Here in Minnesota when we get caught in limbo between open and hard water, many people begin to head to the marina docks to fish. Panfish swarm into these areas as long as there is some deeper water nearby and these docks can reward an angler willing to wander around and search them out. One of the headaches to be encountered is not so much the shale ice that may need to be kicked open, but the frost that coats the decking. This stuff can be down-right hazardous. Slipping and falling in the drink is one thing, but for older anglers it is the fall period that can ruin their lives for a while, maybe forever. Aside from wearing cleated boots out, the practice of fishing with the short ice rods grows in popularity with some of the younger generation, but I like to stay away from the edges of the decking and continue to use the long rods and a net with an extendable handle.

For the net, I have settled on a handy folding number that Frabil puts out. Its light and takes up little room to haul out. While folded it has a strap to keep it as such, but the strap snaps off in a blink and the net opens just as quick.

The rods I generally take are 6 foot custom numbers that are rated for jigs as small as 1/64 and lines down to a pound. I seldom drop below the 1/32 ounce range and my line pretty much is two pound. These rods are great....until the crappies decide to go into stealth mode and mess with with the bite detection. Most of the time them hits get noticed when the line is "just" raised enough for a jig up or if the line is lowered and bows. Spring bobbers on those short rods eliminate those quiet hits but you won't find many people wanting to retro fit a long rod for a spring bobber with an addition of an eye on the top of the tip of the rode or by adding a spring with shrink tubing that catches line if you decide casting is in order. There is an answer though and I use this trick on a third rod I carry that is a St. Croix SCii 5 footer in ultralight. Still the longer rod to keep me out of the water, but a deadly tool for shy fish.

I like the St. Croix springs and use primarily the red tipped ultra light spring. I snip 3/8" of surgical tubing that "just" slips over the barrel portion of the spring, but will still slip into the rod's tip top.If the fit in the rod tip is messy, I cut an inch of electricians tape 1" long in half lengthwise being certain that one side will be no more than the 3/8 tubing on the spring. Then I wrap the tape onto the tubing. I try to fit the spring so that the tubing/tape is tight enough to hold the tubing in the ceramic of the eye yet still be able to slide the spring barrel back inside the tubing and for without moving the tubing. I get to this point by trimming very small pieces off the tape wrap and testing the fit.

When the spring is fit, thread the line thru the barrel and then thru the loop end and tie on your jig. You'll want the loop to stand ever so slightly higher then the end of the rod when at rest and the rod is held horizintally. When under the lure's load, you'll want that loop to ride about 1/4 inch below the horizontal. Heavier or lighter lures get adjusted by moving the spring forward or backward and lenthening/shortening the amount of spring ahead of the tip-top. Dowm ward hits will be obvious and hits from the side will slowly change the doward angle of the loop. Upward hits or hits that stop the jig, will relax that loop and it will ride above the center of horizintal...something it should not do with a jig or bait in the water.

These springs are marketed for winter fishing, but there is nothing that says that they can't be tweaked to use them in a different way. The fish do what they want in their world and sometimes we have to step away from conventional to turn the tables in out favor. Besides, the fish live in a liquid envirionment and they don't know the difference betwixt summer and winter.