By Nick Simonson

Oftentimes when exploring a new piece of open water or even returning to those I have known throughout my life but haven’t been to in a while, I break down my early foray into an imaginary set of squares laying out over an area, particularly on a river, or any stretch of running water such as under a dam or in a space around an obstruction like a rock or a tree.  By placing casts in each imaginary square, moving my jig or other offering along the bottom surrounding the structure, I am able to identify changes in substrate, smaller features, and hopefully the take of a fish relating to those shifts and little indicators I encounter in each box of water.

While the gentle drift of the flow or the slight shift of the boat may change exactly where my lure lands in each of the squares, I’m generally able to check each box off on the grid and go back to the ones that are most productive, or when none of them pay off, move around and set up a new grid elsewhere.  In winter, there’s less of that shift, but the process is often just as successful in figuring out where fish are holding, and what on the bottom might be the magnet that’s bringing them to a certain space in the grid now frozen in hard water. 

The grid is also more static as well, comprised simply a line of holes punched up and then one back gets the square started on an area of ice on a map on my GPS, or phone, or even just in my head via dead reckoning.  With 10 or fifteen openings in the ice, I’m able to move from each point and explore what’s below, using a lure to feel for mud, rocks, or other changes in the substrate below, and my sonar to see if any active fish come in from the sides or rise from the bottom to bite. While it may be a bit more physical work to explore the grid, especially depending on the thickness of the ice, the precision with which it can be examined in each hole provides stable results.

In those instances where fish show up faintly on the sonar, or move from hole to hole, as progress is made allows for the addition of another hole between the two, which may do a better job of lining up a presentation in the sweet spot on top of a school or a piece of structure.  In turn, it also provides insight into how that spot-on-a-spot phenomenon can really congregate fish, particularly in the winter.  Don’t be afraid of drilling a few extras to fill in the gap and catch more fish while setting up a grid on ice.

Many open water ideas and tactics can transfer to the ice this time of year.  Consider employing a similar search grid into hardwater activities to find the best bite and locate areas that hold fish, and more importantly, hold active ones.  Target broader areas like channel edges for roving schools of perch, changes in bottom composition from mud to gravel or mud to rock for walleyes, or spaces where sunken timber holds crappies in the cold weather months.  Explore each of these spaces with a well placed grid, a summertime tactic that can pay big dividends in winter as well.

Simonson is the lead writer and editor of Dakota Edge Outdoors.

Featured Photo: Hole Hopping.  Punching a grid of ice holes over a favorite fishing location, or one that is brand new, can help find those spaces that are most productive and identify changes or structure under the surface that are holding fish. Simonson Photo.