Ice Team founder Dave Genz uses maggots or mousies more often than any other variety of live bait because he says their appearance and action on the hook cosely resembles natural aquatic forage. Photo by Noel Vick

By habit and custom, we alter our diets by season. Nowhere is this more evident than along the "Ice-Fishing Belt" where our changes from one season to the next are dramatic. During our short-lived summer, outdoor grills cook steaks and fish. Winter is different, though. In winter, out comes the slow-cooker and into it goes the cream of mushroom soup, venison, potatoes and carrots. Seasonal preferences change our diets, not Mother Nature.

Fish, namely panfish, don't have that luxury though. Their summertime staples don't survive or are severly depleted by winter. Consider baitfish minnows. Garden-variety shiners and chubs reach population peaks sometime during the warm-weather months. But with winter's onset - after being stalked and dispatched for weeks on end - baitfish numbers have withered. Plus, residual baitfish have matured and may no longer be in the edible-size scope.

Summer's critters are gone, too, at least as we knew them. Mayfly larvae aren't rising to the surface. The same goes for the bajillions of midge, damselfly and dragonfly nymphs, and countless invertebrates and aquatic insects normally found shallow.

Crappies, bluegills and perch must modify their intake and adjust to the environment to survive. Hardwater anglers need to understand this transformation and consequently modify where they fish and what they use.

Ice-fishing expert Dave Genz understands this transformation as well as anyone. He has invested untold hours studying this change in feeding habits, and some of his findings may surprise you.

"You know," says Genz, founder and skipper of Ice Team, "I've never found minnows in the stomach of a crappie that was caught while ice-fishing. I've found the fathead I just lost a minute or two ago, but never partially digested minnows. But I see that brown gooey stuff all the time."

The "gooey stuff" Genz speaks of can come from a multitude of sources and can take numerous shapes and consistencies, too.

Bloodworms or midge larvae - also known as chironamidae - are one of the commonest forms. As the immature stage of short-lived winged insects, bloodworms live on and in the bottoms of lakes, streams and rivers. Genz says the pasta-girthed grubs dwell in tiny burrows in soft or "sticky bottomed" areas, such as clay or marl, but seldom pure muck and definitely not in sand.

Such areas are found on the edges of the main basin, deep flats and just outside the weedline wherever dead vegetation settles and decomposes. Colonies can be found in 15 to 40 feet of water and become most active during lowlight when they rise from their burrows.

"You know you've hit a good soft or sticky bottom when the Vexilar (flasher) doesn't echo," Genz explains. "And depending on the lake, you can find perch, bluegills and crappies feeding in a good spot."

To fish in the midst of the bloodworms, Genz strives to imitate them in appearance and behavior. But first he needs to effectively deliver the merchandise, and that means "fishing heavy," as Genz describes.