NAIFC

Warrior Fishing

Top ice anglers tackle interesting challenges at the 2009 NAIFC Championship

By Ted Pilgrim

2009 NAIFC Championship Results

Rhinelander, WI – Reluctantly biting fish and the need for well-tuned electronics—everywhere lakes freeze, these two themes often figure largely into the schemes of ice anglers. So it was during the 2009 North American Ice Fishing Championship.

Eighty four of North America’s top ice angling teams converged on Boom Lake, Wisconsin last weekend to test their skills against both selective fish and tricky winter conditions. At stake, $25,000 cash and the right to be called Ice Fishing Champions.

Over the course of the 2009 NAIFC tournament season, teams had fished seven regional events which ultimately determined qualifiers for the big show. Returning for another run at the title were such notable teams as Boshold-Horn, Young-Boedeker, and Pikulski-Gilbert, who had competed in previous championships. As it turned out, each would again play a prominent role in the final standings.

Boom Lake is a 2,200 acre flowage on the Wisconsin River harboring a maximum depth of just over 30-feet. Although the lake’s topography is largely composed of vast areas of uniform depth, anglers often target weedflats, rock edges and manmade sunken cribs when hunting bluegills and black crappies—target species of NAIFC anglers. Each of the two tournament days (Saturday, December 19 and Sunday, December 20) teams were allowed to weigh up to eight crappies and eight sunfish. For most teams, this proved a daunting task, for no one weighed 16 fish both days.

At the rules meeting on Friday, competitors were surprised to learn that they would have to walk to their spots. Having gauged the ice conditions in many locations as fair at best, NAIFC Tournament Series President Jack Baker made the wise, albeit difficult decision to ban motorized vehicles, particularly given the large number of ATVs likely to appear in small fishing areas. “With a lot of slushy spots, as well as limited ice thickness in some areas, I think this was the best decision for the safety of everyone,” stated Baker.

Ultimately, the move affected strategies of many teams, and yet, the top teams adjusted, and made the most of an opportunity. Going in, some competitors believed that the best spots lay in the river system itself. But because these areas were deemed out-of-bounds, other plans were made.

On day one, it was a foot race to one or two key fishing areas. The first teams out of the shoot set up and began drilling in patterns that would allow for at least limited mobility within the crowd of competitors. At the weigh-in, the famed Michigan duo of Mike Boedeker and Dave Young arrived with thirteen fish weighing 4.94-pounds, including a 1.15-pound crappie. The weight was enough to hold a slim lead over ace NAIFC anglers Jacek Gawlinski and “Zibi” Wojcik, who put together one of the only two daily limits. In the mix were the illustrious “Ice Trollers”— the team of Joe Pikulski and Myron Gilbert, who had won the event in 2008. Landing the only other limit of the day was Team Prowler—Tony Boshold and Bob Horn, weighing a 4.5-pound bucket of panfish for a fourth place position.

While the majority of teams set up shop in the community hole, coaxing every little bite with the greatest of concentration, there were a few, such as Pikulski and Gilbert, who followed their “ice trolling” mantra, drilling loads of holes in search of roaming fish. Key areas seemed to be the subtle rims of holes in the basin; most of them dropping no more than a few feet below the surrounding terrain. Another active team was newcomers Roy Mutter and Myron Gilbert, Jr. This rookie duo reportedly drilled 400 to 500 holes each day, focusing on 26 to 30 foot edges in the middle of the lake. Targeting crappies only, Mutter and Gilbert finished day one with eight slabs but no sunfish, landing them solidly in the top ten.

Beyond the ultra-finicky panfish bite (nearly one third of the teams drew a day one blank), one recurrent theme revolved, literally, around flasher dials. With scores of teams all fishing within earshot, transducer signals from competing flashers rendered many units unreadable. Several anglers noted that they were able to minimize on-screen interference by dropping their transducer as deep as possible, beneath the “noise.” Most, however, quickly realized that certain flasher units were better at dealing with the interference.

“It was pretty obvious that the power of the MarCum units were taking most of the other flashers out of the game,” noted Joe Pikulski. “A lot of guys just couldn’t tune out all the clutter on their screen, and couldn’t read their jig or the fish, and in some cases, even the bottom.” Fortunately for anglers such as Pikulski, as well as the contending teams of Young-Boedeker and Boshold-Horn, MarCum LX-5 units seemed capable of tuning out much of the interference, and keeping visible their jig and the fish. “This event was a real eye-opener for some of the teams, as far as electronics go,” stated Boshold. “I think some of these guys would have finished higher if they’d have been using different units. The guys using MarCums definitely had an advantage—we could continue to see what was happening below, despite all the transducers.”

