Find panfish to catch largemouth bass beneath the ice

Bass are some of our most popular game fish, but you wouldn’t know it once Minnesota lakes cap over with ice. Expensive bass boats are put into storage, and bass themselves are often almost as conspicuously absent.
More than likely, if you’ve caught largemouths, it’s been by accident, either on tip-ups intended for northern pike or on tiny bluegill jigs that seem too dainty for a bass’s oversized mouth. But largemouths can be caught through the ice, particularly early and late season.