Tips on Ice Fishing

By Hao Linhai

The lake is finally frozen over.

When the thickness of the ice layer reaches 2 inches or so, some bold and anxious men will be ready to rush onto it.Though a dangerous move, it is easier to catch fish when the water starts to ice up (or when the ice starts to melt in early spring). Any veteran ice-fisher knows this.

The most cautious fisher,maybe like me, will not fish until the ice is about 5 inches thick.I will be in my cotton-padded clothes and stand on ice, turning my back to the chilling wind,sticking a line into a single hole.

Choose a Spot and Make the Hole

Where should you make the hole in the ice? Based on my experience, beside the reeds, near a re-frozen crack, above deeper water, or above where the water abruptly deepens are the best spots. But how would I know what it is like beneath the ice? Here are my tips. Drill a small hole in the ice, and put into the hole a plummet tied to the end of a rope(or just stick a reed into the hole),so you can “feel” the bottom. If the place is good, just make the hole bigger； if not, try another place.

Even if you choose the right place, some holes are just“luckier” than other ones. You may catch a lot of fish from one hole, but get literally nothing from the one right next to it.

With an ice chisel and a little bit of skill, a young man can dig a beautiful hole within minutes.An opening as big as a rice bowl is the best； do not make it bigger than that, or you may scare the fish away. The rim of the hole should be cut smooth in case of the fishing line being cut off. Imagine when a big fish bites the hook, and struggles in the water for quite a while, and just before it is exhausted and becomes your rare harvest, the line breaks. Moreover, remember to put the ice debris together so that you're less likely to fall.Falling on ice will be painful, and what's worse, the loud bumping of your buttocks on the ice will be

a caution to the lovely creatures below.

One fishing pole, two or three holes, eight to nine meters from each, rotating around to each of them in turn—that is the normal fishing style of Northwest China.You keep to one hole, put bait in it, and patiently wait. When you feel the fish won't come, just switch to another hole. When I went to Tianjin and Beijing,I saw a different style of ice seek our target all over the world,and once we find one, we could stick to it forever. Sometimes we can find what we call “the Selfless Man's Holes.” They are dug out and then abandoned by some impatient guys who may dig dozens of holes along a very long distance in a day, but catch very few fish. When a more experienced fisher comes and tries one of these abandoned holes, he may catch fish at once!fishing there. The holes they dug were close, and of a fan-shaped distribution, by each of them there was a fishing pole with line wheel and small bracket. The fishers all put a warm water bag or something to the chest, sitting on a stool. For a moment I felt like that they would operate a promising industry.

We Northwest fishermen are more like “roving bandits.” We Of course, most “selfless men” are newbies—energetic, but impatient and young.

The Floating Game

The experience of watching fishing floats in the summer is useless for ice-fishing. The motions of ice-fishing are very slight, and can only be perceived by one who carefully observes.My tips are that you have to focus on the two grains of floats (out of seven) underwater. As the fisher is close to the float, and the water is still and clear, it is possible for you to see whether the float moves in the water.

In addition, an ice-fisher should raise his pole more often.When he feels a fish down there,he should raise his pole four or five inches higher (or more inches at where the water is deeper), and then put it down again—and he should do it slowly. If he leaves a hole there for a while, and it is covered by a thin layer of ice, he should silently remove the layer with a bamboo strainer, and then carefully put his pole in the hole:this could be a great chance for harvest, and it could be a big one.

For ice fishing, you can never raise your pole too hard. The perfect move is like shaking your wrist above at good timing. A veteran fisher may take the pole with one hand, with another hand in the pocket. He may seem to stay motionless even when a fish bites the hook. Only the bowshaped pole reveals the battle between the two creatures. After a long stalemate, when the line is about to break, the fish is finally pulled to the air, struggling, and the fisher still stays cool. He raises his arm a little more, and lets the fish be drawn to his feet, and then wraps his defeated rival with a towel. The series of his moves islike calligraphy.

The Line and the Hook

Always choose smaller hooks and thinner lines. Those big and thick ones are not made for ice fishing.A hook the size of a soybean is enough to catch a five-pound fish.I am used to the traditional combinations: seven-grain floats with a tiny hook, or the sevengrain floats on a main line along with many subsidiary lines, each of which tied to a hollow plummet,down to the bottom of water. If a subsidiary line is tangled with the water grass, just rip it off and change a new set. This is a very flexible and convenient strategy,and can help to catch fish quickly.Once when I went fishing with friends, we drove to the lake and stayed until sunset. When we packed up to go home, Mr. Guo,one of the friends, was still much into it. “I'll go back later, guys.I have a car,” he said. We drove back, but when we were several kilometers from the lake, a friend suddenly remembered that all of us came by this single car. Maybe Guo could take a car of other fishers? But we were the last ones who left. So we turned back to the lake, and saw from distance a twinkling light in the darkness.We got near and found it was Guo,squat down there, stretching his head over the hole, attentively watching the float in the light of a lighter.

He noticed us. “What's up?Time to be back already?”

He seemed to be waiting for an explanation, but none of us knew where to start.

