Big Moves, Small Moves

Ice fishing mobility is multi-faceted. First, move as far and fast as necessary to find fish. Then, slow down and tighten the noose until you’re dialed in.

Mobility. It’s a word that gets kicked around constantly, wherever ice fishing is discussed. Even though it’s one little word, it has been given a confusing array of definitions.

Back at the beginning of the modern ice-fishing revolution, Dave Genz was talking up mobility wherever he went. Inventor of the Fish Trap instant setup shelter, Genz was initially trying to simply get anglers to break out of the old mold.

“They had this new fish house that would let them move quickly,” Genz remembers, “but they were using it the old way. A Fish Trap starts out light, but if you fill the sled with stuff, it gets too heavy to pull.”

Ice fishing has had a (deserved) reputation as a sit-and-wait, hit-and-miss sport. Because of the limitations of early equipment, you labored to drill one set of holes, then hoped fish would be down there and willing to bite. Breakthroughs like the Fish Trap and Lazer auger made it possible to move often, taking the pursuit to the fish until you found willing biters.

“I may have pushed people too hard,” says Genz when asked to look back on it, as anglers did embrace his message of bringing less stuff and keeping on the move. “Sometimes now,” he says, “it looks like a Chinese Fire Drill out there.

Refining the Concept
Mobility remains a crucial concept in modern ice fishing. But there are subtleties important to its true understanding.
You do have to pack light, so moving (even long distances) is quick and easy. But you do slow down, make smaller moves, and finally settle in when you find what you’re looking for.

Realizing the difference between big moves and small moves is the missing ingredient for many people. You have to make a plan, then execute it.

The situation determines what kind of moves you make, and how many.

When you first get out there, the holes are relatively far apart, and you’re mainly just looking for signs of life. Genz always talks about drilling maybe 3 or 4 holes at a time, and what he finds determines where he drills the next set of holes.
If you don’t see much in your first set of holes, move to the next spot you plan to check. Notice the word ‘plan’ in there.
“The plan is so important,” says Genz. “I have the ideas in my mind before I get out there. I know where I’m going for my first move, and second, and third.”

If you don’t hit fish right away, the time will come for a big move. It might be a hundred yards, it might be two miles, it might be to another lake. But it usually involves stashing all your stuff and getting on your horse to ride. You might make a long walk, or use an ATV, snowmobile, or vehicle.

As you get to each spot, repeat the process of checking it out.

The thing that separates the best ice anglers from the pack is what they do after locating fish. “When you find a few fish,” says Genz, “that’s when you start building on that. Look for the edge of the weeds, or go right in the thickest weeds. Or look for a funnel area, a place where fish might tend to travel. You’re in fish now, and you need to determine where the best spots are.”
Often, during the daytime, Genz and fellow members of Ice Team will make note of each spot that produced a bigger fish. “Those are the holes you come back to at prime time,” he says.

In a nutshell, using both big moves and small moves is the essence of mobility.

At times, the pace is fast. As long as the weather isn’t “brutal” it’s common to see good anglers fishing mostly ‘outside’ using today’s ice-specific clothing as the ultimate in portable shelter.

“I always have my Fish Trap ready, and can set it up any time I need to warm up,” says Genz, “but nothing is more mobile than fishing outside, wearing my Ice Armor suit.”

The social aspects of ice fishing can shine once you settle over the top of biting fish. Just don’t get too entrenched, because when the action slows, you owe it to yourself to go back into big move, small move mode— mobility in the truest sense.