Among the various teams operating within the confines of the crowd were the “Michigan Tightliners,” Dave Young and Mike Boedeker. The superior presentation skills of these two ice veterans proved an advantage over others, as they made the most of each and every bite. “We found the spots last year and did well there this year, too,” said Young. “They’re basically two humps, and we fished the 24 to 28-foot edges. With all the other anglers around it was tricky for most to keep their flasher working, but Mike (Boedeker) and I were able to tune out enough of the noise to still read our jigs on our MarCums. That was huge.

“It got so crowded at one point that we were literally forced to fish just one hole,” Young recalled. Tournament rules dictate that anglers must maintain at least ten feet of space between themselves at all times, a statute that was tested to the max. With so many anglers vying for vital fish-holding real estate, competition for spots and bites became increasingly stressful.

While this became a huge burden for most anglers, Young used his finely-honed tightlining skills to turn it into an advantage. “The key for me was to fish a little spoon-type jig that represents a perch eye. It’s real similar to a Northland Eye-Dropper jig— basically a small Colorado blade with a big eyeball painted on it, and a hook. The thing flutters really nicely in the water. I lightly hooked a single wax worm onto the jig through the head, then squeezed it to get the good juices to ooze out. I fished this jig 2 to 6-inches off bottom for the bluegills. They were really spooky. On day two, I had just one bite, but I made it count. Mike got eight. That’s why it’s nice to have a partner who can fish.”

Their second day efforts proved noble, though the results netted a weight that fell just five one-thousandths of an ounce short of the title. For the second straight year, Young and Boedeker settled for a hard-fought second place finish.

If Young and Boedeker were trapped in their spot by surrounding anglers, defending champions Pikulski and Gilbert at times encountered the opposite problem. A separate NAIFC rule states that team members must remain within 30 yards of each other at all times. While Gilbert speed-drilled holes, Pikulski followed, checking for key depths and fish presence on his MarCum LX-5.

“We started in a deepwater spot we found the year before, and bumped into some bluegills,” reported Pikulski. “We were the first team in there, and caught eleven crappies and a few bluegills. Later, we kind of got pushed off, and we started ice trolling. Luckily, on day two we pulled five fish off our first spot. Our go-to bait was a #3 Fiskas Wolfram jig tipped with a waxworm. Glow-white with red eyes was our best color.”

With just three days to prefish, the Ice Trollers notched a respectable third place finish, weighting 6.75-pounds total. Although they finished in a dead-heat with Bill Whiteside and Jim Siebert, Pikulski and Gilbert won the third place tiebreaker, having caught the heavier “big fish” on day one.

While most of the teams were elbowing for position and select bites, Roy Mutter and Myron Gilbert Jr. had broken free of the crowd, ripping holes as if their quarry were liquid gold. Further, a connection with Gilbert’s father, defending champion Myron Gilbert Sr., appeared to pay dividends. “We were ‘ice trolling’ in 26 to 30-feet in the middle of the basin,” stated Gilbert Jr.’s partner, Roy Mutter, referring to the high-mobility method of Pikulski and Gilbert Sr. “One guy would drill, while the other would check the flasher for crappies. When we’d mark fish, we’d drop down a #5 Fiskas jig dressed with a Little Atom Giant Nuggies plastic tail in glow green. The fish were usually a couple feet off bottom, but we wanted to get them to chase the bait up slightly; they weren’t real aggressive. We’d lower the jig to just above their heads, and just keep on pounding it to get the fish to chase.”

Chase they did, for on day two, the young anglers from Onsted, Michigan scored ten more respectable panfish. The efforts paid off—a consistent, gut-it-out performance in ultra-tough conditions; enough for a two day total of 7.27-pounds and the North American Ice Fishing Championship.

Two critical lessons emerged. One method involves fishing in proven spots among throngs of competing anglers. During the Championship, this approach required the utmost in fine-tuned presentation skills, as well as the right electronics to precisely interpret what was happening below.

Or, you simply zig when others zag. Just plain cover water—get out and systematically drill and fish through as much fish-holding territory as possible. In the end, both systems produced. It’s a story likely to repeat itself in many respects, as these anglers gather again to kick off the 2010 North American Ice Fishing Circuit.