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Tiptoe Bro |
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Northland Fishing Tackle’s Brian “Bro” Brosdahl shares his strategies for the first week of ice fishing. |
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BEMIDJI, Minn. (October 28, 2024) – The serious among us are messin’ with lures nightly, organizing by size and color, and gobbling up every nugget of ice fishing content they can find. The slightly less serious are thinking about first ice from the blind or treestand. Whatever group you’re in, surely, ice fishing has crossed your mind. Nobody counts the days – minutes and seconds – like backwoods savage and Northland pro, Brian “Bro” Brosdahl. Sure, he’ll pop a ruffed grouse or five, even sit a bit for a freezer buck, but rest assured that ice jigs are dancing in head. To that, Bro dishes up the intel on first ice. And we’re talking about that very first week when he’s testing and traversing what the yeti angler calls “tiptoe ice”. |
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READING THE ICE For beginners, Bro packs light, at least as light as lineman can travel. “I put just the essentials in a simple Otter utility sled,” said Bro. “That includes a chisel, RAZR Ultra-Light synthetic auger on a brushless lithium hammer drill, throwable floatation on a long rope, and just a few rods and tray of Northland jigs.” Once to the lake’s edge, he begins stabbing with the chisel. “A couple of good hits in the same spot gives me confidence that the ice is walkable,” said Bro. Once out a taste, he’ll plug holes with the auger to make sure there’s 4-inches of ice or more. Some intrepid anglers venture out on less, but nothing Bro recommends. Bro also avoids entering areas with emergent vegetation like bulrushes and cattails. “They can insulate and slow the formation of good ice,” he said. Bro also favors clear over cloudy ice, knowing the clear stuff formed faster and more consistently. Also, natural cracks (typically created by expanding sheets of ice) provide a visual indicator of ice thickness. You can also auger a hole and do the pinch test, gauging ice thickness with your hand. His last word on ice safety is to leave a breadcrumb trail. “I drop a plotter trail on my Humminbird Helix so I can walk out the same way I came in. Any snowfall and your footprints and chisel tests might be hidden. And if you’re coming back to shore in the dark, the plotter trail is extra helpful.” NOTE: A serious set of ice cleats prove invaluable on glassy early ice. A broken wrist or concussion is not the way to start the season. |
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WALLEYES The mysterious and delicious walleye is usually Bro’s preliminary target. “Location-wise, I pick up where I left off in the fall, focusing on the spots nearest shore,” he said. “The first rock structure closest to your entry point is a great place to start. Depth depends on water clarity, but somewhere in that 8- to 15-foot range on northern natural lakes.” Given the ice clarity, he prefers lakes with coloration at first ice, as well as smaller lakes that freeze first. He added: “Green weeds are another favorite for tiptoe walleyes. I fish pockets in the denser spots, as well as the outside edge. And it’s a real bonus when you can see those edges and pockets right through the ice before ever drilling a hole. You want to keep drilling to a minimum in this silent environment.” Bro continued by discussing baits and techniques and his three pronged approach. “Again, I’m packing light, so I only carry three combos for myself. The first is a search bait outfit with a Northland Tungsten Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon and a minnow head. If you’re sitting on a hole, the rattle can draw them in.” The second arrow in his quiver is the new Tungsten Slim Spoon. “The sleek spoon drops fast and presents a smaller profile,” said Bro. “I’ll shake the spoon, and it shimmies. The flicker blade adds another temptation. Again, with a minnow head.” The third prong of Bro’s trident is the tried and true deadstick. “I’ll tie on a #4 Gamakatsu octopus hook and put a split-shot 8-inches above it. A live rainbow or shiner is perfect for the setup.” Minnow held just a foot or so off the bottom, Bro is ready with his 32-inch St. Croix Dead Eye deadsticking rod. “It has a soft tip and drops with the slightest bite.” |
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CRAPPIES For many, crappies are the reason for the season – ice fishing season that is. Bro is a member of the choir, too, and invariably splits time between species during that hallowed first week of tiptoe ice. “In my neck of the woods, two-thirds of the lakes have basin dwelling crappies after fall turnover,” he said. “Ironically, a fish that lives in the shallow weeds all summer drops to the muddy basin during late fall and into winter. The mediating factor is an abundance of micro baitfish and hatchlings dropping into the basin and forming bait balls. The crappies hang beneath them maybe 2- to 4-feet off the bottom.” The second reason, according to Bro, is also driven by dining habits. “Crappies are also feeding on zooplankton, bloodworms, and other invertebrates that rise off the bottom. So, I’m after the deepest and steepest basins nearest shore. That includes the deepest holes in bays that freeze first.” |
