There are certain lures that work better for an aggressive vertical jigging presentation. There is the jigging spoon that Courts uses almost exclusively during this period, and there is the airplane-style jig that incorporates wings to get the lure floating out from the hole and increase the range of visibility.

"What you will notice," said Courts, "is those walleyes will show a preference to a particular jigging motion. Sometimes they will hit the lure as it's dropping. Sometimes the walleye grabs the lure when you're twitching it up before the drop. Sometimes that little quiver you put on the spoon as it rests before you raise the rod tip is the trigger that gets the fish to commit."

There are two other factors to consider when picking the bait. What color will work best and what should it be tipped with?

"I look at color as something to think about, but it's not as high a priority as drilling over fish and getting the right action," Courts said. "But I have seen many days when if you had the wrong color on, you weren't catching fish. And many times, I didn't have any of the lures that were catching fish that day. You won't find me without plenty of color options, and when the fish are coming up to the bait and not grabbing it, I'm trying different colors until I find one that works."

Bait is another important factor. Typically, during first ice, walleyes are biting, so threading a minnow's head onto one of the treble barbs is just the right amount of scent to get a positive reaction. But because it's fishing, sometimes those walleyes want something else.

"There have been times," said Courts, "when you have to thread a couple of wax worms on each treble barb to get the fish to bite. Sometimes no bait is needed. There are times I'll just put a little piece of scented plastic on the hook. When the fish are biting, everything works. When some work is involved to get a fish to take the bait, you try things until you discover what they want and that becomes your program."

There are a couple of variables that remain the same whether you're on that early ice or it's late season.

"You drill holes and search until you find some aggressive walleyes," Courts said. "First ice means the fish should be biting, so don't drill and then sit and wait for the fish to come to you. Search them out and find the hot ones."

Always go out on the ice with safety in mind. According to Courts, the ice is only as safe as the person trekking out on it. "When you venture out on first ice, wear a life jacket and make sure you have a set of ice spikes that are easy to get to," he said. "There's nothing that will ruin a trip like a dunk in ice water. Use the tools you have to make sure you're on safe ice and never push the envelope."

There are only a few weeks at the start of the ice-fishing season when walleyes are shallow and easy to catch. It's called first ice. It's worth the effort.