Ice fishing: safety on the ice and baits

What you need

• Safety: ice picks worn around your neck, a 15-20 m rope, a life jacket, a charged phone in a waterproof pouch and a stick or an ice chisel to test the ice as you go.
• Auger: a 100-150 mm ice auger; a bigger hole isn't necessary and weakens the ice.
• Pole: a 30-70 cm ice rod with a sensitive tip or a bite indicator on the tip.
• Line: 0.08-0.14 mm monofilament or fluorocarbon for silver fish and perch; 0.20-0.25 mm, with a wire trace, for pike.
• Accessories: a skimmer to clear ice from the hole, a stool or a box, layered clothing, and boots with crampons.

Baits

• Mormyshkas (small ice jigs) with a maggot or a bloodworm, for perch, bream and roach.
• Vertical jigging spoons and balance jigs, for perch and pike.
• Deadbait or livebait for pike on a tip-up, where permitted.
• Very fine groundbait, in small amounts, with maggots or bloodworm, lowered to the bottom.

When to fish

• Only when the ice is thick and safe, usually in January and February in cold winters.
• The first weeks after the freeze and the ones before the thaw are usually the best.
• During the day, especially in the morning and the afternoon.
• Watch out: the pike closed season starts at the end of winter (the exact dates are below); during it, pike are not to be fished for, not even through the ice.

Where are you fishing

• Lakes and ponds with still water that freeze evenly; rivers and places with current are rarely safe.
• Holes and their edges, areas 3-8 m deep, the edges of weed beds on the bottom.
• Ice is thinner next to reeds, at stream mouths, over springs on the bottom, under bridges and next to fallen trees: steer clear of these spots.
• Note: in winter (1 January - 15 March and 1 November - 31 December), fishing is banned within 250 m upstream and downstream of bridges with piers in the riverbed, and within 250 m upstream of reservoir dams.

Step by step

1. 1

   Test the ice. Clear, solid ice at least 10 cm thick will, as a rule, hold one person; white ice with bubbles, or ice that has thawed and refrozen, is much weaker. Measure the thickness at the first hole and then every so often.

2. 2

   Don't go alone. Go out on the ice with at least one companion, keep your distance from each other, and tell someone on the bank where you are.

3. 3

   Drill the holes. Drill 3-5 holes a few metres apart, at different depths, and skim out the broken ice.

4. 4

   Find the fish. Lower the bait to the bottom, then lift it a few centimetres; if you get no bites in 10-15 minutes, move to another hole.

5. 5

   Work the bait. Work the mormyshka with small, fast twitches of the tip, with pauses; lift the jigging spoon 20-40 cm and let it fall freely, and the take usually comes on the drop.

6. 6

   Strike short. With perch and silver fish, the bite is the indicator stopping or lifting: strike with a short flick of the wrist.

7. 7

   If the ice gives way. Don't panic: turn back towards the direction you came from, dig the ice picks into the ice, pull yourself up on your stomach and roll away from the hole; don't stand up until you're on safe ice.

Common mistakes

• Going out on the first, thin ice after a few nights of frost.
• Fishing alone, without ice picks or a rope.
• Holes that are too big or too many in the same place, which weaken the ice.
• Leaving holes unmarked when you leave: a person or an animal can step into them once they freeze over thinly.
• Large groups gathered in one spot on the ice.
• Too long at one hole with no bites.

Frequently asked questions

Step-by-step guides

• Groundbait and recipes: Prussian carp groundbait for cold water (winter / early spring)
• Fishing knots: Palomar
• Releasing fish properly: Zander and perch brought up from deep water

Fishing for perch by county

Other fishing techniques

• Feeder fishing
• Spinning for pike
• Perch on the micro-jig
• Prussian carp on the float
• Bream on the feeder
• Fishing from a boat
• Homemade groundbait
• Pike on fish baits
• Perch on the drop shot
• Carp on the method feeder
• Carp on boilies
• Zander on the jig
• Trout on spinners
• Wels catfish with the clonk
• Spinning for chub
• Asp on crankbaits
• Barbel on the feeder
• Tench on the float
• Fly fishing
• Catfish from the bank