The main reason ice fishing rods are usually so much smaller and have to be specifically tailored to their purpose is that fishing through a hole in the ice is entirely different than fishing in open water. There's not any casting. Rather, jigs and hard lures are used to troll near the bottom. This is for catching species like crappie, walleye, lake trout, panfish, perch, and bluegill, to name a few.

To catch these fish, a hole will have to be drilled with an augur in the right place. The lure is dropped in the hole, usually paired with some kind of ice fish finder, and jigged or jerked to get the attention of the target fish. Ice fishing rods are held in a kind of pencil grip. The whole process is too particular to be done with a regular fishing rod.

Rod action dictates where the rod will bend, and rod power lets you know how much pressure it will take to make it bend there. Often the two work in tandem. A heavy rod, in terms of its power, takes lots of pressure to bend, a medium-heavy rod less so, medium even less, and light and ultralight rods requiring very little pressure to bend. The heavier-power rods are better for larger fish. Ultralights and lights are great for finesse lures and small targets like panfish.

Precision-built carbon fiber blanks form the center of this line of St. Croix ice fishing rods, and its strength comes through in the action and the power. The medium-power model is one of the best all-around ice fishing rods on the market, suitable for working baits like minnow spoons and crisp vertical or horizontal presentations on the bottom of the lake. While the Mojo rods are built for spinning reels, they do offer a 34-inch ice fishing rod in either medium-heavy or heavy power models that can handle casting reels and get that clean hook set in big fish like lake trout.

The medium-power Mojo rod comes in either 24” or 28” models. That size is perfect for smaller fish huts, and it can still support blades or jigs. When you do attract those larger targets, there's plenty of backbone to get them hooked as well as plenty of flex to keep hold of them if they decide to go on a run. Stainless steel guides keep the line where you want it, and they're built large enough to reduce freezing in really cold temperatures or exposed conditions.

The split-grip cork handle is comfortable and enables anglers to keep their finger on an exposed section of the rod to feel exactly what's happening on the line. The reel seats on these rods are stable, which can reduce sensitivity, but it's not the case with Mojo rods thanks to the handle design.

The standout feature of this ice fishing rod is the flat tip constructed by designers to make the blank extremely rigid for clean hooksets every time. You won’t need a spring bobber attachment with this rod, although you can fix one on if you want. The tip is already sensitive enough with the flat tip to detect light bites, which makes it perfect for fishing crappie, where finesse might be the name of the game. This rod can also handle aggressive jigs and spoon rigs or even tungsten and plastics for larger targets.

One drawback to the flat tip is that it does tend to make the end of the rod more fragile and more prone to breaking. That can call for attentive storage and transportation, but it won’t stop this rod from reeling in crappie if you can pair it with a 500 size spinning reel and less stretchy  4 or 6-pound fluoro or a strong braid with a fluoro leader. The reel seat and the comfortable handle both provide comfortable hand placement options and give the feeling of some torque against the fish without ruining the fun of the fight.

This rod can handle plenty of line weight and send down lures that will create a flash like crappies' main food sources, such as minnow. Crappie have wider mouths, so they tend to attack larger lures. This rod has all the power and sensitivity needed to fish any ultralight, light, or mid-range lure for crappie.

This all-in-one package is one of the best ice fishing jigging rods because it has enough flex to give the presentation lifelike movement and the right action to display visible movement if you want to use it as a dead rod with a bobber. It's both robust and versatile, standing up to pretty much anything thanks to the graphite in its construction.

Fiberglass mixed into the composite also makes this rod really lightweight and ideal for fishing microbaits. Most importantly for walleye, the blank goes all the way down through the handle, meaning anglers will be able to feel everything on the line, even slight nibbles.

The size 20 spinning reel that comes with this combo pairs with the rod well, and the whole outfit has great balance. A twist-lock reel seat allows anglers to keep a grip and switch reels easily. It's also simple to use this rod right- or left-handed.

The smaller 26" rod is great for panfish and indoor fishing from a fish hut, but there are also 28” and 30” models for sale that might be more suitable for big walleye. These longer rods are also better to use with heavy line and braid in colder temperatures when mono and fluoro line can stiffen.

This walleye ice fishing rod performs exceptionally well in late winter when walleye are already starting to think about spawning and make their way to the mouths of rivers and into the structure created by pressure ridges where the baitfish are.

Anglers out for quick trips or planning on a fish fry love to catch perch and other panfish, so-called because they fit whole inside a frying pan. This ice fishing rod and reel combo from Tailored Tackle is perfect for catching a wide variety of panfish because it has the tip sensitivity of a fast action rod and the stiffness of a moderate action rod.

It’s also great for beginning ice anglers and not just for the convenient how-to guide included with this combo. Since it performs so well with such a variety of targets, beginners can concentrate on learning new information and honing their skills without being thrown off by malfunctioning or ineffective gear.

