Ice-fishing Friday: Your complete guide to icing winter brook trout

PRESENTATION

Because I typically fish where the water’s less than 10 feet deep, the light spoon provides all the weight I need to hang my bait just a little below the middle of the water column. It’s so delicate, too, that when the minnow attempts to swim away, it tows the bright spoon behind it, which pulls it back beneath the hole when it runs out of steam. What I find so intriguing about this whole set-up is that while I catch more fish on the tip-up, I nab the majority of the giants on my jigging rod.