"I use a small jig that fishes heavy, can reach the bottom and take the kinks out of the line," thus promoting overall feel. Genz fixes up a red Lindy Techni-Glo Genz Bug and impales three red Eurolarvae (maggots) with it, each lanced through the "eyes" or scent sac. Red is chosen to closely duplicate a bloodworm's color.

Glow is added to provide supplementary punch along the darker bottom. The Genz Bug is a standup-style jig that presents its hook at a 45-degree angle when settled on the lake floor. Genz sends the jig quickly to the bottom, after of course having observed fish, or "flutters" as he calls fluctuations on the bottom. "If a fish is grazing on the bottom, it won't show up as a bar. You'll just see flutters on the Vexilar."

He then precedes quivering or pounding the jig just above the bottom, letting it hit and situate motionless periodically. He suggests, though, not pounding right on the bottom because oftentimes there's a layer of suspended silt above the sticky stuff, and that band can mask your presentation.

Professional guide Brian Brosdahl likes it heavy and buggy, too. Lately, he's been tricking fish with Northland Tackle's new Bro Bug. The lure features a tubular and lead-infested midsection with bulging, lifelike eyeballs. It was designed to imitate aquatic organisms, and it does. When jigged with short, continuous strokes it teeters ever so seductively. Panfish won't leave it alone.

Bites aren't regularly violent or heavy, either, but rather signaled by the absence of weight on the line and pole. Due to the finesse nature of the atmosphere, Genz uses light hardware, too. He operates with a 24- or 28-inch light-action Genz Series Berkley Lightning Rod and 2-pound-test Trilene Micro Ice line.

There's a relative of the bloodworm that also makes for fine wintertime food. Phantom midge larvae, or chaoburus, are maggot-like in size and shape, too, but they lack the coloration and are nearly transparent. They, unlike bloodworms, are fully nocturnal, and instead of writhing on the bottom they actually rise and pulse through the water column. Swarms appear on the flasher as green flickers or thin bands that come and go. Brosdahl catches panfish further into darkness than most people by using chaoburus.

The world of the midrange - or interior water column - is occupied by other notable critters as well. Genz was a pioneer in the discovery and subsequent code cracking of zooplankton. These miniscule invertebrates - daphnia, copepods, etc. - rise, fall and chug beneath the ice all winter long.

Individual specimens can't dent a bluegill's or crappie's appetite, but devoured by the masses, they provide sustenance when bigger foodstuffs are wanting. "Zooplankton suspends over a lot of the same areas that bloodworms live in," says Genz, "but they're usually hanging more over the basin itself."

These animated invertebrates, like phantom midge larvae, are perceived as flickers on the screen, and the level or depth they appear at is largely dictated by light conditions. "If it's cloudy, they'll be pretty high in water column, going deeper when it's sunny," said Genz. "Zooplankton stay at depths where it's hard for fish to see them, blending into the terrain. It gives them a sense of security."