It has some backbone in case a big fish attacks, but don’t expect it to haul in any record breakers. The light weight of the rod and reel make it easy to transport for hopping around to different holes, or if you prefer to stay inside a hut, the short length of the rod makes it easy to do so.

It's a comfortable rod to hold thanks to the cork handles. Best of all, it's been designed to work with all sorts of jigs and lures. For ice fishing perch, live bait like maggots works great on a jig, and that's precisely what this rod and reel were designed to do.

Perfectly balanced and comfortable to hold, this Akataka rod has a carbon fiber blank that is pretty sensitive but really tough. Even the guide inserts are strong, unlikely to come out or get lost since they wrap around the guides. You can lift a surprising amount of weight with this rod, although you’re most likely to get fish in the 3-pound range at the heavier end.

The slow action gives this rod plenty of bend to avoid breaking if a fish tries to fight, but larger fish like bass might be pretty tricky to hook with such a flexible rod. A cork handle and the light weight of the rod make it easy to carry the rod all day and hold onto it for long periods at a time.

Most bites can be felt pretty quickly through the tip of the rod, although it's wise not to overload it with a heavy lure that can make it harder to feel a soft bite. One nice design feature of this rod is the reel seat, which can accommodate reels with seats between 1.6 and 2.3 inches.

That’s only for spinning reels and spincasters, though, since a baitcaster would likely throw off the balance, and the rod doesn't have enough power to set the hook in larger species that would call for a baitcaster.

The medium-heavy Fenwick HMG rod has tons of features and use-value packed into it. It's hard to find this kind of power in a rod that's shorter than 34 inches long, but this rod has it, and that makes it perfect for seeking out walleye or pike from the comfort of a fish hut.

To get that hook into a larger fish, the action on this rod is ideal. Of course, for smaller panfish and crappies, there's also the ultralight and light Fenwick ice fishing rods. The medium-heavy has a more moderate action that makes it fantastic for fishing horizontal hard baits with multiple hooks, including blade baits and jigging minnows.

Additional details that are sometimes forgotten on competing models, like a hook keeper, are included on the Fenwick. Aluminum oxide inserts make the line guides strong and reduces friction on the line. The handle, which is made out of AAA cork, is really agreeable, seeming to suit the angler’s hand no matter what kind of grip is required for a given style of fishing.

Folks love using this rod as a go-to crappie rod or to use fishing for northerns and even lake trout. For all the strength in the rod blank, the sensitivity is still off the charts and lets the user feel small bites on the line.

Anything you could want for targeting larger fish with a medium-heavy rod you’ll find in this lineup of Fenwick Elites. It has a fast tip and a strong backbone to get clean hook sets on lake trout and walleye, plus it functions well with spoons and jigs. Most of the line of ice fishing rods are meant to be paired with a spinning reel, but they do offer a thirty-inch rod with a baitcaster handle too.

The eyes on the line guides are straight and don’t put much friction tension on the line, but they are smaller than on some other rods, which can lead to them freezing up if you're fishing outside a hut in icy conditions. As long as you're on the lookout for that, though, it shouldn't be a huge problem.

It's sensitive enough at the tip to feel activity on the line, but it doesn't quite match costly ice fishing rods in that category. That being said, it has really stiff, high-quality graphite in the blank that keeps this rod reasonably light considering its longer length. To get all the fighting strength you need for larger targets, the power in this rod is great, and with one of the longer length options, you’ll be keeping up with the times in the world of ice fishing, where longer rods are the current trend.

Unlike other rods that are built for general ice fishing and just happen to be suitable for jigging, this rod has been specifically geared and constructed to that purpose. Graphite in the blank gives it sizable power while fiberglass mixed into the blank keeps the whole thing lightweight, even with its much longer length compared to other rods in this guide.

This rod is also uniquely crafted to work for a variety of saltwater fishing methods. Line guide inserts made of ceramic are tough and reduce friction on the line. Aluminum alloy in critical parts of the rod increases strength, reducing flex in the reel seat to almost nothing.

There are both medium-heavy and heavy options available. Suffice it to say that this rod is definitely for larger targets and lures and situations where maximum power will be needed. It should be paired with a larger reel.

It has a slower action than some of the competition, but that’s the tradeoff for the vastly superior strength in this rod. Although it’s rated for saltwater, don’t expect to use it on fish larger than about 5 or 6 pounds. You may well be able to hook a fish that size, but it won’t be the norm with this rod.

The tips of ice fishing rods are sometimes prone to breaking, but a simple rod case will fix that problem. DIY solutions abound, but the best ice fishing rod case will resolve the issue for a longer time. Make sure the rods are dry before storing them and keep them in a relatively temperate dry place.

Ice fishing is a ton of fun and presents a whole new perspective on sport fishing. All you need is a strong, flexible rod that can handle just about any wintertime fish. That’s just what you get with the St. Croix Mojo Series, easily the best ice fishing rod around.