Two Lines or One.

[MuskieBait]

Hardwater (icefishing) is a vertical presentation. It is MUCH HARDER to cover any amount of water with just one line. In fact, even two lines is very restrictive when fishing on the ice.

Softwater is a horizontal presentation most of the time. With one cast, you can cover much more water than any ice angler can cover with one drop. Just think about it. One cast can be 30-50 yards on average. When you fan cast an area, you can cover a 40 x 40 yard square easily within 5 casts. When you are icefishing, how many holes do you need to drill and fish vertically to cover that much water?

Trolling on the Great Lakes is all about covering water. Again, due to the depths of the lake and the various depths where fish may be found, using one line is extremely restrictive. When my friend and I fish a spread, we may have one line at 75 FOW with a downrigger, dodger and a herring strip. Then we may have another line at 55 FOW with a downrigger, dodger and a spoon. The last two lines are usually a copper line with a spoon that is fished far out (100+ yards behind the boat), and a flatline with a spoon high up to cover the top 20 feet of water. With one line, you are only covering one thin depth area at a time.

In most of the softwater fishing, you are either casting a bait or a lure. A few cast will effectively work an area quickly and you really do not need two lines.

For shore anglers, I can see the restriction of just one line. But then again, you can definitely quickly fish an area to find the hotspot and cast over and over again at the spot to catch fish.