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With crappies on the screen, Bro employs a one-two punch system. He first drops above the suspending crappies with a Rigged Tungsten Bloodworm, slowing the plunge rate as the bait approaches the fish. Then, it’s a series of micro rod movements that get the tail to pulse. “They usually fire up like bottle rockets,” he exclaimed. Riding shotgun is a combo rigged with the 1/8-ounce Tungsten Slim Spoon. “This one’s for aggressive crappies,” said Bro. “I’ll tip it with one waxworm or three maggots and drop it about a foot over the fish and pause for a few seconds and then start shimmying it.” |
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YELLOW PERCH “Jumbo perch,” the good ones, are staple in Bro Country. Location-wise, their environmental preferences at first ice are really driven by what the lake offers. And unlike crappies and bluegills, which typically prefer deeper water with distinct edges, perch can be found cruising the flatlands. But with that said, Bro does isolate a couple zones to explore. “You might not have to walk out far to get on perch,” stated Bro. “6- to 15-feet is common on northern natural lakes.” One first area of interest for Bro are chara grass (plantlike green algae) beds, which are common on big fisheries like Minnesota’s Leech Lake and Lake Winnibigoshish. “Pods of perch will roam expansive points and relate to chara. Oftentimes, chara is the only vegetation you’ll find over sand or gravel points.” |
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New stamped brass Thumper Spoon |
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Earlier, Bro mentioned the possibility of sketchy ice being associated with emergent weeds. But if he can take an outside-in approach, he’ll come from the lake side and fish the submerged vegetation that often spans outside the reeds and bulrushes. A very perchy place at first ice. Perch aren’t strangers to basins during tiptoe ice, either, but Bro prefers addressing the shallower fish before angler traffic blows them out deeper. And that can happen quite quickly if word gets out. Bro opens with the new stamped brass Thumper Spoon, pointing to how it flutters and kicks extra action with its flicker blade to summon fish. He adds a minnow head or pinch of maggot and jigs with 2-foot sweeps, intermittently pausing and swimming it around to secure a deal. If the perch aren’t hip to smoking a spoon, Bro downsizes to a Tungsten Mud Bug with waxworms or maggots – an appetizer few fish can resist. |
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BLUEGILLS In the best of all possible worlds, bluegills are intermixed with crappies. But if Bro’s on a make or break bluegill mission, it’s a return to the garden. “Bluegills will be on weededges closest to a hard break toward the basin,” said Bro. “If the weeds are dead and rotten, they’ll be at the base of the shoreline break.” He continued, “Unlike crappies, which suspend and float the basin, bluegills prefer hard to soft bottomed transitions at the base of the break where the basin begins. Occasionally, on lakes with a lot of basin insect biomass or freshwater shrimp, the bluegills will position on the edge of suspended crappies.” |
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“Bluegills on most lakes will hold to weeds and smaller bays until winter bares down and the vegetation starts to decay. And sometimes, that never happens if there’s healthy milfoil or coontail.” Unequivocally, Bro goes to a Tungsten Gill-Getter and Tungsten Mud Bug if it’s bluegill day on the calendar. He tips the Tungsten Mud Bug with a waxworm or a few maggots for bluegills relating to the basin. “It falls fast like a boat anchor. After it hits bottom, I pound it a few times and then jiggle it 2-feet off the bottom.” He prefers the Tungsten Gill-Getter, also dressed with a waxworm or maggot, when working the salad. “The flat profile makes it glide forward when you jig it. Really makes bluegills angry.” |
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#NORTHLANDTACKLE |
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ABOUT Northland® Fishing Tackle In 1975, a young Northwoods fishing guide named John Peterson started pouring jigs and tying tackle for his clients in a small remote cabin in northern Minnesota. The lures were innovative, made with high quality components, and most importantly, were catching fish when no other baits were working! Word spread like wildfire, the phone started ringing… and the Northland Fishing Tackle® brand was in hot demand! For 40 years now, John and the Northland® team have been designing, testing and perfecting an exclusive line of products that catch fish like no other brand on the market today. Manufactured in the heart of Minnesota’s finest fishing waters, Northland® is one of the country’s leading producers of premium quality jigs, live bait rigs, spinnerbaits and spoons for crappies, bluegills, perch, walleyes, bass, trout, northern pike and muskies. |
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ABOUT Bagley Bait Company The personality of any company comes from its founder. Jim Bagley was an inventive, fun-loving, passionate fisherman who became one the most respected legends in the fishing tackle industry. In late 2010, Jarmo Rapala and a group of investors bought Bagley Bait Company. As an admirer of Jim Bagley for his attention to quality and of his product ingenuity and innovation, Jarmo initiated significant changes in operations, enhanced production processes and quality control. Now in 2020, Northland® Fishing Tackle, along with Jarmo as its Chief Lure Designer, maintain the legacy of creating premium balsa crankbaits and topwater lures, as well as jigs and spoons for both freshwater and saltwater anglers. |