Stop using your “spud bar” (aka, ice chisel) as a walking stick, and start learning what each swing means for you in actual inches of ice. Three hard swings might mean 2″ of ice for some…might mean 5″ for others. Depends which chisel you’re using and how hard you’re swinging it:

Couple things we gotta say:

Take your time and check the whole way out — and back — not just at the ramp. Ice picks ’round your neck are a must and probably the cheapest insurance you can get.

Wear a life jacket and/or consider treating yourself to a “flotation-assisting” suit like the IceArmor Ascent in the vid above. Flat out: If you break through the ice, it’ll help get you back out…not weigh you down. What more does a guy need to say?

Or, wait until the ice thickens and enjoy the other kind of “spud bar” in the meantime:

PLEASE be safe everyone!

The Team Yukon Outdoors crew puts on a TON o’ miles in the name of bull ‘gills. This time they road-tripped to NoDak, put in the work [!] and were rewarded with “panfish” waaaay too big for a pan — all caught in about an hour of fishing….

Adam Bartusek schmattered his PB thanks to a 1/32-oz Clam Drop-Kick Jig (black chartreuse) matched with a Maki Matdi plastic (chartreuse glow). Don’t know exact weight, but if it wasn’t a 2-lber, it was only a couple of bugs away from being there:

GillZilla! Andrew Osowski thwacked this 1-lb 13.2-oz bruiser on a Northland Tungsten Fire-Ball Jig (glo white) tipped with waxies:

Aaron Knott fooled this mammoth hen (female) soakin’ a Clam Snow Drop XL Jig (green apple) sprinkled with waxies:

What you don’t see in the pics is that it took drilling over 1,000 holes, catching 300+ dinky perch and fishing for 19 hours without catching a single bluegill…until the bomb went off. Got it all on video — can’t fake this excitement:

All these hubcaps were released to keep those big-fish genetics in the lake — also ‘cuz those big males are the ones that protect the nests in the spring. You’ll never catch a 12″ bluegill if you’re putting a knife to all the 10s….

Anybody else stuff their face like THIS over the weekend? Awesome shot from @theitchtofish’s IG page. We aren’t the only ones that pig out on Thanksgiving:

Some peeps were saying it was staged ‘cuz the crappie isn’t going in head first…. Who knows? Maybe we aren’t the only ones that “eat wrong” when we’re gorging:

The #1 factor is water clarity: Dingy/stained water often has a muck bottom where panfish will be stuffing their faces with bloodworms. On clearer bodies of water they’re more likely to be eating on zooplankton or small minnows.

We were able to track down Ice Force pro Joel Nelson during the St. Paul Ice Show last year and have him (in-between signing autographs lol) give us a rundown of the first jig colors he ties on based on the water clarity:

One of Joel’s favorite combos is a VMC Tungsten Tubby Jig tipped with a Trigger X Mustache Worm — which he talked about modifying in the video. Works!

We’ll be at the ice show again this Fri-Sun. Drop us an email if there’s anything specific you want to see or have us ask the pros.

Mika Vornanen won’t let Mother Nature stop him from enjoying a little quality time with his Lund 1900 Tyee. #diehard