Ice Fishing for Bass
As with most other ice fishing opportunities, first ice and last ice is the
best times to target bass.  There are a lot of people who feel you can
not catch smallmouth through the ice, well, this is not true.  These fish
can be caught the ice.  You will want to target the same humps and
rocky areas that you did in the soft water months.  Generally we will
set up for smallmouth bass within 24 inches of the bottom.  Like with
the walleye, we don't stay in one place very long until we locate the
fish.  

For largemouth bass fishing through the ice, we set up our baits more
at the top of the water column than at the bottom of the water
column as is the case with the smallies.  Good locations are outside of
old weedlines and at the top of deep water breaks.  

The way we generally fish for bass through the ice is with tip ups.  
Regular tip ups for the largemouth bass and we use the jigging tip ups
for the smallmouth bass.  The jigging tip ups have the reel above the
ice and the wind catches the tip up and jigs the presentation up and
down.  This seems to work much better for the smallmouth.