

If you’ve ever had a fish pull your bobber down part way and then let go, that’s a pretty good indicator that your using too large of a float.

If all you have are the larger floats, you can add a larger split shot so that the float will suspend deeper in the water column.

A good locator is a must when ice fishing otherwise you’re fishing blind as all species of fish will move up and down in the water column and can be found a few feet below the ice at times.

If you’re fishing right off the bottom as many ice fishermen do and the fish are above you, you’re in for a long day!

Locators will indicate when a fish comes in under your transducer, which allows you to either bring your bait up or drop it down putting your bait where the fish are.

We all caught some nice fish and a lot of the smaller more aggressive sauger, which is a good sign for the years to come, as there will be a tremendous catchable sauger population in years to come.
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If you’re looking for a place to do some ice fishing yet this winter, Zippel Bay Resort will have icehouses out until the end of March.

We ended up taking home our eight fish limit on this trip and are patiently waiting for the soft water season when we’ll make another trip to Lake of the Woods, the walleye capital of the world.

For more information on Zippel Bay Resort and the excellent fishing on Lake of the Woods, go to www.zippelbayresort.com

Lake of the Woods features lots of eating-size

walleyes such as this one caught by Jon Thelen

Lindy/Little Joe representative. (Journal photo by Larry Myhre)

BAUDETTE, Minn. — The snow covered ice of massive Lake of the Woods stretched out before us like the surface of the moon.

The nicely manicured ice road was easy to negotiate. We were about five miles out from Zippel Bay to find the ice house where we would headquarter for our early morning fishing start.

Nick Painovich, owner with his wife Deanna of Zippel Bay Resort, guided us to the house which he said was located on a shallower rock rubble bar which had produced walleyes in the early and late hours of the day.

Jon Thelen, Lindy/Little Joe rep from Crystal, Minn., opened the ice house door and immediately took over the hole in the northeast corner of the shack.

I remembered then that Nick had told us last year that it always seemed the hole on the northeast produced the most fish.

Jon remembers details like that and after dropping the transducer of his Hummingbird flasher down the hole, he sent down a minnow-tipped Lindy Rattlin’ Flyer Spoon.

Gary Howey, Hartington, Neb, Nick and I were soon in operation as well.

But, we had lingered too long over breakfast at the resort and had missed the early bite. Nick soon had us on our way to another house in deeper water.

With Jon at the northeast hole, we began to jig and began to catch fish.

It was the little saugers that provided the first action. There is a huge year-class of 10-inch saugers coming on now that by next summer and winter will be in that nice keeper size. But, for now we sent them back.

Then the walleyes showed up. Jon scored first with a 15-incher on a Frostee jigging lure tipped with a minnow head.

It was a good way to break the ice (pardon the pun) and we were soon on the way to putting several eating-sized walleyes (known locally as “bucket fish”) in our bucket.

The hottest lure that day seemed to be the Frostee jig, but we also caught fish on the Flyin’ Rattlin Spoon, the the Genz worm in gold color. Minnow head or live minnow, it didn’t seem to matter.

We all kept a second rod down a hole under a Thill bobber with a minnow and took some fish on that as well.

We took a break about noon to visit the Igloo, a 20- by 30-foot ice house which Nick put on the ice for the first time this year. It features food and beverages as well as a large flatscreen TV and ice fishing holes. It has been very popular with both ice fishermen and snowmobilers.

Nick maintains nearly 40 miles of ice road and some 75 ice fishing houses, including sleepers. All told, there are probably up to 400 ice houses along his ice road. Street signs help anglers move around.

It’s been a good bite this year and that should continue through March when the houses will have to come off of the ice.

on the Red at Lockport, Manitoba, nets a catfish for a client. (Submitted photo)

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

LOCKPORT, Manitoba — When Holly Chow steps into her guide boat, she has to catch fish.

After all, anyone with the nickname, “Mama Cat” has to live up to her reputation.

And she does. A lifetime of experience in waters throughout the country sees to that.

