Growing up, or as my wife says, “growing older” in northern Minnesota, I experienced ice fishing two ways. One was to wait for the ice to be thick enough to use a truck to pull a heavy wooden shelter out on the ice and place it in a spot where we hoped a fish would find us. Those of you who have seen the movie “Grumpy Old Men” will know what I’m talking about.

While these shelters were comfortable with lots of amenities, by the time you got them on the ice much of the best fishing was over and most of the fish in the lake seemed unaware of where we had set up. In other words, they weren’t cooperating.

To increase our odds of success we would dress in what, by today’s standards, was poor winter clothing, carry a bucket with our gear and move around the lake drilling holes and fishing until we got a bite. We would then sit on the bucket and freeze while we hoped there were more willing fish in the area. We tolerated this approach because it was all we knew and we were “outdoorsmen.”

Then about four decades ago my lifelong fishing partner and best friend, Greg Clusiau, introduced me to Dave Genz, who have invented a portable flip-over shelter that we could easily pull around the lake by hand. It stored our gear and let us move around the lake, locate more fish and do it in comfort. He called these shelters a fish trap and we referred to them as our bass boat on the water. Now we had mobility and could easily go to the fish. Of course we still had to fish each spot to find the fish.

Genz then began experimenting with a device called a flasher which had in recent years revolutionized fishing from a boat. The flasher acted as a depth indicator and fish finder. Genz began refining his approach. He realized that by keeping the flasher’s transducer level, he could not only see the fish and the depth, he could see his lure and how fish were responding. Genz then developed the “Icebox” which allowed you to mount the flasher and keep the transducer in line.

Genz soon became known as “Mister Ice Fishing.” Genz, Clusiau and myself were joined by others such as Tony Dean, the boys from Infisherman, and a group of hard core ice anglers. The revolution had begun. We fished our way across the northern Midwest states. We did seminars, television shows and held events on the water such as the annual Minnesota Masters of Ice Fishing. Then came the formation of the original “Ice Team” and ice fishing came of age.

Almost all of what we pioneered has become mainstream in the ice fishing world and the innovation has never stopped. The clothing we have now, like our Ice Armor suits by Clam Corporation keep us comfortable even when not in our shelters. The electronics have improved, offering more and better options for knowing what is happening under the ice. GPS lets us easily return to a spot that we were originally guided to by a lake contour map. Tackle and other equipment like augers keeps getting better and better. You can now easily drill a hole using an attachment for a portable electric hand drill.

Genz himself never stops innovating. He is now investigating if the echo from his flasher is different on a lead jig, vs. one of the new tungsten jigs, and if that influences fish behavior.

Ice fishing is becoming more and more mainstream. Colorado now boasts over 250,000 licensed anglers who ice fish every year. In fact, the catch rate through the ice in Colorado is much higher than in open water. If you have ever considered giving ice fishing a try, you will not find a better time. The equipment and information is available to allow you to easily and quickly find comfort and success.

Over the next few weeks we will be covering a number of ice fishing topics on Terry Wickstrom Outdoors radio show, which airs 8 a.m. Saturday mornings on 104.3 FM The Fan.

Below is the entire interview with Genz.

You can follow Wickstrom on Facebook at Terry Wickstrom Outdoors