High-tech and low-tech ice-fishing tricks

While there’s no way to accurately predict how long safe ice will remain on area lakes, a good plan would be to hit your favorite lake for kokanee salmon soon ... before you have to lay a plank or ladder to reach the ice.

Veteran ice fishers know the last few weeks of ice can provide some of the most consistent koke fishing of the winter. The key, in most cases, is to find the proper depth.

Years ago, I packed an electronic fish finder in my sled. In most cases, I found kokanee at 20 feet, 40 feet and near the bottom, above nuisance pygmy whitefish. And, of course, there were those times when hungry kokes were swimming less than 10 feet below the ice.

When kokanee are “neutral”— ignoring your maggots — you can work your jig off, only to catch an extra fish or two. But when kokes are “tentative,” there are a few things to try to catch more fish.

• Lightweight braided line transmits a fish bite much better than stretchable monofilament.

• Delicately balancing the rod on a fulcrum or using a spring bobber will also help detect bites.

• Tying a glo-hook 6-8 inches below a Swedish Pimple is the most popular kokanee ice fishing rig in northwest Montana.

A glo-hook can be recharged to provide illumination in the water by holding it in sunlight or hitting it with the flash of a detachable camera flash unit.

I would bet the Swedish Pimple has attracted more kokes under Flathead Valley ice than any other lure, but recently I discovered the Do-Jigger, made by the same company (Bay de Noc Lure Co.), that offers a concave side-profile to allow more “flutter.”

The Do-Jigger is also available in blue prism-tape, which makes sense when fishing deep. To refresh your memory, the following colors are filtered out at the indicated water depths —  red 15 feet, orange 25 feet, yellow 40 feet and green 75 feet.

And if you want to fatten up your maggots, remove some of the wood shavings from the plastic case and insert a piece of meat.