Need to top off your tackle box before winter? Here are new innovations from the ice-fishing industry

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With another ice fishing season quickly approaching, anglers once again have reason to be excited about all the new fish-catching tools available for the 2025-26 hard-water season.

Tungsten jigs and lures remain at the forefront, as are rods and reels designed for specific fish species and fishing situations. New spins with tip-ups and compact storage boxes will all help tip the odds in your favor this winter. Here’s a quick peek at a handful of products anglers are already talking about.

New tip-up from Clam

The new Clam Watchtower Tip-Up takes ice fishing visibility and reliability to new heights.

Featuring a lighted flag design, this tip-up stands tall and shines bright so you can easily spot a strike from a long distance, even in low-visibility conditions. With 360-degree visibility and bright, color-changeable lights, the Watchtower is impossible to miss, even from 100-plus yards away.

Built with durable, coldweather-tested materials, the Watchtower Tip-Up is engineered to perform in the coldest ice fishing conditions. Its smooth spool system ensures minimal resistance, allowing fish to take the bait naturally before you set the hook, while the large trip shaft and adjustable tension settings let you fine-tune for different species and bait sizes.

Its wide, stable base also keeps it secure on those super windy days.

www.clamoutdoors.com

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VMC Tungsten additions

The VMC Tungsten line is all about maximizing fishing time. In other words, it’s about getting your bait down the water column faster so you can fish faster.

With modern electronics, it’s even more important to have the tools to get straight to the strike zone once you find it.

From there, you need the most appealing, life-like bait possible to seal the deal. So for this ice fishing season, VMC is introducing two new lures to help you catch fish exactly where they’re located in the water column – the BugBite Jig and Torpedo Spoon.

With small larva-like realism for strike-inducing attraction, the lead-free Tungsten construction of the BugBite Jig provides the best sensitivity and return on traditional fish-finders and forward-facing sonar, while its premium VMC treble hook increases hook-up percentages.

The VMC Tungsten BugBite jig is now available in polished metal or Ultra Glow pigments that last up to 15 minutes. It comes in 10 colors and two sizes: 1 ⁄32-ounce and 1 ⁄16-ounce.

One of the new spoons in the Tungsten lineup, the Torpedo Spoon, sinks ultrafast to target fish before they swim by. A small attractor blade adds flash and vibration and this bait’s Tungsten construction also provides the best return on electronics such as forward-facing sonar.

The Tungsten Torpedo Spoon features UV, polished metal finishes and double-sided 3D holographic eyes. It’s available in 10 colors and four sizes: ¾-inch and -ounce, -inch and 3 ⁄16-ounce, 1¼-inch and ¼-ounce, and 1½-inch and 5⁄16-ounce.

www.rapala.com/vmc

The tiniest Rapala lure ever made

They say the best gifts come in small packages. Well, if what you’re after is a major bite under the ice, the Nano Rap might be the gift of the season.

The new Nano Rap is the smallest lure Rapala has made in its 90-year history. Built with a Tungsten weight, this tiny, but mighty lure, maintains a supreme fall rate despite its mini stature.

With a finesse rocking design, the Nano Rap excels at vertical jigging, triggering more strikes. Its weight-forward, rattling design creates a subtle vibration on the rise and side-to-side action on the fall.

The Nano Rap is 3 ⁄4 inches long and weighs 1 ⁄16-ounce, and it comes in 14 colors, including 10 glow shades and one UV shade.

www.rapala.com

Clam HD tackle boxes

The new Clam HD tackle boxes are built to handle the toughest conditions anglers face on and off the ice.

Designed with heavy-duty construction and impact-resistant materials, these tackle boxes protect your gear from the elements while keeping your tackle perfectly organized.

These compact, dual-sided boxes with magnetic or foam slots are perfect for stashing in a jacket pocket or gear bag, so your tackle is always within reach. Each box features secure, watertight latches and a rubber gasket seal to keep moisture out, ensuring your lures, jigs, and hooks stay dry and rust-free.

www.clamoutdoors.com

Ultimate deadstick system from 13 Fishing

For all you dead-heads out there – meaning, anglers who love the dead-sticking technique – 13 Fishing has something new for you. With the hardwater season just around the corner, 13 Fishing is introducing an addition to your finesse deadstick system, the all-new BaitStriker.

The centerpiece of this new system is the dual-drag BaitStriker reel. The first drag essentially puts the reel in free-spool mode, allowing for more natural presentation of live bait. But when a fish strikes, a crank of the reel automatically engages the second drag. Then the fight is on.

The extreme low-tension first drag allows anglers to dead-stick without an open bail, where gusts of wind can yank line of spools and cause more headaches than bites. The BaitStriker dual-drag system eliminates that concern.

The BaitStriker Reel features seven stainless steel ball bearings plus IAR, a carbon body and rotor, a custom evolve folding aluminum handle with rubber knob, competition slide drag system, and an aluminum spool. The BaitStriker system includes a BaitStriker switch, made perfect for deadstick techniques.

In tandem with the BaitStriker reel, 13 Fishing is also releasing a BaitStriker rod, which features a solid fiberglass blank, a hi-vis quick tip, Evolve advanced feather light guides, a custom Evolve soft-touch reel seat, and a custom Evolve premium extended EVA grip.

The BaitStriker rod comes in three models; 30- and 36-inch medium-light power, and a 36- inch medium-moderate power. The BaitStriker rod and reels are sold as a combo and the reel is also sold separately.

www.rapala.com/13-fishing

Snyder’s Lures Red Lake Bandit & Perch Club

Legendary tackle developer, Gary Snyder just keeps kicking out awesome, fish-producing spoons. This season, he’s added two new spoons/lures with specific fish-catching results in mind.

Catching fish on Snyder’s Lures has become a staple. Snyder has designed multiple spoons and lures over the years that he built completely for Minnesota’s Upper Red Lake fishery, the new Red Lake Bandit is now part of that mix.

Red Lake walleyes and crappies tend to prefer smaller profile baits, especially when insanely high fishing pressure is at its peak during the ice fishing season. The Red Lake Bandit, with its slow fall and No. 4 size hook, was field-tested last winter on Upper Red and it didn’t disappoint, making it an easy lure to bring to this market. The Red Lake Bandit comes in 12 color combinations and works ideal as a dead stick or aggressive jigging lure.

The new Perch Club is designed specifically for jumbo perch.

Field-tested on the Bay of Green Bay, where perch fishing has exploded, the Perch Club’s flutter, flash, lightweight, and enticing profile measured up with Green Bay’s jumbo. This also resulted in officially bringing this lure to the public for this season.

The Perch Club comes in one size (No. 4) and 12 color combinations; it’s also a great jigging or dead stick option.

For more information, visit www.snyderslures.com