For years, ice anglers were told they had to downsize to catch fish. Fish are cold blooded and their metabolism slows in winter, so we need to use tiny lures to catch these fickle feeders, we thought.

I’d ice fished rivers for crappie before, but never did very well. Then, during an impromptu trip with lifelong fishing buddies to a small river system in southern New England, we hit a crappie bite ...