Here is OutdoorCanada.com's fifth ice fishing tip – drop into the zone:
"Pike epitomize how most fish feed in the winter-by looking for the silhouette of their prey against a light background. This makes the underside of the ice a magnificent backdrop. Indeed, pike are at their feeding finest when they can capture soft-rayed forage swimming above them in the water column. Black crappie, lake trout, perch and walleye behave similarly, so it's always important to present your bait or lure at the fish's eye level or above—never below. During mid-winter, it's equally important to monitor your sonar for crappie, perch, pike, trout and walleye streaking upward, particularly in lakes with free-roaming forage such as alewives, ciscoes, shad, shiners and smelts. These baitfish graze on plankton-microscopic plants and animals—that move closer to the surface in the winter when thick ice and deep snow reduce the amount of light that penetrates the water."