Try a Swishrod once. They won't fit down most holes depending on your auger size. While they were designed for deep water, they are excellent in shallows as well. Hub type reels are dirt simple and hand over hand fighting is quite fun.
http://www.swishrod.com/I have plenty of experience ice fishing, but none targeting LMB. Looks like I'll have to stay tuned here and see what I can pick up.
Cold weather and soft bite can make bobber fishing tough. If the fish feel the resistance they'll spit it out. This is where a tip down rig comes in. A finely balanced tip down rig will allow you to cover more ground and give you more time to react to a bite.
A nice compact tip down rig is this one:
http://www.tipdown.com/These are nice because they allow line to be pulled out if you get a runner. They are self resetting which can be a positive, but I prefer them to go over center and stay there in case you miss the action and the fish strips your bait.
