Most Alaskans have a pretty good idea how to go about ice fishing, but just in case there are some newbies out there that need a bit of a jump start to put some fish on the ice, here are some tips and general information that may help put you in the winner's circle....or have a lot of fun trying to get there.

Don't Forget To Get A New Fishing License!

Fish Lakes That ADFG Has Stocked
The Department of Fish & Game stocks 27 different lakes on the Kenai Peninsula each year with rainbow trout or coho salmon to provide a great many opportunities to catch fish year 'round. So for the rainbow trout and the landlocked salmon categories these would be good places to start...especially if you have kids that want the best chances of catching fish. Here is the list of Peninsula lakes you can consider: Aurora Lake, Barbara Lake, Cabin Lake, Carter Lake, Cecille Lake, Centennial Lake, Chugach Estates Lake, Douglas Lake, Elephant (Spirit) Lake, Encelewski Lake, Island Lake, Jerome Lake, Johnson Lake, Long Lake, Longmere Lake, Loon Lake, Meridian Lake, Quintin Lake, Rainbow Lake, Roque Lake, Scout Lake, Sport Lake, Thetis Lake, Timore Lake, Troop Lake, Upper Summit Lake, and Vagt Lake. Each of these have at least one point of public access for anglers to park and walk out on the lake.

Look For Signs Of Successful Anglers
Probably one of the easiest ways to find the hot spots is to look for blood on the ice around existing holes that someone else was fishing earlier. If you see indications that there were some fish on the ice, you can bet the previous angler was doing well in that location. If a set of holes has sterile surroundings its time to move on to another location.

Shallows Are The Grocery Store In Lakes
Typically the shallowest areas of a lake have the most organisms living in the bottom sediments and gravel that are the sources of food for the resident fish. This is where most insect nymphs, larvae, leeches, "shrimp" and sticklebacks live. Many trout may be moving to shallow water during the early part of the day to feed on emerging insects that are "grazing" on their own food supply. Always drill some of your holes in the shallows and work out to deeper water if necessary.

Try A Variety Of Baits
Probably everything has been tried at one time or the other. Here is a typical list of baits that anglers use for ice fishing. Salmon roe, single salmon eggs, shrimp (raw), cheese, clams, squid (tentacles), corn, troll herring, anchovies and hooligan. There are even some manufactured plastic "grubs" which contain scents and flavors designed to attract fish and get them to bite. And then there are a large variety of lures, spoons, ice "flies" and jigs that can produce good results at times.

Fish On The Bottom With Bait
Most anglers make the mistake of suspending their bait in mid-water or jigging it to give it some action. But from my observations with underwater video camera gear, I've noticed that trout and coho seem to take the bait laying on the bottom more often than one hanging. Its probably obvious....rarely would a fish encounter a morsel of food just floating off the bottom. Nearly all of their food will be picked up from the lake bottom so that presentation is the most natural to them.

Take A Peek
If you are fishing in say 8 feet of water or less, its a good possibility you will be able to lay on the ice and look down the hole and see bottom and your bait or lure. And if you are in the right spot you'll see some fish cruising around too. Use your parka hood to help cover the hole for a sun shade for better viewing. You can learn a lot about how the fish are reacting to your various baits and techniques. Or get very frustrated! :-)

Early Bird Gets The Fish This Year
I'm sure most ice anglers have had days when the fishing was hot all day long. But experience indicates the fish are on the bite best during first light and the following half hour or so. Things have been dropping off very quickly after that which is about the time most anglers finally get out on the ice. Try arriving earlier and fishing while the sun comes up. In the case of lake trout and northern pike, evening can provide a good bite too as the fish fill up just before dark.

When Fishing Pike On The Peninsula
ADFG has a list of Kenai Peninsula lakes that contain northern pike. Most but not all of these have special regulations allowing the use of five lines, either on poles or tipups, and the use of two hooks on each line providing both hooks are in ONE piece of bait. The lakes which allow these regulations are: The Mackey lakes, Tote Road lakes, Derks Lake, Sevena Lake, Cisca Lake, Scout Lake and Union Lake. Although Stormy Lake out in North Kenai contains some monster pike (20 lbs) it is not on the list for 5 lines because it contains a healthy population of Dolly Varden, coho smolt and suckers which could be impacted by too many incidental catches.

Take The Kids Fishing
Every kid that catches and enters a fish will get a grab bag prize from Trustworthy. Besides that incentive, AOJ will be posting the kids' catches this year to give them their moment in the global spotlight! Just think how great it would be for the grandparents outside to see their pride and joy on the Internet.

Hint: The winning Dolly will probably come from Stormy and most likely the winning coho from Elephant, but Engineer Lake is a sleeper this year with some big fish showing recently. Johnson & Encelewski may be good contenders for the rainbow award, especially for kids. Remember, no open water fishing is allowed so the rivers that are still open are off limits! Hidden Lake will again be a great producer of big lakers and often forgotten Island Lake out in North Kenai could produce some winning size Rainbows as well as Dolly Varden. ADFG stocked dollies in Island Lake that were the brood stock from the Elmendorf Fish Hatchery and some of these fish could push TEN pounds. Stormy Lake produced the winning pike last year and there may be fish in the 15 pound class still lurking about to temp a hopeful angler. Remember this lake is a TWO LINE lake and does not allow fishing 5 lines for pike.

REMEMBER: The newest fishing regulations passed by BOF in 2005 now limit the SIZE of Rainbow Trout and Dolly Varden taken from SKILAK LAKE to 18 inches or LESS. There will be no winning Dolly or Rainbow coming out of that lake from now on with these new size limit regulations!