Thread: Ice fishing

Originally Posted by Jswails07

and i still need a ice transducer for my fish finder. its a lowrance hds5x

Have you tried calling Lowrance? Their customer service # is 800-720-5529.

heck get a couple of those tiny foam bobbers set your depth get a couple little little ice jigs say something in white and chartreuse blue pink black and silver orange put a spike or Bemoth on see what happens

Been following this along. Heading up to angola area this weekend with 2 fishing buds and will give a run down of how it went. Bought $40 auger, rigged up some UL spinning with some old broken rods and 4# test, crappie jigs, small blade baits and other items in the arsenal, clip on depth finders, bought two tip ups, going to put handle on and sharpen a t-bar fence post for spud bar, kids sled, some extra rope, lots of hot hand warmers, extra gloves and clothes, insulated minner bucket/seat, license, small heater n snacks n drinks, couple chats with the man upstairs and warm er cold er good fishing thoughts! John. PM if in the area and want to share cell phone numbers/compare notes as it plays out.

Originally Posted by notime2fish

Been following this along. Heading up to angola area this weekend with 2 fishing buds and will give a run down of how it went. Bought $40 auger, rigged up some UL spinning with some old broken rods and 4# test, crappie jigs, small blade baits and other items in the arsenal, clip on depth finders, bought two tip ups, going to put handle on and sharpen a t-bar fence post for spud bar, kids sled, some extra rope, lots of hot hand warmers, extra gloves and clothes, insulated minner bucket/seat, license, small heater n snacks n drinks, couple chats with the man upstairs and warm er cold er good fishing thoughts! John. PM if in the area and want to share cell phone numbers/compare notes as it plays out.

Best of luck........and some more info, remember that area has northerns!

Rico you are correct to the different varables on ice, nothing is etched in stone when it comes to ice. Just a ruff guide for leaving the house.
Something that might help some of you. When I used to ice fish I used a rubber bobber stop on my line. You just have to use some caution when reeling it back in so the rod guides wont move it.. But it is great for getting back to that exact depth of the last fish caught. Also many days the fish wouldnt budge a spring bobber. The crappie or gill would just stay at that depth and suck on the bee moth never moving the spring. The bobber stop would just hardly move. You thought your eyes were playing tricks on you. Ive had many 11" gill and crappie do this. As the ice season moves forward the fish bites will usually be a tougher bite. This new ice is the best bite

That "light bite" can be quite frustrating, even to us seasoned ice anglers. That is when we find ourselves using different presentations, different colors, and different baits. A few years back a buddy and me were gonna hook up and fish a small lake down the road from my house. He called and said he was running late, I told him to meet me on the ice. All I had for bait was waxies until he arrived. I cut around 5 holes in the area where the fish had been on fire the week before. My flasher was showing fish all over the place but I couldn't buy a bite. I tried everything.....horizontal jigs, vertical jigs, ice flies, going with out bait....nothing worked. My buddy arrived and dropped down into one of my holes and instantly caught a nice bluegill. I asked him what he used and he replied a orange and chartreuse moon-glo. Of which I had already tried to no avail. I then asked what he had tipped it with. He said 3 spikes. That was the secret that day. Waxworms couldn't get a bite, the spikes did.

Thanks all for the help. We had a good time exploring the james lake chain and "boated" (or the equivalent of) a enough bluegill for a meal or two. Re-reading the above two posts perfectly describe the finicky and light bite, but I didn't read that good enough before seeing it first hand. "Invest" the couple dollars in a good spring bobber to help see what's going on. The Schooley's worked fine, although I liked winding fish up with open face spinning reel. The spooler type reel sure looked appealing but most just had UL spinning. My closed face spincast didn't behave so well in the cold with the tighter wound 4# line, but never had ice up issues. We we're sitting over 16-20' of water catching them 1-2' off the bottom. Yup spikes out-performed the waxies, and what I thought was plenty small 1/16 oz jig maybe size 8 hook was WAY too big, ended up with small split shot and smallest ice jig in the box, probably size 12 hook or something. Nearly everyone was happy to offer tips and show their rigs once they saw how un-threatening we were!!! Most had vexilar's or other flashers and the bait store owner salesman put it best....kinda is like a video game getting your jig to line up with the fish and "nibble-nibble" - time to set the hook. Peace to all, stay safe. John

Great post John. A flasher is not a necessity but it sure as heck gives an angler an advantage. Especially on strange water.