Dally’s How To: De-Ice Your Rod

WITH the Polar Vortex descending through the midwest into the Ozarks it seemed like a good idea to talk about ice, and not the stuff in your glass.

If you are fishing in these kind of temperatures, you will discover the joys of trying to cast with your guides clogging with ice. It seems like a simple idea to just chip away the ice with your fingers.

But you always take the risk of popping a snake guide from the blank or the insert from a stripping guide. I’ve also seen commercial remedies you can apply like Ice-Off or homemade cures like lipgloss.

But there is a better & simpler remedy if you are wading or boating the White River or Norfork.

Just dip your rod into the 50 degree water for a few seconds and the relatively warmer water temperatures should melt the ice. Fish and repeat.

The big difference between freezing air temperatures and river temperatures also means you need to be careful about keeping fish out of the water very long at all.