Using Plastic Trailers - Jim Hudson, Power Stick
The past few ice seasons has shown a huge increase in the amount of soft plastics available to the ice fishing community. These soft and supple fish catching morsels have proven their weight in gold, but is there more to just sliding one on our jigs and sending it down the hole? I say yes and the fish do too!
Plastic angle is one overlooked key into turning sniffers into biters, especially true as the winter months have wore on and the first ice feeding binge has come and gone. Too much plastic movement one day can make a bull ‘gill turn up its nose to your offering, where the next day that same fish may want that plastic to wiggle and vibrate even more to entice it’s taste buds. By hooking plastics at different angles and different depths into the body, you can show the finicky fish subtleness or the fish on a mission a quivering treat. Be it hooking a Lindy Pin Tail deeper onto the hook to deaden its movement or by lightly nose hooking a Lindy Micro-Mino to make it dance are just a few ways you can experiment with your plastics to increase your success on the ice
Make the Flags Fly
Jeff Kelm- Power Stick
In 1988 I ventured on to the ice with my Father and Grandfather. Hope was high that the flags would be flying all day; dreams of northern nearly jumping out of the hole ran threw my head.
What I didn’t know at the time was that the rigs at the end of our tip-ups were a good reason those dreams were never realized that day. Large steel leaders with that big ole’ Swedish hook and a large smelt.
Now for those of us who can’t get out on to a trophy Northern Pike lake every weekend, here is a setup that may work for you to at least to get the flags flying:
1. Grab your set of Beaver Dam Tip-ups.
2. Fill the spool with your favorite tip-up line. (I like 30lb coated Dacron line)
3. Once the line is spooled tie on a barrel swivel, size of the swivel is not an issue.
4. Attach 3-5ft of 12-15lb Fluorocarbon to the swivel. This is your leader. (I like using Leader Material Fluorocarbon)
5. Lastly tie on a No.8 Circle hook. (I like the circle hooks, but you can use a No.8 treble)
Bait with your favorite smelt, shiner or chub and off you go. (Use a split-shot if needed to keep live bait from swimming into everything.)
Now for the sake of this article, this is a setup for Northern Pike that I like to use, you can vary the size of the leader for other species. For Walleye and Trout I will use 6lb. Fluorocarbon. Same with the hook size, when fishing in very clear water for Trout I will tie on a No.10 or smaller treble hook. (I have caught a 6lb Brown with a No.16 treble using this rig.)
This really is a great way to fish lakes that have a lot of pressure, or an abundance of small Northern Pike. And anyone who has taken kids out with them knows that they get bored if the action isn’t hot, this setup should correct that issue. I will tell you that if you are going after the monster of the lake that this rig can still work, you just may want to beef up the leader and hook size.
I still have that dream of Northern jumping out of the hole (And if you have an idea on how to get them to do that email me) but now at least as I fish that lake every winter the dream of flags flying comes true.
Expand your Ice Fishing Productivity; Jigging Plastics
In this day and age of Ice fishing there's no need to get your hands dirty with live bait if you don't have to. "Matching the hatch" has never been easier, for todays Jig fisher, with some of the plastic imitation patterns and color schemes on the market today. Stoneflies, Blood
Worms, Mayfly larva, small Crustaceans or Baitfish, you name it , there is a life like plastic ice pattern for it. There will always be a time and place for using live bait, but quite a few seasoned Ice anglers have long known that including plastics in their arsenals have made them better ice fishers. I've incorporated plastics in my plan of attack for the past nine seasons on the ice. It has increased my catch rates dramatically! It's plain and simple,plastics catch fish when, at times, nothing else will. I tend to prefer horizontal jigging presentations, but don't overlook vertical or T-bone rigging methods. They will all catch fish through the ice. There is also a large variety of scented plastics that can help trigger bites for todays hard water angler. Feel free to experiment with different colors, sizes, scents, or shapes. It won't be long before you come up with a "winning pattern" that helps make You and your Families day out on the ice more enjoyable! See You On the Water!
Kevin Riley--Power Stick
Reel'Em In Guide Service
www.reelemin.us
Plot Structure to Search and Destroy
In the modern age of Ice Fishing, we ice fishers have many tools at our disposable to make us more efficient in our quest to catch fish on the frozen water. For me, in this modern age of technology, the use of a GPS and a plug and play map chip only makes this job much easier.
Just as I do in the open water, I use these tools to map out any structure I may want to fish on any given day. But when it comes plotting on the ice, this step in my game plan is a breeze. With my GPS locked to my Artic Cat Bearcat, I simply plow through the snow, all the while following the easy to read contour of my displayed lake map to create a picture perfect outline of a specific depth.
Next its time to jump off and fire up the StrikeMaster to punch my grid of holes, locate my specie of choice using the time tested Vexilar, and send down a tempting Lindy morsel to complete my mission.
Jim Hudson
http://www.fishchequamegonbay.com
Hudson's On The Spot Guide Service
(715)779-5833
