Fishing Forum

Do any of you use the same lures and bait that works for ice fishing after the ice is off? Why would this work or not work?
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I caught a fish the other day at Deer Creek, the only fish we caught that day, casting from a boat towards shore using a white foxee jig with a worm. I have thought the same thing and am planning on experimenting this year in my float tube with some foxees, ice jigs, and things like that.
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I have always wonderd why fly fisherman have not figured out chartreuse and white!

I have had alot of fisherman in the summer use ice jigs and do very well at strawberry.
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I will try both the old standard wooley and the jigs this year. I hope to improve my catch that way.
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I've also wondered why more people don't Ice fish with jigs tied like the flies that work in the summer? I've never tried it myself but I don't know why it wouldn't work.

FM
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i think that fish know that during the winter and early spring lots of bugs are smaller and in brighter colors than in summer and late fall when bugs are bigger and the colors are darker seems to me its olemom nature thing but if a fish is hungery it will take anything provven to myself over and over by some of the weird stuff iev used as bait and been succesful............
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I tie a renegade and a woolly bugger on a jig head and use it on artificial only reservoirs like Mantua with fair success. I have also caught some nice trout on Rockport through the ice with them tipped with meal worm.
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[#800080][size 2]I use smaller dynamite during ice fishing season. I don't want to fall thru you know[blush].[/size][/#800080]
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[cool][blue][size 1]I make a whole line of "jig flies"...with more or less standard fly patterns tied on a super light head...from 1/32 to 1/100 oz. Some of the most effective are patterns incorporating peacock herl, ginger or white hackle, and other ingredients common to Renegades, coachmans, etc. Others are tied with bright white, chartreuse, pink or other hot colors, but with standard fly construction...tail, body, wings, hackle, etc.[/size][/blue]

[#0000ff][size 1]I first started making these for big bluegills that held over a weedbed, dangling them about three feet below a bobber. The gills loved them, but I was amazed at how many BIG crappies, trout and other species approved also. [/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]I have since fished them vertical both from a tube and through the ice. They can be very effective both ways. In artificial only ponds, like Mantua, they will get big gills through the ice...and below your tube...when many plastics or dressed jigs just won't get the job done.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]One of the things I suspect appeals to the fish, when fishing jig flies, is the addition of an eye on the head. You usually don't add eyes to regular flies, but I put them on almost all of my jigs. I truly believe that many fish zero in on wide eyed prey.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]The key to success with these little bits is fishing them slow, on light tackle. No heavier than 4 # line and very little motion. A lot of the delicate takes come while the jig fly is resting absolutely motionless. I have not yet tried it, but I suspect a serious jig fly guy would do better with a strike indicator...when fishing from a boat or tube...just as if they were fishing below the ice.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]Do little flies below bobbers work? Anyone heard about the big browns they catch out of the Red River in Arkansas? Some guy got one over 40 pounds on a 1/64 oz. jig fly below a bobber. I have taken crappies over 3 pounds and bluegills about half that size on the bitsy bugs. I have also had some surprisingly hefty largies and smallies suck in small jig flies being fished for smaller species. The largest I have seen is an 11 pound channel cat TubeBabe caught on a tiny jigfly being wiggled for sunfish. Made her string sing.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]Like everything, the lure itself is not the sulution. It is only a tool, to be used with skill and finesse. The best lure in the world will not catch fish if not fished properly...where the fish are. At least that is what I try to tell myself everytime I have some rookie catch the biggest fish or most fish when I take them fishing for the first time.[/size][/#0000ff]
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Another guy and myself discovered,invented a white nymph fly we have used for years.No details will be given[]Always worked.
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I wondered about all those holes up at Jordonelle[laugh]
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