need heavy snow advice

[LPiceFishn]

I always clear a 5' x 5' spot around my tip ups when heavy snow is on the ice. I think it lets light through the ice to flash off my minnows. A veteran tip up fisherman tells me this will scare fish away though I always catch something (small mostly). Do any of you do this? I only ask because there is 4' drifts out here in LP and my tip ups have been dry for over a week. Gettin cabin fever! thanx

[SouthBend]

I have heard both ways of thinking and both make sense to me. On the one hand, the added light, you would think, could act as an attractant to the fish. On the other hand, If they are swimming around in total darkness as is, a giant bright area might be a bit of a deterrent.

I can say that all year I have not been clearing snow around the hole and hadn't caught anything worth mentioning. Then, last week I cleared about a 5x5 area and caught 28 w/in an hour. Coincidence? Maybe. 

[river_scum]

i have always tried to clear an area away.  i cant say if it helps or not for sure, but it makes me feel better. lol

[SouthBend]

I can add one more advantage to clearing the spot: When tying on a new jig, if you drop it in the snow, you might as well kiss it goodbye. At least if the snow is cleared you have a better chance of finding it on the ice. I ran into this problem on pleasant a month or so ago. There was a few inches of snow on top of a few inches of slush. I didn't clear any because I didnt want to stand in an inch of water. While tying on a jig (over my box for this very reason) I looked over at my rod in the water. I no more than turned my head and by body and hands decided to follow. Of course, not holding the jig over the box anymore, I dropped it right in the snow. I tried digging for it through the snow and slush but it didn't work. Luckily, I had another jig (same style) and commenced to trying to tie it on. Well, apparently I didn't learn from my first mistake. I looked over at the Vex and I'll be damned if I didn't do the exact same thing.

Long story short, bare ice saves jigs. 

[moonbeam]

I can add one more advantage to clearing the spot: When tying on a new jig, if you drop it in the snow, you might as well kiss it goodbye. At least if the snow is cleared you have a better chance of finding it on the ice. I ran into this problem on pleasant a month or so ago. There was a few inches of snow on top of a few inches of slush. I didn't clear any because I didnt want to stand in an inch of water. While tying on a jig (over my box for this very reason) I looked over at my rod in the water. I no more than turned my head and by body and hands decided to follow. Of course, not holding the jig over the box anymore, I dropped it right in the snow. I tried digging for it through the snow and slush but it didn't work. Luckily, I had another jig (same style) and commenced to trying to tie it on. Well, apparently I didn't learn from my first mistake. I looked over at the Vex and I'll be damned if I didn't do the exact same thing.

Long story short, bare ice saves jigs. 

Not easy being mortal!

[brad]

i think if i was in total darkness  and seen a big beam of light coming down from above i would b scared  that it was heaven and i would have to go  and im not sure they have ice fishing up there so i would prob go the other way
   seriously  if its one way all day long and they see sum.. diffrent  it prob deters them from staying around they might come by and check it out tho