Photo by Noel Vick

War is declared before you ever leave the driveway. Plans are made, enemies named.

Technology and innovation have solved many of ice-fishing's mysteries. The war on the hardwater isn't what it used to be. Drilling with a hand auger is about extinct. Anglers are mobile. Depth is reported electronically, not measured in arm lengths. Hotspots are etched in bits and bytes, not lost to snowdrifts and ice-out. From an equipment perspective, we've conquered winter and that once-mystifying sheet of ice.

Even with a snowmobile and portable shelter laden with fish-catching tools, an untried lake can still seem daunting. There are means, though, to ease the anxiety of selecting and fishing new water in the winter.

Selecting a body of water is job one. Narrowing the field down to one lake or cluster of lakes is taxing. What's biting where and on what? Thankfully, the Internet answers many of our ice-fishing questions. Sites on the Web such as www.gameandfishmag.com fishing spots and tips.

From there, access your state's fisheries division Web site and look for a map and lake data. Usually you can download lake maps and related statistical information. Said data reveals particulars like stocking frequency, species abundances, available forage, water clarity, average depth and size of the littoral area. Each matters in the exploration of unfamiliar water. Stocking statistics help to indicate fruitful pike and walleye waters. Comparing quantities of specific species - measured via gill nets, trap nets, creels and electrofishing counts - lets you pit lake against lake, on paper, before drilling a single hole.

Forage diversity and density reveal a lot about the health and average sizes of fish in a system. For example, a body of water that has smelt or shiners is certain to foster massive and copious pike and walleyes.

Water clarity influences the depth at which fish reside. And such data is exhibited as a Secchi disk measurement. A 4-foot reading, for instance, denotes stained conditions; 10 feet or greater means the opposite. Bog or tannic (brown) staining is more germane to winter because algal coloration (green) clears, for the most part, just prior to ice-over. From a fishing standpoint, possessing prior knowledge of water clarity assists in forecasting peak feeding periods. In murky water, the action generally climaxes late in the morning, with a secondary spike an hour or so before sundown. Darker also means higher, as diminished illumination allows fish to dwell shallower.

Average depth plays a role insofar as labeling a lake shallow or deep. It's wisest to earmark shallower lakes at first ice and deeper ones during midwinter, and revisit shallow lakes at late ice.

Littoral zone figures are the final decisive link in published lake data. The littoral zone - fertile area - is described as the percentage of a lake's acreage spanning in less than 15 feet of water. Basically, it's the weedier, sometimes sloppier, zone, which includes bays and breeding grounds. Lopsided percentages of littoral bode well for vegetation-oriented fish, such as bluegills, crappies, bass and northern pike.

Trite as it sounds, the next step is contacting area bait shops and/or resorts for expanded information. Treated properly, they'll often supplement what you've already gleaned from the Internet and the fisheries biologists. Bait shop and resort phone numbers can be found on chamber of commerce or tourism bureau Web sites, which are easily traced through search engines.

Meanwhile, back at the map. If you can't download a PDF map from the fisheries Web site because your agency doesn't offer that service, there are online alternatives. Do a search under "lake maps" or "fishing maps." The volume of results will amaze you. Depending on their source, some hydrological maps will need to purchased and sent to you - hard copy or CD-ROM - and others can be downloaded online. Whichever, factor in enough time to acquire the map long before hitting the ice. What's called "pre-mapping" can make or break an outing.

Ice Team's Karl Kleman, an ice-fishing specialist, pores over maps before embarking. With a highlighter marker and species in mind, he prioritizes targets by literally numbering them, "1, 2, 3" and so on. Factors like depth, structure, current tips and time of winter factor in his decision.