Targeting these nontraditional species through the hard water can be fantastic fun

They are the seemingly odd types you might have ignored in high school. They’re a little different.

Under-appreciated. A bit “off” by conventional standards? But that’s OK for those anglers who pursue something other than walleyes and crappies under the ice. True, these “freaks” may be considered the ugly ducklings of the fish world, but they will out-fight any walleye, and some of them can hold their own in the frying pan.

A growing contingent of ice anglers pursue these other fish: sturgeon, catfish, eelpout, ciscoes, etc.

Darren Troseth, owner of 3 Rivers Fishing Adventures in Jordan, Minn., makes his living chasing these nontraditionals.

What’s the appeal of fishing for sturgeon? Sheer size and fighting power. Troseth lays claim to the state record catch-and-release lake sturgeon — a 78-inch behemoth with an estimated weight of 120 pounds that he pulled through the ice. He guides winter sturgeon fishing trips on the St. Croix River for anglers after a real trophy.

“The Stillwater/Bayport area is a large, deep basin full of silt,” Troseth said. “Over the winter, it attracts fish in that area that are looking for meals in mud. They cruise around. They’re like deer or cattle grazing around.”

Troseth said he’s not necessarily looking for any depth changes or structure. The mud is the key because it holds food for foraging fish.

“The diet studies have shown that sturgeon diets consist of worms, bug larvae, crustaceans, stuff like that,” he said.

So Troseth sets up over a silty bottom and waits out his prey. He does use Livescope, but he has mixed feelings about it.

“I don’t think it necessarily helps us catch any more fish; it just helps make the process a little more entertaining,” he said. “You can see them come in. But there’s also a theory that sturgeon might be sensitive to sonar.” He said some sturgeon anglers he knows won’t use it because they think it spooks fish.

Troseth uses industrial-strength tackle when pursuing the largest species in the state. He uses a 40-inch XX heavy rod paired with a spinning reel or baitcasting reel spooled with 40-pound test braid, although he said sturgeon aren’t line-shy, so you could go with heavier line.

He gobs shiners and nightcrawlers onto a treble hook below a series of glow beads and a 1⁄2-ounce sinker. He bounces the bait on the bottom on occasion to stir up a cloud and disperse scent, but he said in the silty conditions, you have to be careful your bait doesn’t sink into the muck. Because sturgeon bite lightly, he prefers to use a bobber.

“They suck it in and spit it out,” he said. “Very rarely will they take it and move away. When that bobber starts to go up and down, we set the hook.”

Another consideration when chasing such large fish is the size of your ice hole. A girthy sturgeon won’t fit through an 8-inch hole. Troseth has tried making three 8-inch holes in a triangle with success, but now prefers to overlap two 10-inch holes.

The average sturgeon on Troseth’s winter trips runs 30 to 45 inches. “Every once in a while you run into a 50 to 60-plus,” he said.

Troseth likens sturgeon fishing to hunting. “It takes a lot of patience,” he said. “It’s not exactly the most exciting type of fishing. It’s a very unique experience you don’t get to do in a lot of places.”

MORE ICE FISHING COVERAGE FROM OUTDOOR NEWS:

Midweek cold snap to aid ice-making on Minnesota lakes

From mines to the metro, here are some hard-water opportunities for inland trout in Minnesota

Comfort, mobility, efficiency: Top ice-fishing gear for 2024-25

Channel cats

Although he doesn’t guide for them – yet – Troseth also enjoys chasing channel catfish under the ice. He said channel cats remain active in winter, while flatheads go mostly dormant, although the season is closed for flatheads in winter anyway.

“If you want to have a better chance of catching cats through the ice, you want to find a place where there’s a concentration of fish,” he said. “I look for any areas that provide a little bit of current but is near a deep hole.”

Cats will huddle up in the hole, he said. At times during the day, they’ll become more aggressive and move away from the school and move shallow.

Electronics are key to finding schools of catfish under the ice, but Troseth said once you find them, you can be in a for a lot of action. He has experienced 100-fish days through the ice, although that’s the exception, not the rule.

Troseth uses a walleye setup to tempt catfish, which average 20 to 25 inches, but sometimes reach 10 to 15 pounds. He uses a jigging spoon or a jig with a half a fathead, cut sucker, or chicken liver.

Pay attention to your electronics to help you lure in fish and then convince them to bite.

“The jigging motion will get their attention, but you have to keep it still to get them to bite,” Troseth said. “Sometimes they do bite really light, so we’re using bobbers or spring bobbers to detect that bite.”

Of course, not every water body has catfish. Often, they are associated with river systems, and that means current. Troseth warns anglers to be extra cautious in areas with current flow, because ice may be much thinner there.

“I think they’re a blast,” Troseth said of channel cats. “It’s a good chance to have a lot of fun and get a meal or two.”

Eelpout

Eelpout (or burbot, lawyer, or whatever you want to call them) have gained a sort of counter-culture following in recent years.

Billy Smith, owner of Northern MN Backwater Adventures & Guide Service in Bemidji, recalls seeing eelpout scattered over the ice as the snow receded when he was younger, left behind by anglers who considered them trash. But that mentality has changed, and Smith thinks eelpout numbers have improved because of it.

“People are appreciating them for what they’re worth,” he said. “They’re not a garbage fish. They’re a delicacy. They are the hardest-fighting fish, pound for pound, because they have so much tail.”

Now, Smith has clients coming from as far away as Texas and Montana for a crack at an eelpout, which are considered a delicacy when boiled and served in drawn butter. Plus, the best eelpout fishing occurs just as the walleye season closes, so chasing these oddities is a great way to keep your ice-fishing season going.

Smith said eelpout feed heavily on crayfish, so he begins his search for eelpout by looking for their prey.

“If you find some rock piles with some sand mixed in, usually that’s a good thing,” he said.

He looks for shallow flats adjacent to deep holes. He often begins his search in 30 to 40 feet of water, but has caught them as shallow as 3 feet and as deep as 60. It depends on the lake.

Eelpout have poor vision and the best fishing is at night. Smith uses a lake trout ice rod and a spinning reel with 10-pound braid. He uses a 1-ounce glow jig with rattles and loads it with minnows. He pounds this presentation on the bottom, then raises it.

“You’re trying to make as much noise and dust down there as you can,” he said.

Smith said the fish are so tight to bottom that they can be hard to see on your electronics, but they will move up when you lift your lure off bottom.

He said eelpout clobber the lure and usually surprise you when they hit. Often, they travel in schools, and it’s not uncommon to catch several fish in an evening.

With their long, thick tails, eelpout won’t come in easily. And they’ll spin like trout on steroids, so Smith always uses a swivel to prevent line twist.

“The hardest part is to get them out of the hole because they alligator-roll,” he said. “They are pretty difficult to land. I grab them behind the gills.”

He noted you can also lip-grab these slippery, writhing fish as you would a bass as well.

Late winter is prime ‘pout time.

“When walleye season shuts down, it’s just in time to start gearing up for eelpout,” Smith said. “The last weekend in February is when they really start popping off.”

Eelpout spawn in late winter, under the ice. Once the fish start to spawn, he said the fishing flips to a day bite. Numerous eelpout ball up in a spawning frenzy you can actually see down your hole if the water is clear enough and shallow enough. It makes for some memorable fishing.

Smith said eelpout are underappreciated. They clean up dead fish on a lake bottom and eat invasive rusty crayfish. But currently there is no bag limit for them, and Smith said that needs to change.

“They should be treated like any other fish to protect them,” he said.

These species may not win any beauty contests, but looks don’t matter to the folks who chase our underwater freaks. Give them a try this winter.