Water you doing this winter?

When my family is on backpacking or camping trips it doesn’t matter if the fish are biting; I am out fishing. Since moving to Montana for college, I’ve realized that there is a major issue with fishing during the winter — most lakes are frozen.

This has caused severe fishing withdrawal with acute symptoms such as complaining, tiredness and an overall gloomy outlook on life. Thankfully, there is a solution to this predicament in the form of ice fishing. For all of you fishermen out there who’ve never been before here’s some information:

The most basic concept of ice fishing is that there must be a hole in the ice to drop your line into. To achieve that, you’ll need an ice-fishing auger to drill a circular hole through the ice. There are electric, gas and man-powered augers. The electric and gas powered ones are good unless you’ve been skimping on the gym lately. The size of the auger should also be taken into account — larger fish require a larger hole so if you’re fishing for pike or walleye, then a larger auger (around 8 inches) is a good idea.

You’ll also need something to catch the fish. Generally a rod and reel or a tip-up is used. Ice fishing rods are short, usually between 24 and 36 inches and made of materials that will remain flexible at cold temperatures. A tip-up does not involve a rod at all. It is a reel that is placed over the hole and left to sit. When a fish bites, a flag is triggered as an indicator that a fish is biting.

As far as location, Hyalite reservoir, Hebgen lake and Quake Lake are good places to try your luck.

If you are looking for additional information you can go to takemefishing.org before your next ice-fishing adventure.