Some times, it's the little things

Ice fishing is sport that has grown so rapidly that at times it is hard to keep up.  At times anglers get caught up in all the latest gear and fancy equipment when it's the little things that most often put fish on the ice.  I was reminded of this the other day on a quick trip to a local lake with good friend Chad Pietig.  We set off to fish Hickory Grove Lake after work for a few hours to see what we could find.  We loaded all of our gear onto my snowmobile and ice shack and headed to our first destination.  Pulled up to a brushpile...didn't even look at my GPS.  I cut a few holes and sure enough we were right on the brushpile.  We caught a few fish but the fish we were marking on the Vexilars were not in a good mood.  We packed up and hit another brushpile, much deeper than the first.  After dropping the Vexilars this time we noticed there was not many fish present here. We didn't stay long and went to the third brushpile.  Again, there was really no need to look at the GPS system as I have fished this brushpile for a decade or more.  This pile showed a lot of fish and they were quite active too.
So, what about the little things...yes now for the little things.  Sure, a snowmobile got us to the areas quickly, the Vexilars show us brushpiles and active fish or not, but when it came down to catching fish it was all about a small thing.  Jig color.  Chad was using two-tone colored jig which was getting more bites and attention than any jig I was showing the fish.  I tried numerous colors, white, pink, red, blue and black...but nothing compared to the "magic" jig that night.  That jig may never be the "magic" jig again on that lake, but a lesson I learned and a reminder to focus in on the little things while ice fishing will help me catch more fish in the future.