Dark spot on a sunny day

I was told,never considered it,but on a sunny day a shadow on the ice will keep fish away. Like a tent,car some of that stuff. What is your view? Jerry

In 6 fow maybe , but not deep water.

Especially shallower and clear ice. Seen it way too many times where the hole hoppers do well and the tents get blanked. Overcast and snow cover on the other hand doesn’t effect them as much. I think the fish get a little edgy not knowing whats going to ambush them out of the shadows

Will sun shining down the hole on a sunny day have negative effects, when the ice/snow cover is thick enough to limit light penetration?

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Will sun shining down the hole on a sunny day have negative effects, when the ice/snow cover is thick enough to limit light penetration?

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Depends on what species. When jigging for pike I prefer sun to be beating down my hole making my spoon flash off the bottom of the ice. Drives the pike crazy

Many times there are patches of snow on the ice. Causing a shadow under water or a lower level of light penetration. Those spots can and usually hold fish in shallow water. Opposite of the shadow being a bad thing. Now if your talking early clear ice in clear water probably a sight factor more than a shadow. Early ice is the only time I feel you will need to worry about it.

I fish the back waters of the Fox Chain down here in Illinois. One of my main haunts is a channel system that gets to 6ft at the deepest. Many days, with clear ice, will I catch more panfish with the trap over the hole than without the use of the shack. On February 3, I watched crappies stack up under the shadow of my Fish-trap, it was a supremely cool sight to watch them try and keep under the shadow, getting thicker and thicker. Sometimes it just depends on what species you’re targeting.

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I fish the back waters of the Fox Chain down here in Illinois. One of my main haunts is a channel system that gets to 6ft at the deepest. Many days, with clear ice, will I catch more panfish with the trap over the hole than without the use of the shack. On February 3, I watched crappies stack up under the shadow of my Fish-trap, it was a supremely cool sight to watch them try and keep under the shadow, getting thicker and thicker. Sometimes it just depends on what species you’re targeting.

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I have found this to be true also. Last year we found a spot that was snow covered in 8 to 10 ft of water late ice. The fish were all under the snow cover on a sunny day. Get outside of that snow cover and zero fish.

When in deeper water wouldn’t you have to factor in the angle of the sun? Seems to me that the shadow of the shanty could be off to the side of where your lure presentation is. The theory of the fish stacking up in the shadows as we loose snow cover has me thinking that I may take a tarp out to make sure I am shadowing the area I am presenting my jig or lure. Any thoughts?

Some years ago we experimented walleye fishing (with tip ups)patchy snow drifts and bare ice. We put tip ups on bare ice, right next to the snow patches and right in the middle of the snow patches.The tip ups set on the edge of the snow patches saw the most action by far. Fished 4-5 feet of water during during mid winter. We tried setting up that way a few times after that and the boards on the edge of the snow patches always had more action.

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Some years ago we experimented walleye fishing (with tip ups)patchy snow drifts and bare ice. We put tip ups on bare ice, right next to the snow patches and right in the middle of the snow patches.The tip ups set on the edge of the snow patches saw the most action by far. Fished 4-5 feet of water during during mid winter. We tried setting up that way a few times after that and the boards on the edge of the snow patches always had more action.

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Ok I am assuming the edge tip ups where set on the north side of the snow patch GEEMAN?

South and west actually. We originally wondered if eyes would use the shaded areas under the snow patches as an ambush spot. We only tried this 3-4 times before total snow cover returned. Too few times to draw any conclusions either way but our results were encouraging. We tried the same thing after dark with a clear sky and bright moon a few times too. Tip up placement didn’t seem to make any difference action wise after dark.

My experience is actually the opposite as well. For lakes such as Red Lake that don’t have a lot of bottom structure the fish often relate very heavily to this “Surface” structure and fishing the transitions along the edge of snow patches or ice heaves can lead to excellent fishing.

To the contrary when fishing in extremely shallow water the light coming through a cleaned out ice hole can spook fish. On Sunny days there are many fishermen who swear by leaving slush in your holes to avoid light penetration. Also downsizing to a 6″ or even a 5″ auger is popular for panfishermen who frequently fish shallow water.

Funny Will, I always get weird look when I don’t scoop more than 1/4 of my holes out. Everybody fishing in my groups in on the slush left in trick. I always use a 6″ for panfish when jigging in shallow water. Over 15 feet or in severly stained water it plays out less.