I've been ice fishing for a few years and have caught some nice fish but nothing I would consider a true monster. Does anyone have some tips/tricks for catching bigger fish consistently? I would guess using a bigger lure and fishing deeper might be two things to try.
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it all depends on what kind of "monsters" you are fishing for. in theory the "bigger lure" will work, but ive caught alot of my biggest fish on a tiny ice fly or a small 1 1/2'' jig. IMO you just have to be in the right place, at the right time, fishing in the correct depth, with the exact presentation that the monster wants at the time.
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Just put in your time fish for trophys and also big fish eat big lures !!!!!!!!!!
not to say they wont take a small jig but to be consistent
with the trophys go big
The trophys don't like using there energy chasing little thing around they wait for a meal .[
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+1 that. THE ZONE is the key. For example (cause it is closed till last of May) the HUGE Cutthroat in Henry's Lake don't eat other fish, therefore, big lures are not the ticket.
But there are cases where the bigger the better.
I agree with BBF.
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ty.. also another point. alot of times ( especially during ice fishing ) the fish and especially the bigger ones can get finicky and dont want to eat anything large. when they are finicky the smaller the better most of the time
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Dude you're freaking me out now....[laugh]
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wow.. if i had a nickel for every time ive had that said to me i would have a ton of nickels. [:p]
i very rarely fish with large tackle. unless im night fishing for big cats at UL
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lol luck or skill on the ice... i would like to think it's both.. but there are some tricks to help catch bigger fish.. one thing i do is use my GPS in the summer time to find places i want to target on the ice.. points, dropoffs, humps in or neer deep water.. and it realy depends on what kind of fish your looking for.. big tiger trout & splake tend to stay in shalow water. where browns and lake trout tend to be deeper.. but not allways.. ya have to get to know the water your fishing to.. trends of the lake are inportent to keep up on... fresh bait is a big part of it to. and go's along with getting to know the water and trends.. the fish in one lake will key in what they have in the lake that they eat all the time.. if the lake has chub then chub would be best.. but if it has red side shinners and chub i would go with shiners first... most fish seem to like shiners more then chub... there are other bait fish that might be in the lake as well.. scopin, fatheads, dace, perch, suckers all come to mind.. and all work great in waters that have them.. most the time you do not have to have a big chunck on the jig ether.. i fish a smal strip works better then a big chunck.. but not allways lol sometimes a whole minnow works better.. again trends on the lake will help ya there..
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If I wanted to catch trophy fish...I'd follow Fuzzy around all year. [:p]
He doesn't win the ice fishing challenge every year based entirely on pure luck!
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As a long standing member of the "Mack Pack" that has caught his share of large Mac (25-30lb.+) through the ice I'd have to say its all LUCK! Hell anyone can do it. By yourself a tube jig of say 7 inches long and load it with a one once jig hook in say 8/0. Drop it through an 18" hole in the ice while standing over a water depth of 90' deep and hang on. Nothing to it!! The trick is to have the nerve to stand on the ice before the hurds of folk's wont. That means standing on ice of about 2" thick..
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3M (Mememe) pictured in battle with a Mack claims that pulling hard on the 25lb'er, while standing on 2" of ice, gave her a pucker factor 1,000,000!
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One thing I have learned first hand from looking for BIG fish from fishing with Fuzzy is be prepared to only catch 1 or 2 fish a day and have patience out the wazoo. My mom told me I would go blind if I didn't stop doing that so much, but I didn't think IT was staring at a Vexilar!
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if lunkerhunter2 dident get banned he could chime in, i think you can view some of his previous posts, he tends to catch some nice sized fish through tyhe ice.... ive seen trout and even a damn nice tiger musky he caught through the ice.
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