Ice Fishing Panfish-continued

"Sometimes, there's no method to the madness other than drilling a bunch of holes and moving from stick-up to stick-up," he said. "A lot of times, you'll be going along pulling a fish here and a fish there. All of a sudden, you'll find the mother lode relating to one certain tree.

"I've had it happen dozens of times when I'm fishing timber. My StrikeMaster Lazer Mag auger is my best friend in those places."

Older lakes may not provide the benefit of visible standing timber. That's when maps that show the old channels and roadbeds combined with tools like an Aqua Vu underwater camera and a flasher are invaluable.

Skarlis also suggested drilling a semi-circle of holes around docks in lakes where homes dot the shorelines.

"Most brushpiles set by homeowners are within casting distance of their docks," he pointed out. "If you work your way around them, you will find them. Then you can punch in the coordinates on your GPS."

No matter what the age or position of the wood, a quality sonar unit, especially one with a zoom feature such as Vexilar’s FL-18 helps the angler distinguish between the tips of the branches and the fish. It also helps the angler understand the mood the fish are in that day by the way they approach and attack, or don't attack, a lure.

Skarlis prefers slightly heavier line for brush fishing, such as Berkley's Micro-Ice Fireline.

"You want to be aggressive, and get those fish up and out of there as fast as you can," he said. "If it does wrap you around a tree, sometimes you can set that rod down for awhile and it will unwrap itself."