“Ice Center” centralizes ice fishing products for anglers
Jackson, WI – It doesn’t take much time on the ice to realize that tip-up fishing lies at the center of a lot angler’s universes. These flag-bearing “fish traps” are everywhere; that’s because they remain the most efficient tool available for tracking down and snaring a nice batch of pike, walleyes, trout or even panfish. In a nutshell, if you’re an ice angler, you likely own a collection of these handy devices. Problem is, finding all the items you need to get rigged up right isn’t an easy task.
In this spirit, Frabill – bonafide leaders in tip-up design – recently unveiled “Ice Center,” a complete line of entirely new products tailored to enhance the tip-up fishing experience. It’s more than a quality series of ice fishing products, though, Ice Center is an ingenious retail concept that makes shopping for ice tackle a simple pleasure.
“Anglers will immediately notice Ice Center when they walk into their favorite tackle store this fall,” says Frabill Marketing V.P., Jeff Kolodzinski. “It makes a pretty bold statement. Best thing about Ice Center is that it centralizes all these vital pieces of ice tackle into a single display. No more wandering up and down the aisles to find those clip-on depthfinders, leader rigs or a set of mouth spreaders. It’s all in the Ice Center, and then some.”
“Tip-up fishing is a system,” says professional ice guide and Frabill pro, Captain Pat Kalmerton. “It deserves its own section in tackle stores-a place where the tip-up guy can go and get what he needs. Ice Center features some pretty slick stuff, too-high quality VMC Hooks and pre-tied Lure and Bait rigs made with premium Suffix fluorocarbon. If tip-up fishermen need it, it’s in the Ice Center.”
Frabill’s new Leader Rigs (2 per pack) feature an 18-inch section of Suffix fluorocarbon in 6-, 8-, and 10-pound test. The rigs feature a VMC Cone Cut Treble on the business end. A variation, the Frabill Lure Rig, sports a tiny spinner blade above the hook, which make them a legal offering in states like Minnesota. For the enterprising angler, Ice Center also includes separate VMC Trebles and Octopus bait hooks, Barrel Swivels, Split Shot, line markers, clip-on depthfinders, and spools of 30-pound test Dacron tip-up line.
Tip-up fishing calls for the right set of tools, which Ice Center has in abundance. Frabill’s hot new LineSaber-a dual line cutter and glow lure charger – as well as Fishermen’s Pliers, Curved Forceps, Mouth Spreader and Combo Tool Kits are all at your fingertips.
“Frabill is the clear-cut leader in tip-up products and accessories,” says Kalmerton. “Their Pro-Thermal tip-ups, as well as their Classic Series, and sweet accessories like the new Lil’ Shiner Tip-Up Light prove it. I love that I’ll now be able to get everything I need for a day on the ice in one convenient spot. That’s time I used to waste when I could have been fishing!”
ABOUT FRABILL
Frabill, Inc. (Jackson, Wis.) is celebrating 71 years of building the most trusted gear in the fishing industry. Frabill’s ice fishing product mix consists of portable ice fishing shelters, rod and reel combos, tip-ups, bait containers, portable aeration and other related accessories. Open water products include landing nets, portable aeration, bait containers, bait care, bait traps and seines, and other accessories. Visit www.frabill.com.
November bass fishing has been good. I spent the day out on Starke Lake with my tournament partner for what was some great bass fishing action. The 26th we got an early start, hitting the waters at 6:30am, still dark and tried some top water action, and we got none. With the sunrise, came rain and higher winds, so what should have been a bad day on the water saw us catching 16 bass on wacky rigged Gitem K.O’s and white spinner baits. All but 3 of the bass came from the main lake working tight to shoreline and scattered off shore grass beds. The 29th we headed out early once again, with live shiners and crank baits. To our surprise we boated no bass on the live bait, but the crank baits, a Big O in fire tiger pattern, and an Ugly Duckling in shiner pattern boated the bass, to the tune of another 10 bass. Crank bait bass came on the main lake and in Deep Lake. We keyed in on docks and submerged grass beds and found the bites to be very aggressive. We had seen some very good schooling action the first day, but avoided throwing to them and opted to keep searching the deeper water patterns. Storm WildEye Curl Tail swim baits once again picked up some good solid bass in the middle of Starke Lake itself as well as at the mouth of the canal on the Deep Lake side. With the water temperatures starting a nice cool down, I have noticed bait fish pods growing in size which will have the bass schooling up and feeding good to get ready for the spawn.
September has seen us on Butler Chain for a few days. Waters have been gradually cooling off nicely with the rains we have been getting, with water temperatures running in the mid 80’s by days end. There has been very limited schooling action with most of those bass in the 1 to 3 pound range.
Early top water action has been steady on Lakes Tibet, Lake Down and Little Lake Down. High Roller Chugroller and the Secret Weapon Lures BuzzRbait getting the best action for us. Smaller swim baits, like the Storm WildEye Curl Tail have produced some quality bass along the drop offs in Lake Down as well as swimming them along the deeper water grass lines. Spinner bait bite has been gradually picking up with cooler water temperatures and some breeze on the water. All white spinner baits worked in and around grass beds has been the key to catching the bass. The typical Gitem K.O has still been producing along grass lines as well as around docks and areas of timber in Lake Blanche.
The past two weeks have seen some good bass fishing action on the Butler Chain, as well as a few other Central Florida Lakes. Butler Chain, the artificial bite has been holding pretty steady, with wacky rigged Gitem KO’s and Gitem Shads catching some good numbers as well as quality. Little Lake down has seen the best action, with Mike and his son getting a nice double, with Mike having his bass follow his shiner all the way to the boat as we were going to make a move. This bass struck at his bait twice, before finally getting hooked up, and his son immediately getting his hook up, had these two fighting side by side.
Lake Down itself, seen some good action in the north east corner, with some scattered schooling action, small Storm swim baits catching some good numbers in the deeper drop offs. Lakes Sheen and Tibet have held the same pattern now for several weeks, whacky rigged and T-rigged Gitem KO’s catching bass in and around scattered grass beds.
This past week on Butler Chain had its ups and downs. Monday and Tuesday saw some good top water action on Lake Butler. During the early morning we saw a good amount of schooling action. Tuesday turned out to be the best day with bass being caught on High Roller ChugRollers in Fire Tiger. Big bass for the day came in at a solid 3.8 pounds, and just slammed the ChugRoller.
Thursday I had the McClain duo, husband and wife out on Butler. We started out with Margarita working live bait, and Carl with top water baits. There was very limited schooling action once again, but Carl was very determined to nail a nice bass on top water. He started out with an Original High Roller, but then switched to a ChugRoller. A very solid bass, in the 4 pound class came up to slam the bait. Carl said he felt her hit the lure so he set the hook, but she was gone. That, unfortunately was the end of the top water action for the day. Margarita continued to work the live bait, missing her first bass as it chased the shiner to the surface. She got too excited and the hook up was missed. After a few coaching words, Margarita didn’t miss another bass. We actually had to keep an eye on her, as she never said a word, we only knew she had one on when we heard the drag. Her big fish of the day came in at 5.1 pounds.
The month of September has seen some good bass fishing action, as well as some tough action. For the most part, the action has been pretty steady. Shiner bite has actually been very slow, but the artificial bite has been good. Johns Lake has been a good early morning bite using spinner baits and trick worms. Deer Island cut has produced some descent numbers, but the size has not been to my liking.
We did make a venture out to Lake Rosalie, one to check water levels after the tropical storm, and to alo see how the bite was doing out there. We started the day out with Rich tossing some shiners around, and not surprised, there was no action on the in the first hour, so we switched Rich to some trick worms. 