But she didn’t really begin to fish for catfish until last spring. That’s when she began guiding full time for Stu McKay’s “Cats on the Red” resort.

“A typical day would be eight guys standing at the dock and they’d see two boats there and they’d see the girl and they’d go, ‘Oh, god, somebody’s got to fish with the girl,’” she said. “Then we’d come in with 24 fish and they’d go, “We were with ‘Mama Cat!’”

The Red River below the Lockport dam is recognized worldwide as a premier big catfish river in the summertime.

“The average size channel cat is about 20 pounds,” Holly said. “I would be ashamed if I took you out and we didn’t get three over 36 inches weighing between 24 and 26 pounds.”

In the fall, big walleyes (locally known as ‘greenbacks’) move up the river from Lake Winnipeg.

“In October the greenbacks begin coming in and life gets good,” she said. “The biggest in my boat was really big. It was three days after I had my hand surgery, I had 30 stitches in my hand, and I was fishing with my beautiful daughter,” she said.

“I passed her the rod and she set the hook into a walleye that went 31 1/2-inches.

“It was a great walleye fall,” she said. “And catfishing was good all summer long. It was so consistent. It’s all catch-and-release, but you can keep one under 24 inches. We supply all the equipment, all you bring is a smile.”

Holly’s outdoor background is extensive.

She grew up in Riding Mountain National park in southwest Manitoba. She was rodeoing full time at the age of 14, had her own half ton truck at 16 and a racing car.

When the family moved to Falcon Lake, located in the Whiteshell Provincial Park in southeastern Manitoba, she pursued the walleyes the lake is noted for.

“I’d spend literally 15 hours a day on the water,” she said. “I guided a little, fished a few little tournaments in the area and was placing high in them. If I was not working, I was out on the lake.

Then she began fishing tournaments seriously.

“I’d be home on Sunday night, work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and pull out for a tournament. I did that for 18 years,” she said.

She fished both walleye and bass tournaments including the PWT trail down south and bass circuit up north as well as a bunch of unsanctioned tournaments.

“I think the first year I fished 18 tournaments,” she said.

Then came a stint with Bass Pro Shop.

“I was the first woman on the Red Head Pro Hunting Team,” she said. “I was treated very well by that company and was able to hunt Africa and around the world with bow and occasionally the muzzleloader.

She did a lot of competition shooting with the bow representing the Red Head team.

“But I found targets were boring and they were so hard to cook,” she smiled.

She really enjoys promoting women in the outdoors.

“It’s not really as tough as many women might think,” she said. “The worst thing you can do is give a woman men’s used equipment or take her out to a place that is cold, wet and nasty.”

With the right equipment anyone can be comfortable in the outdoors.

“And it’s a whole lot of laughs,” she said.

SELKIRK, Manitoba — It’s a magical place, this 30-mile stretch of the Red River from the Lockport Dam north to Lake Winnipeg.

From late September through ice-out, the Red hosts untold numbers of huge walleyes, fish which have spent the spring and summer feeding in the inland sea known as Lake Winnipeg.

October draws thousands of anglers hoping to cash in on the action at a place where an 8-pounder is “just another fish” and nobody gets excited until a 12 pounder comes to the net.

Then the river freezes over and everyone goes home.

But, the big fish are still there.

Stu McKay, longtime owner of Cats on the Red Resort just below the dam at Lockport, called me in late December.

“You better get up here,” he said. “Some awfully nice fish are coming through the ice.”

A couple of photos of 30-inchers sealed the deal, but it would be mid January before my schedule would fit. Also the prospect of photographing a snowy owl and northern hawk owls was added incentive.

So, we made the 550 mile trip north for three full days of fishing and photography.

“It’s underutilized in a lot of respects,” Stu remarked as we were preparing our gear for the day. “If this fishery, both the Red and Lake Winnipeg, were in the state of Minnesota, for instance, there would be armies of people out there. Right now it is mostly locals.”

And, indeed, it was. A large group of permanent ice shacks were set up right outside Stu’s resort. “Mostly, they are catching saugers,” he said.

