Lake Masters - Jack Schneider

      Way back when I was an ice fishing novice. I was fortunate enough to run into a guy named Jack a true lake master. I was kicking back in my 1980 Citation (great ice fishing vehicle) watching my tip-ups on a weed line, having a slow day as usual.

Now, I've fished this particular lake for most of my life and had done very well during the open water months. I could catch bluegills during the spawn, and an occasional northern or bass during the summer months. The hard water was altogether another story. I just couldn't seem to get a handle on it. All I could catch were tiny bluegills, an occasional snake-northern and some little perchies.

I was sitting in that car of mine killing time watching my three tip-ups, waiting for a flag, when I hear the intense rumbling of an ice quake, looking towards the boat landing I see this high-speed vehicle approaching and I mean high-speed! This guy is doing at least 70 mph! He skids his vehicle into a spot about 75 yards away from my position, jumps out and starts chipping out three old holes, sits down and starts to jig. Almost immediately he starts pulling up bluegills, pretty much one right after the other. I'm thinking, they've got to be those small bluegills I always catch. But he doesn't throw any back! It looked like he was really battling some of them!

After about 15 minutes my curiosity got the best of me. I decided to take a walk over and see what was going on. I approached him and gave him the usual, How's it going? How they biting? Any size to them? Just as I said that, he starts fighting a dandy, his line is just about to snap when he grabs a hold of a beautifully colored, thick bodied, humongous bluegill! It had to be nearly 10 inches! I got a name for this size of bluegill; SLABS! All I could think about was that I was going to be there the next day, with my jig pole in hand.

I was there that next day, that whole next week in fact. The first day I couldn't catch anything just had a few bites. Jack said I needed some lighter line, so I showed up the next day with some one-pound test line. I caught a few and had a lot more bites but I probably broke my line a half dozen times. Jack would just laugh as I missed bites and busted my line horsing a big ole` slab gill out of the hole. I guess "laugh" would be an understatement. Jack's laugh is more of an infectious giggle. When he's on fish, in a hot hole, he can be heard for hundreds of yards across the lake.

By the next ice fishing season Jack and I had become good friends. The type of "gilling" Jack showed me had become my favorite type of ice fishing to do. It's shallow water, light line, small jigs and tiny floats. Of course this wasn't all Jack knew.

He has a vast knowledge of many area lakes and knows how to fish them for all types of species. Like when the maple sap starts to flow during the spring thaw, that it's a good time to start looking for bluegills moving way into the shallows. Another one that proves very true is that when the big pike are hitting you can forget about catching any walleyes that night. Jack is one of those guys that always catches fish, not only lots of fish, but some real big fish too. And he's the first one to come up with the new hot tactic. If your auger's down or you run out of bait, Jack will gladly let you use his or supply you with the bait you need for the rest of the day. I am willing to bet that there's a Jack out there for every lake, and I hope that everyone that reads this article is lucky enough to run into your own "Jack" on your favorite body of frozen water. Believe me you will become a better ice fisherman.