— Submitted photo Laef Lundbeck was using a light line and a tiny jig to ice this crappie. Let the fish species and technique help determine which ice rod is best for your ice fishing needs.

The ice fishing season gets closer every day. Many of us are going through our ice fishing equipment to see what we need or want to go fishing through the ice when the ice returns. I was looking at my ice rods and realized there were a couple of actions that needed to be added to my arsenal. Although I’ve done a good amount of ice fishing through the years, there are certainly a lot of people who are way more experienced than me. Some of them are very good friends that I’ve had the good fortune to share an ice shelter with. I decided to contact some of them to see if they could provide guidance on what rods would serve me the best. Here’s what I learned.

My first call was to John Crane. He is one of fishing’s best lure designers. Most of us have used a J.C. created lure at one time or another. As a lure designer, J.C. fishes through the ice for a variety of fish and uses a variety of techniques. The materials used in rod construction determine how lures respond in a fishing situation.

Ice rods are made of either fiberglass, graphite, or boron. Graphite and boron rods are more sensitive, but the major appeal to them, according to J.C., is that they make lures more responsive. A minor quiver of the rod tip makes the lure below quiver. Fiberglass is not as responsive: It requires more rod tip action to give the lure more action. However, fiberglass, due to its softer action, is better for dead sticking. Dead sticking is when an angler uses a rod in hand to present a bait, and another rod, the dead stick rod, in a nearby hole. The softer tip on the dead stick rod prevents a biting fish from feeling resistance so it hangs on longer, giving the angler a chance to grab the rod and set the hook. J.C. used a Scepter Carbon rod last year that fit all of his needs. This is a higher end rod, but the avid ice angler will appreciate its attributes.

Laef Lundbeck lives in the Great Lakes region of northwest Iowa. He’s as busy as he wants to be with his fishing guide business, and when he isn’t guiding, he just goes fishing. Laef has a lot of ice fishing rods, but says that if he was limited to just a couple, he’d want to be sure to have a medium action rod with a spring bobber. That action works for walleyes, but the spring bobber will also reveal the soft strikes of panfish.

Laef fishes where the wind blows often, and he moves from hole to hole a lot. Much of the time he fishes from a standing position. Because of this style of fishing, he likes a longer rod so he can get the tip closer to the hole where the wind doesn’t affect it as much.

Matt Johnson is an ice fishing industry insider. When it comes to trends in ice fishing equipment, Matt knows what happened, he knows what is happening, and he has a very good idea about what will happen regarding the equipment that we’ll be using. Following are some of his thoughts about rods for ice fishing.

Matt says that the rods that we’re using now are much longer than in the not so distant past. Most are in the 28 to 32 inch size range, and the trend is going even longer, mostly for the reasons that Laef mentioned.

Additionally, softer tips are the trend. Seeing the bite has become a bigger deal than feeling the bite, and softer tips and longer rods enable an angler to do so. If an angler is looking for a length that will do a good job most of the time, something around 30 inches is a good starting point.

So, with all of that in mind, I did more research and looking and decided to add a couple of Scepter rods to my ice fishing arsenal. They’re made of graphite, they’re versatile, they’re affordable, and they come highly recommended. Now all I need is some ice on the pond to try them out.