Ice Fishing for Beginners

Ice fishing is easier than it looks and more dangerous than it looks. Both halves matter, and the dangerous half comes first.

Start here: two agencies, the same answer

There is no such thing as safe ice, and no agency is checking it for you.

• Minnesota DNR: there is no such thing as 100 percent safe ice, and the DNR does not measure ice thickness on Minnesota lakes.
• Wisconsin DNR: "There really is no sure answer, and no such thing as 100 percent safe ice." And: "The DNR does not monitor local ice conditions or the thickness of the ice."

Two states, two agencies, the same message arrived at independently.

And note what Wisconsin does not do. It publishes no thickness table at all — not because the information is hard to produce, but because "Ice strength is based on a combination of several factors, and they can vary from water body to water body." An agency that could easily print a number has decided a number would mislead you.

Minnesota does publish guidance, and it is worth knowing: a minimum of 4 inches of new, clear ice for walking and fishing on foot. Two things about that figure. It assumes new clear ice — white ice is roughly half as strong, so the guideline doubles. And it is guidance, not a guarantee, on a lake nobody has measured.

We do not publish thickness figures for cars and trucks. That is deliberate, and it is explained on our ice fishing kit page.

How to actually check

Carry a spud bar and use it as you walk out. Wisconsin DNR's advice is to check thickness as you go, not once at the shoreline. Ice can be two feet thick in one place and inches thick a short distance away.

Look at what the ice is. Clear ice is generally stronger than ice with snow on it or bubbles in it.

Ask locally. This is the most practical line in any agency's guidance: Wisconsin DNR points anglers at local bait shops, fishing clubs and resorts, which "serve winter anglers every day and often have the most up-to-date information on how thick the ice is on local lakes and rivers, as well as areas that are especially dangerous."

That last clause is the valuable one. Locals know which spots never freeze properly — springs, current, aerators, pressure ridges. No website knows that about your lake.

Avoid current, inlets and outlets, bridges, docks with bubblers, and anywhere the ice colour changes.

What to carry before you carry tackle

Wisconsin DNR's basic list: "ice claws or picks, a cellphone in a waterproof bag or case, a life jacket and length of rope."

Ice picks go around your neck, outside your coat, where you can reach them with numb hands. They are useless in a pocket.

Our full kit list covers the rest, in order of what keeps you alive rather than what catches fish.

If you go in

Worth reading before you need it, because one instruction is the opposite of what people do.

Do not take your clothes off. Wisconsin DNR: winter clothes "can trap air, which can help provide warmth and flotation." The instinct to shed a heavy coat is wrong.

Then:

1. Go back the way you came. That ice held you a moment ago.
2. Hands onto unbroken ice.
3. Kick your feet and use ice picks to haul yourself up and out.
4. Lie flat and roll away from the hole. Do not stand up next to it.
5. Get warm immediately.

And a warning most people have never heard: for moderate to severe hypothermia, get medical help rather than warming someone fast yourself. Wisconsin DNR is blunt about why — "The shock of the chilled blood may cause ventricular fibrillation leading to a heart attack and death!" No hot bath, no whisky.

Now the fishing, which is the simple part

You need a hole, a short rod, and a depth.

Where to drill. Start shallow. Most winter fish for a beginner are in less water than you would guess, and drilling several holes and moving between them beats sitting on one.

What to fish, by species. Wisconsin DNR names the four most sought-after winter species — bluegill, perch, walleye and northern pike — and publishes where to look:

Those are the agency's own figures, which is unusual and worth using. Start with bluegill — shallow, numerous, and forgiving.

How to jig. Gently. "Gently jig the lure up and down" is the DNR's wording and beginners almost always overdo it. Small lifts, long pauses, and watch your line where it enters the water — a great many winter bites are a line that stops falling rather than a pull you feel.

Tip-ups are the other half of ice fishing: a baited line set in a hole with a flag that pops up when a fish takes. They let you cover more holes than you can hold rods for. Check your state's limit on how many lines you may fish.

The bait rule that catches people out

Minnows are not legal everywhere. Wisconsin DNR states it plainly: "minnows are illegal on some lakes", with restrictions in place to prevent the spread of VHS — viral haemorrhagic septicaemia, a fish disease.

This is a rule anglers break without ever knowing it exists, because the bait shop sold them the minnows. Check the rules for the water you are fishing, not the county you bought bait in.

It is the same principle as the live-bait rule on our bait page: a bait bucket moves disease and invasive species between waters.

Shelters, and when they need a licence

If you graduate to a shelter, this becomes a real rule rather than a formality. Minnesota's enforcement guidance is specific:

• A portable shelter is "a structure that is placed on the ice to provide shelter and is readily collapsible, folds, or disassembles for transport." Collapsible canvas and sled-style shelters do not need a licence while occupied or attended.
• Camper-type shelters are not portable and must be licensed.
• The 200-foot rule: "If a person is not within 200 feet of a portable shelter, the portable shelter needs to be licensed."
• The overnight rule: any portable shelter left unattended "anytime between midnight and an hour before sunrise needs to be licensed."
• If a shelter needs a licence, the licence and owner identification must both be readily visible from the outside, with ID characters at least two inches high.

There are also removal deadlines, which differ by zone and by border water, and which change. Those come from the DNR each season — check the current dates before you leave a shelter out.

Those are Minnesota's rules. Every state writes its own.

A first trip, in order

1. Go with someone who has done it, on a small shallow lake near access.
2. Spud bar in hand, picks around your neck, life jacket on.
3. Drill in 4–8 feet and start on bluegill.
4. A tiny jig, live larvae, gentle lifts, long pauses.
5. Move holes if nothing happens in twenty minutes.
6. Leave before dark on your first trip.

Related

• What do you need for ice fishing? — the kit, safety first
• Live fishing conditions — wind and active weather warnings before you go
• Fishing bait explained — why live bait must not move between waters
• Walleye · Northern pike · Bluegill

Sources

• Ice safety — Wisconsin DNR — that the DNR does not monitor ice conditions or thickness; "no such thing as 100 percent safe ice"; that ice strength varies by water body; the safety gear list; the self-rescue sequence including not removing winter clothing; and the warning about ventricular fibrillation when rewarming.
• Ice fishing techniques — Wisconsin DNR — bluegill, perch, walleye and northern pike as the most sought-after winter species, with the depths, lures and baits quoted above, and that minnows are illegal on some lakes with restrictions to prevent the spread of VHS.
• Flag up! Ice fishing in Wisconsin — Wisconsin DNR — checking ice with a spud bar as you go out; bait shops, fishing clubs and resorts as the best current local source; clear ice generally stronger than snow-covered or bubbled ice.
• Ice Shelters — what you need to know, Minnesota DNR enforcement — the portable-shelter definition, the licensing triggers, the 200-foot and midnight rules, and the display and owner-identification requirements.
• General ice thickness guidelines — Minnesota DNR — the 4-inch minimum for new clear ice on foot, and that white ice is about half as strong.
• Ice safety — Minnesota DNR — no such thing as 100 percent safe ice, and that the DNR does not measure ice thickness.