冰釣秘籍

文/郝林海

湖面結冰了。

冰層厚約兩寸，膽大而心急的人就敢上冰了。這個時候雖然有些危險，但是上魚好，老釣手都知道，“冰釣兩頭薄”，剛剛結冰和初春冰開始融化的季節，最好釣魚。

冰層厚約一拃時，我們這些膽小的人才敢試著上冰。年齡大了更是如此，非等冰凍得厚實了才敢去釣魚。穿厚厚的棉衣，站在冰上，背過風去，守著一個冰洞。

選點與打洞

在什么地方選點鑿洞呢？我的經驗是，蘆蒲叢邊、冰橋（大冰面形成的裂隙）附近、水深淺變化較大的地方、一洼水之較深處……又如何知道冰下水之深淺呢？竅門是，先在冰上鑿一個小眼，水涌出來，用蘆葦稈或自備的繩墜探探深淺與地勢水情。合適，接著把洞打完；不合適，再換個地方。

冰下的事很詭異。往往這個洞里上魚，會一條接著一條。而旁邊緊挨著的洞口卻橫豎不咬鉤，漂子興許一天都不動一下。

用冰镩子巧使勁，小伙子幾分鐘就能打出一個漂亮的冰洞，碗口大小就行，太大了沒用，還不上魚。洞口邊緣要仔細修整光滑，防止割斷魚線。好不容易上了條大魚，遛了半天，最后是線磨斷了，那才叫后悔。碎冰碴子要歸成一堆，不要撒得滿地都是，不然踩上絆上易摔跤。冰上摔跤與地上不一樣，滑，往往把人撂起來再蹾下去，還好，一般是屁股先著冰，冰上蹾一下很痛，釣魚的人不說痛，卻說：“哎，驚了魚了。”

我們這個地方冰釣興用一支釣竿，打兩三個洞，洞與洞相距八九米，幾個洞來回試著釣，不死守。撒上窩子食，安靜下來耐心等候，有魚，就守住了釣到底，時間長了還不見上魚，就趕緊走人，換個地方再打洞。反正冰面大著呢。我在天津、北京看人家冰釣，洞一個挨著一個打成扇面，每個洞口都支上根竿子，竿上有線輪，竿身上還配個小支架，挺講究的，釣魚的人個個懷里揣個什么物件取暖，搬個小馬扎坐在那兒，感覺是要在這幾個冰窟窿上經營多大個產業似的。

我們這種“流寇”式的釣法也是合了西北人的性情，沒目標就滿世界找，找著了就死心眼盯到底。不過，這就有了“雷鋒洞”的出現。

有人性子急，打了洞，撒了窩子食，卻候不住……一天打幾十個洞，走幾十里路，很辛苦，卻沒釣幾條魚。別人到他遺棄的洞上試試，哈，上魚……于是，這類洞被美其名曰“雷鋒洞”。當然，新手，身體好、熱情高、耐性差的年輕人是“雷鋒洞”的主要制造者。

觀漂與逗魚

冰釣看漂有講究。

漂的變化很弱很小，似有似無，謂之“輕”。倘若按照夏天經驗等著送漂、黑漂，是釣不上魚的。有個竅，為了抓住“輕”的那瞬間，眼睛要觀察七星漂在水面下的那兩粒變化，冰釣的特點是人離漂近，加之水清水靜，因此，目力要穿透水面看水中的浮粒。

冬天釣魚要勤逗。逗魚，緩緩地抬竿，三寸、五寸，緩緩地落下，水深的地方抬高些，但須緩抬緩落，不能急促。一個洞有陣子沒伸竿了，洞口結了一層薄冰，用小笊籬輕輕撈去，這個時候下竿要小心，往往會上魚，個兒還大。

冰釣無論什么情況下都不能猛提竿。判斷準確，一抖腕就有魚。在冰面上用眼睛掃一圈就知道誰是老手：一手持竿，一手揣在衣兜里。“中魚啦！”身體不動，胳膊不動，竿卻已呈弓形，用一種沒有棱角的內力與之較量，在幾近斷線的邊緣上相持良久，魚從冰中搖搖晃晃上來，釣者依然腳不移，身不動，僅是胳膊稍稍上舉，魚已滑到腳下，這才悠悠地用手巾裹了，入護。整個中魚、遛魚、控魚，感覺先在手腕，之后再肘再肩……像寫毛筆字。

線組與單鉤

小鉤細線是通則。

粗線大鉤是不上魚的。四五斤的鯉魚，黃豆大的鉤子沒問題。

我習慣于傳統的七星浮漂配一枚小小的單鉤，或一副七星漂主線備多副子線，子線配個中空的墜，沉入草叢泥底，一旦掛草了，就扯斷子線，再換一副，很靈敏，也很方便，上魚快。

一次，我們結伴乘車去釣魚，天傍晚了，有個釣友姓郭，他那個洞上魚正好，舍不得收竿，我們邊收拾釣具邊喊他：“老郭，收了收了，回家了。”他頭也不抬地說：“你們先回吧，我有車。”大家忙亂中也就先回了，車開了幾公里，有人驀地想起老郭就是與我們一塊兒乘車來的，莫非他又約了別人的車回家？想想不對，我們是最后一輛離開湖邊的車呀。于是返回，天已經黑透了，遠遠見冰面上有一個小亮點，閃閃滅了，又閃閃滅了……走近一看，老郭蹲在冰上，用打火機照亮，頭探到洞口觀漂呢。

聽到有人來，他好像才緩過神來，說：“怎么？咱們也該回家了吧。”

大伙都愣在那兒，不知道怎么回答。