Many of us have our favorite tackle, bait, lures, from this last season on ice. Some won't change tactics, 'cuz 'if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it'...It's a long time 'til ice next season, so maybe we'll forget anyway.....But would any of you mind sharing what worked best for you? Personally, I 'flunked' at Rockport and Echo this year, but did very good at Mantua (early season), Hyrum, (all season), and East Canyon (late season)...
Mantua -- bluegill and perch, and trout by accident --absolute best set was very small white jig, tungsten or lead, with 1 or 2 wax worms..1" hali-style attracter 10" above...also very good was very small 1/32 oz white w/green Demon...
Hyrum -- perch only--several very best -- 1/32 oz pink tiger 'Forage Minnow', glow pink/white 'Perch talker', 1/32 oz white w/red Demon...also new(for me) Thundermist stingnose,1/16 oz was very effective....all with hali style (or similar) attractor only 2 to 4" above the lure...perch eye, small pc cut perch meat, wax worm, or 2 spikes...
East Canyon -- Rainbows only -- best was a (Tube Dude) glow white horizintal 1"jig, w/tail and red eye...hali style attractor 10" above, and butter worm..
That's what worked for me...hope you had a good season, and don't mind sharing some 'Secrets'....
Not really a secret lure, but it sure helped me. This season I bought my worms bulk online and kept a little ‘farm’ in the basement. It was nothing more than a plastic tote with some oats, newspaper, and an occasional carrot. Besides being way more convenient, and cheaper, I felt my worms were more active and stayed alive longer. Did they catch more fish, who knows? I do know it was nice not having to stop at the store for bait every trip. I have a bad habit of leaving them to freeze overnight in the truck
(04-09-2020, 05:50 AM)Jmorfish Wrote: [ -> ]Many of us have our favorite tackle, bait, lures, from this last season on ice. Some won't change tactics, 'cuz 'if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it'...It's a long time 'til ice next season, so maybe we'll forget anyway.....But would any of you mind sharing what worked best for you? Personally, I 'flunked' at Rockport and Echo this year, but did very good at Mantua (early season), Hyrum, (all season), and East Canyon (late season)...
Mantua -- bluegill and perch, and trout by accident --absolute best set was very small white jig, tungsten or lead, with 1 or 2 wax worms..1" hali-style attracter 10" above...also very good was very small 1/32 oz white w/green Demon...
Hyrum -- perch only--several very best -- 1/32 oz pink tiger 'Forage Minnow', glow pink/white 'Perch talker', 1/32 oz white w/red Demon...also new(for me) Thundermist stingnose,1/16 oz was very effective....all with hali style (or similar) attractor only 2 to 4" above the lure...perch eye, small pc cut perch meat, wax worm, or 2 spikes...
East Canyon -- Rainbows only -- best was a (Tube Dude) glow white horizintal 1"jig, w/tail and red eye...hali style attractor 10" above, and butter worm..
That's what worked for me...hope you had a good season, and don't mind sharing some 'Secrets'....
Dude - Ain't no way, no how I'm giving away my secrets. Besides, you'd need the super secret decoder ring to dicipher the secrets code I use to encrypt my secrets. And that ring costs a bundle. 
Good idea, Joe. I look forward to seeing all the responses. I'm just getting around to sorting out and putting away all my ice stuff and I'm sure it will help me remember what worked for me. I think it's fascinating how many different things work for different people. And I think those who try a lot of different things are sometimes the most successful. I'll get back on later and add what I can.
Bob -- My Cracker Jacks de-coder ring was from the '60's...it is so Far Out and Groovy, that Bratha, it'll de-code any Cool Jive you got...and my ring did cost a bundle..can't remember how many boxes it took!
My favorite rig of the year was on a night run for Crappie. I had never used the lindy glow spoons before, but when I rigged that on the bottom as an attractor and a dropshot hook above with a gulp minnow - man did we have some crappie fun.
Most of my other stuff I used, I learned by putting in my underwater camera in a hole near where Dubob was fishing and then tying on what ever he had on. Who need a decoder ring when they make high tech spy gear like that.
Y'all are making me paranoid. Ain't nothin' sacred anymore.
I fished Strawberry more than anywhere else and not nearly as much as I would have liked. I like orange or white (occasionally pink) glow Maniac Cut'r Bugs on 1/8 ounce jig heads. I also do well fishing white 2 1/2" tube jigs, dipped in Spike-It Dip-N-Glo in garlic and also crawfish. I like to tip with giant mealworms or chub cut bait.
I fished Strawberry and Scofield more than anywhere else. My most productive lure this year was a green 2" teenie tail and a 1/8 oz jig head. Other lures worked well of course, but that always seemed to catch fish everytime.
I learned that having a good flasher is a necessity to increase success. I need to buy one for next season.
(04-13-2020, 07:09 PM)Fishin_Fool78 Wrote: [ -> ]I learned that having a good flasher is a necessity to increase success. I need to buy one for next season.
No doubt atol--fish finder will increase your success rate by a lot..especially if you're fishing with someone else that has one, and you don't....that's when it really seems importnt to have one! My entry level finder was a Hummin' Bird 'Fishin' Buddy', and I used it in ice, and off canoe, for about 6 years (still use it off canoe)..but one of my buddies did have a flasher style that showed Now Time, live action, of your bait and fish ... I thought that was amazing, and yes, he did out-fish me almost all the time...so about the last 5 or 6 years now I've had a good quality digital fish finder....I can 'find' fish, I can target fish, I can be ready when they are close to my lure....buy the best you can afford, but you certainly don't have to go crazy on price....you'll love it....Guluk...
(04-12-2020, 06:55 PM)TheOtherSide Wrote: [ -> ]I fished Strawberry and Scofield more than anywhere else. My most productive lure this year was a green 2" teenie tail and a 1/8 oz jig head. Other lures worked well of course, but that always seemed to catch fish everytime.
Guess I didn't know what a 'green 2" teenie tail' was, so I googled it, and now got the picture..tks for sharing, and to all others who've shared a little info/advice..pretty sure there's a lot on this site that'd be grateful for just a bit of our knowledge/tactics..Hope to see you out on some 'Out of County' ice next season!
This year I switched from hub style shanty to a single man flip style and what a difference it made chasing the bite all day on the lake. Had to learn to downsize what I took on the ice because of the room. But I needed to down size anyways, I only use 1/4 of the stuff I bring.
I'd second Kent's Maniac Cut'r bugs 1.5" in crazy glow orange... 1/16 oz vertiglo head, catches fish at 90+% of locations I fish, whether pan-fish or trout....If I could only have one lure... That would be my go to lure... followed closely by the tungesten gold tear drop in 1/32 oz size for when I need to down size the presentation... Probably caught most of my fish on those two lures, but then again I have confidence in them so I fish them often too... I'd also put a big thumbs up for a good ff... Mine went down during the heart of the season and I've never missed one so much as I did this year... Hard to fish blind after you're used to having eyes on the prize... I did find the camera can be a good crutch when your main finder is down, but they do have limitations... Oh, I'd give the bubble box keeping my holes ice free a vote for supporting actor of the year and the jigging jaw jacker probably deserves a nod as well...Later J
Jeff turned me on to his Cut'r Bugs last year and they have worked great at Strawberry. Glow Gitzit's in Pearl worked great for macks at FG. I found that everything likes Atomic Teasers; chartreuse, red or orange and white were all good. I discovered that trout liked just the tail when I lost the tube on them. Of course tipped with a little bait. And waxworms were the best for tipping anything.