Panguitch Lake in southern Utah is a favorite spot for Mike Fowlkes, Utah wildlife enforcement officer. He worked in the area up until 1998. It's just fun relaxing and waiting for a strike. The area near the dam is most popular. Only the hard-core 10 percent of ice fishers are getting after it already, Gunderson said.
Ice fishing is perhaps the most democratic form of angling.
It costs little to gear up for and anglers without boats can suddenly access entire lakes. It's the most social fishing and should be the easiest. The yelling and ribbings over missed, lost and landed fish can give the sport a carnival atmosphere. Action is fastest early in the season when new ice hits, Anderson said. There is still a lot of oxygen in the water, so fish are active, and the moss is still alive so the insects fish forage on are shallower, making fishing easier.