It’s hard to believe that in less than a month we’ll be bringing in a new year. It seems like the holiday season tends to fly by so quickly. Don’t pack up your fishing gear and start planning next year’s fishing adventures just yet. December through January is a great time to go ice fishing, and if you’ve been looking for something to do with your family during this time of year, ice fishing may be just the thing! Whether you’re a seasoned pro, or you’ve never gone before, we’re going to offer up some helpful ice fishing tips for you to consider this season.

Safety Comes First

When you’re ice fishing, you’ll be facing a lot of new challenges that you wouldn’t during spring or summer fishing. Chief among them are the temperature and the ice. Always bundle up before going out, even if it doesn’t seem that cold at first.

Although fishing any other time of year can be dangerous as well, the ice adds a whole new layer of danger (pun intended). If you’re going out with a guide, they’ll probably take the time to inform you of the proper way to check the ice thickness. However if not, you’re going to need to drill and take measurements. Generally, ice that is four inches thick is safe enough to fish on, but five or more is ideal.

Finding The Right Gear

Second, you’re going to need some gear. Contrary to popular belief, ice fishing isn’t a super expensive hobby to get into. An auger is a must. This will allow you to drill into the ice either by hand or with the help of a motor. You might also want to invest in several tip-up devices which are used to place live bait at a set depth through the hole. When you get a bite, the flag will pop up and you can run over to get the catch. If you’re fishing with a normal rod, however, you may eventually want to invest in an ice fishing shelter so that you can stay warm.

Spread Your Bait Out

It’s easier to ice fish on a lake that you’ve scouted out before it froze over, but if you didn’t get a chance to do that, you’ll need to take an educated guess. Most fish tend to hang out near structured areas such as rocks or sunken trees. Make sure you don’t make your holes all in the same area. Try to spread them out but keep them close enough that you can get to them quickly. A zig-zag pattern or diamond pattern should work great.

Use An Underwater Fishing Camera

Chances are, you wouldn’t be caught dead with your head in the ice looking for fish. You probably wouldn't see much anyways. After all, there's better ways to get the insight you're looking for.

The good news is that our underwater fishing camera here at GoFish Cam is great for detecting and recording live footage of your catch with little effort. Since the camera is wireless, you have a couple of great ways to use it while ice-fishing. This fishing camera sits directly on your line and you can either use it on your main line if using a standard rod, or on a separate line in your hole if using a light weight ice fishing rod. Put the cam all the way in the hole and let it record what's happening underwater. Reel it in to check out what was happening and gain insight.

The next best way to use it for ice fishing would be using our float device that comes free with the camera. With it,  you’ll be able to stream footage directly to your phone via Wi-Fi. Note, the unit has to float above water to live-stream. Also, if you're out early or later in the day on the ice and are having trouble spotting the fish, our underwater fishing cameras comes equipped with a high powered green LED night vision setting!