Why is it that hunters will spend days scouting the woods in order to find just the right spot to erect their tree stands, but those same people ignore the same kind of preparation when it comes to ice fishing?

Most people wind up following the crowd on hard water as a result of poor scouting or no scouting at all.

“Many anglers tend to follow that first guy on the ice,” said Dave Genz, father of modern ice fishing and member of the Lindy Little Joe Fishing Team. “You've just got to hope that first guy did his scouting.”

Most often, however, he didn’t do any more than you did. Instead of catching fish, you both spend most of the winter on community spots wondering why the quality of ice fishing diminishes soon after ice up, Genz added.

The common complaint is, “The fish have disappeared… and they have,” Genz joked. “They’ve gone home in buckets.”

It’s especially frustrating when you realize the biggest fish caught during ice season are generally the first ones, he said.

Avoid that disappointment by finding several spots on your own, far from the maddening crowds. You'll have a better shot at catching bigger fish that way, and fish will stay on less-pressured areas longer.

“Once the pressure comes, fish stop biting,” Genz said.

You'll also be more willing to make a long trek across the ice to a spot you know holds fish.