Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been delving a bit deeper into the world of the “hard-water” fisherman. Once you get through the ice barrier, the next task, of course, is to find a method to bring the fish from the depths of their watery world into our domain. Last week we looked at one often used fishing device known as a tip-up, but another common and maybe even more popular technique utilized by today’s ice-fishermen is a jigging rod.

Like everything else in the fishing world, ice fishing rods and reels have also evolved over the years. When I first got into the ice fishing business over fifty years ago, we didn’t have a lot to pick from, so many of us made our own ice fishing rods. Bear in mind, catching fish through a six- or eight-inch hole in the ice doesn’t require anything too sophisticated. First off, you are literally standing over top of the fish you are trying to catch so you can forget any kind of long rod, and in truth, a two-foot rod length or less is all that is needed. As the popularity of the activity grew, more and more manufacturers jumped on board and began making ice fishing rods, and today, we have more to choose from.

I remember my first ice fishing rod; I still have it, and if I had to, I could still catch fish with it. I made the rig from a broken spinning rod that I had. I simply took the top two feet from the tip and shoved a few inches of the base into a hole drilled into one end of a ten-inch piece of old broom handle. The “reel” was two nails about four inches apart on the wooden broom handle; you simply wound the line around the two nails and threaded it up through the rod guides, and you were ready to go. The fishing technique was about as simple as the outfit; you dropped the line and baited rig down the hole and jigged or bobbed it up and down a bit hence the name “jigging rod.” When you hooked a fish, you dropped the rod and pulled the line hand over hand up through the hole. I still often do that same thing today, even though we now have reels attached.

Today you can now buy rods made especially for jigging through the ice; these rods are also equipped with smaller versions of our popular open-faced spinning reels. There are even several reels specially designed for the purpose of ice fishing. The newer ice fishing reels look like a small version of a fly reel; they are easy to handle and a lot less cumbersome than the spinning reel types.

There are basically two common methods for utilizing an ice jigging outfit, the first of which is simply dropping your offering down the ice hole and then jig it up and down until you “feel” a strike. This feel method can be tricky if you are new to the business since such strikes are often very slight, so a sensitive rod tip, light line, and the ability to feel a light tap are important.

Another common technique is to attach a strike indicator or bobber of some type. The important thing to remember here is to keep the indicator small-just enough to hold the jig and bait at the desired level. Wintertime hits are often very subtle, and a small bobber is more likely to show a strike. Another advantage to using a bobber is that you can set the bait or lure at the desired depth and maintain that depth. Maintaining the right depth is vital since fish will often school or pass by somewhere suspended in the water column; an attached bobber can quickly get you back to the depth generated by the strike.

That sentence in the last paragraph referring to suspended fish conjures up another important aspect of successful ice fishing-knowing where the fish are in the water column, and that brings us to the use of a sonar unit, but I’ll save that for another time.