As we drove along the river to the north, scattered groups of fish houses clustered in three or four more areas.

We drove out onto the river at the “End of Main” where Netley Creek empties into the Red. Then we ventured a few miles farther north and set up on a flat.

Stu’s head guide, Holly Chow, was with us and set up her own portable shelter while Stu cranked up his StrikeMaster and drilled the holes and set up his insulated 2-person Thermal Clam. A Mr. Heater connected to a 5-gallon propane tank was placed in each house on a board insulated on the bottom with foam.

We dropped Vexilar transducers down separate holes and were soon fishing in living room temperatures.

Stu’s friend Andre Desrosiers, Selkirk, a Natural Resources officer who had a few days off, was fishing alongside of us.

We hadn’t been there 30 minutes when he yelled “Trophy.”

And it was. Amazingly 15 minutes later he landed another. These were nine and 10-pound fish.

We caught walleyes and sauger, too. But none approached trophy size that morning.

Stu and I left about 11 a.m., leaving everything set up for the evening bite to go looking for owls. We were gone about 15 minutes when Holly called and reported she had just lost a fish she estimated at 13 or 14 pounds right out of my hole.

Geez.

Later she called to say she had landed two 26-inchers and a 28.

Fran and Stu and I, meanwhile had photographed three northern hawk owls.

Day two found us back on the ice. The morning bite was good but the trophies were eluding us. Fran caught two sauger and five walleyes. Holly caught the best fish, a 26-inch walleye. Stu and I added some eaters. That afternoon we got some great snowy owl photos.

Day three was trophy day for Fran. She began by losing a big fish which turned right at the hole and tore loose. Holly and Fran got a good look at it. Thirteen pounds, Holly estimated.

A short while later, Fran set the hook again. This time the fish came up through the hole and she laid the 29 1/2-incher on the ice.

“If people are willing to put in their time, chances are very good they will get a trophy here,” Stu says. “How special was that today. A personal best for Fran, her first trophy walleye in Canada and her first time ice fishing.”

And that’s what is so magical about the Red.

Ten years ago Fran recorded more personal bests on the Red.

Fishing with Stu, we landed 48 channel catfish ranging from 12 pounds to 28 pounds in eight hours.

Where else can you do that. Huge channel catfish all spring and summer (if there’s good current) and huge walleyes all fall and winter.

“The month of December is probably the key month on the River,” Stu says. “Usually by this time of year we are fishing on Lake Winnipeg, but everything seems later this year.”

Three young guys checked in with us the last day. They had driven to the mouth of the Red and then ventured out onto Lake Winnipeg with four wheelers. They reported only three fish. But, those three totaled over 35 pounds.

This area is, indeed, the land where dreams of big fish come true nearly every day.

Thirty-six two man teams, representing three states entered in the event this year.

The teams not only had to compete with each other, they also had to contend with 50 MPH wind gusts.

The North Platte, NE. team, Drew Armstrong and Andy Young took 13.84 lbs. of fish from the 40′ depths on the Snake Arm using jigs tipped with minnows.

The 2nd place team also fished in the Snake Arm. Dan Priel, Cambridge, NE. and his partner Ken Priel came in with 10.11 lbs

In third place was the father/son team of Ted & Nathan Lindstedt from Cozad, NE. who caught 8.23 lbs of fish.

Finishing in 4th place were last years championship team of Scott & Monte Mares, Lincoln, NE. with 8:01 lbs.

In fifth place was a team from Thedford, NE. Russ and Rich Reiser took fifth place with 5.84 lbs.

Largest fish of the tournament were:

Crappie:    1.44 lbs. Tie Ken Priel, North Platte & Scott Mares, Lincoln

Bluegill:    .61 lb. Tracy Spencer, Mullen, NE.

Bass:        2.10 lbs. Gary Kurtzer, Lincoln, NE.

Perch:        1.20 lbs.    Dan Morrison, Valentine, NE.

Walleye:    3.76 lbs.    Byron Harrison, Casper, WY.

We “redesigned” our Flexible Flyer sled into a real ice fishing machine by wiring a peach crate to the top of it, rods were made from broken broom handles and a couple of nails.

To get through the ice, we borrowed a spud bar from our neighbor.  A spud bar isn’t exactly a high tech piece of equipment as it’s just a “real” heavy metal bar with one of the ends sharpened.

Add to that long handle underwear, four buckle overshoes, a stocking cap, brown jersey gloves and we were ready to hit the ice.

Well, it’s been forty some years since that time and things have come a long way.

Every year, there are more and more advancements in ice fishing gear, making it easier to punch holes through the ice and less exhausting for the fishermen when he’s hauling his gear out on the ice.

You don’t have to look far to find new and updated locators that help you to get on the fish quickly, new lures that helping us to catch then fish as well as clothing helping to us to stay warm in the harshest of conditions.

This year is no exception as I recently found out when I recently attended an Ice Fishing Expo.

Gone are the old days when you either had to spud your way through the ice or chip your way through the ice with a spoon auger as the ice augers now days, make it quick and easy to get a hole dug

Feldmann Manufacturing out of Wisconsin, (www.jiffyonice.com) the manufacturers of the Jiffy augers were the first to manufacture ice augers and each year they come out with new improvements.

All of their augers have the E-Z connect, allowing you to quickly remove and replace the blade from the power unit, making it much easier to transport.

They have a new High Torque Transmission HTT and heavy duty clutch transfers more energy giving the auger additional torque.

They start easily, cut quickly, giving us more time to fish.

Transporting your gear on and off the ice have never been easier as there are numerous companies out there that are making sleds and houses now that not only allow the ice fishermen to easily haul his gear onto the ice, but once he gets their to fish in comfort.

Otter Outdoors (www.otteroutdoors.com) a Minnesota based company has a complete line of ice fishing sleds and houses made for 1 to 4 people.

Their sleds have a raised front allowing the sled to be pulled through snow easily with plenty of room to store and haul your gear.

The back of the sled is raised higher than the front, which allows you to safely transport all your gear without fear of it falling off on the ice.

Once you get to where you want to fish, the flip up swivel-cushioned seats allow you to fish in comfort.

If the weather turns nasty it takes just a few seconds to flip the house up over you, giving protection from the elements and plenty of room to comfortably fish, no matter what Mother Nature throws at you.

Vexilar, another Minnesota based company (www.vexilar.com) celebrates its 50th year in 2010.  I’ve used Vexilar locators for years and believe they manufacture the finest locator available for not only ice fishermen but also for us soft water anglers.

Their FL-20 is state of the art; it’s a three-color sonar unit allowing you to quickly locate the fish, because of the three colors, allowing you to see your lure, which appears orange as it descends. The unit makes it easy to spot the fish, which appear in red.

Once you spot the fish are above or below your lure, you can watch your lure as you bring it to the depth the fish are feeding, the red color indicating the fish will widen which means that your lure is at the exact depth the fish are, putting the bait right in front of the fish.

The unit also has a night and day mode. The night setting lets you cut the output of the LED display bin in half to avoid getting night blindness when looking at the super bright LEDs.

There are also numerous new lures on the market including those manufactured by Lindy, another Minnesota based company (www.lindyfishingtackle.com).

Their new Darter with its enticing new action resembles the lipless crankbait used by anglers during the open water season. It’s rattle chamber mimics the sounds of a distressed baitfish and will bring in fish from long distances.
It’s worked much like a jig using the standard lift drop method causing the Darter to vibrate while darting from side to side.

Available in three sizes and eleven different holographic patterns, these baits have been hot on many upper midwestern lakes.
Anglers have found the hottest colors in our area seem to be the 1/3” Bluegill for perch and the 1 ¾” Shiner and Perch pattern for walleyes

Arctic Armor a Pennsylvania based company (www.idigear.com/arcticarmor) has been keeping us warm for several years and once again this year, they’ve come out with several new styles of ice fishing clothing that; not only will keep you warm, it will also keep you afloat if you happen to end up in the water.

Insulated with lightweight Insultex™ you’ll keep you warm without the old bulky type insulating material that you’d find on some cold weather clothing. This along with its Internal Tightening System keeps your body heat in while keeping snow out.

Their super padded knees with Insultex™ keep you warm and dry when kneeling on the ice to dip or while landing that big fish.
These are just a few of the new and updated products that will help to make you a more efficient and a much more comfortable and warm ice fishermen.

Be safe, keep warm and we’ll see you on the ice this winter.

It was a quiet, late November afternoon when Ron Peterson, publisher of the Journal walked into my office in the newsroom.

He sat in the chair across from my desk where, as editor of the newspaper, I was scanning our news budget before heading up the meeting with the floor editors to decide what the next day’s paper would look like.

“What would you think of producing an outdoor tabloid which we distribute free throughout our area?” he asked.

As the paper’s outdoor writer since 1973, it didn’t take long for me to answer.

“I think it would be a great idea,” I said.

And so it started, a free tabloid devoted to teaching Siouxlanders more about hunting and fishing in our area and throughout the upper Midwest.

The first issue, one of six to be published each year, hit the streets in late January of 2004.

The cover photo was of Dave Genz, known as the father of modern day ice fishing. He was on the ice holding a walleye. I had taken that photo a year earlier on Devil’s Lake in North Dakota.

The whole issue was devoted to ice fishing .

So that’s how it started.

The publication, in the intervening years has changed somewhat.

In that first issue, a 20 pager, every story was written by me.

There’s a problem with that, and it’s called lack of variety.

I soon began adding other writers. Today we have some of the most recognizable outdoorsmen in the upper Midwest writing for us.

They reveal a bunch of tips, techniques, where-to-go, how-to-do information in each issue.

And often, many of these breakthroughs are reported here before anywhere else.

Take, for instance, an article in the current issue by Ted Takasaki, one of the nation’s top competitive walleye fishermen. He talks about using aggressive jigging tactics on early ice walleyes. One of the lures he uses is the new Lindy Darter. A lure he thoroughly tested last winter. He reveals everything he learned in this article. The information is published here for the first time, but remember, you’ll be seeing a lot elsewhere about the Lindy Darter, only later.

If you ice fish, you know Dave Genz. He’s at the forefront of ice fishing technology and has taught all of us how to be more successful on the ice.

He’s also designed many of the lures, rods and other ice fishing paraphernalia which we take for granted today.

His story deals with getting on the ice before the sun breaks the horizon. It’s a tough thing to do and takes planning, but as Genz points out, it is often the most productive time of the day.

Other writers who appear in each issue include Babe Winkelman, a nationally-known outdoorsman who has spent the past 30 years teaching people how to hunt and fish. This time he writes about winterizing your boat and putting away your tackle for next year. In another story he talks about scent control you can’t buy at a store. Deer hunters, take note.

Jim McDonnell, Royal, Iowa, the guy we call “The Fishing Professor,” also writes for each issue. McDonnell, the original fishing guide on the Okoboji’s since the 1960s, often keys his stories to fishing success on the Iowa Great Lakes. The lure of yellow perch and goose hunting in northwest Iowa are two topics he addresses in the latest issue.

Bob Jenson, a long-time fishing educator and outdoor television host, writes about winter river walleyes and end of the season fishing tasks in the current issue.

Gary Howey, Hartington, Neb., outdoor television host and outdoor writer, writes about how to fish early ice safely and in another story, how the sport of ice fishing has changed.

Jerry Carlson, an outdoor writer from the Minneapolis area, writes about hole hopping to catch more winter fish.

I fill in with a blueprint for fishing Iowa’s Great Lakes with a species by species rundown and the best lures and baits for each. In another story I detail the changes in ice fishing gear and what you should have for success.

This little tabloid has evolved into a teaching machine on lots of different outdoor pursuits.

Look for it at various outlets around Sioux City, the Iowa Great Lakes and elsewhere.

We have one goal. That is to give you the best how-to information out there on hunting and fishing in the upper Midwest.