Are attractors worth it when ice fishing? I think so - I use small Kastmasters or Swedish Pimples or the flat thingy that Hooked sells in gold, silver or colors with eye decals on them (about 1-1.5 inches long with a hole for line). Sometimes I get a little over zealous and keep trying to reel in line when my attractor is already bangin' against my ice rod![shocked] I tie them on with about 2-3 feet of leader to my ice fly/jig. Seem to work really well. What do ya'll think?
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never tried one of course i've only been ice fishing three times plan on going a lot more this year though i guess i'll try one and get back to you
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I used them my first year fishing but it was more of a pain riging them up then it was worth. I mainly use just jigs now, none of those so called ice flies.
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I use them in deeper or murkier water, tie them up about 12 inches above my ice fly. I find they can greatly increas my catch rate in those conditions.
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They really work! I've been using small kastmasters on my ice fishin setup going on 20 years now and I've caught alot of nice fish, I like the gold ones the best they seem to work better than the silver ones, I've tried the other different colored ones but they don't work any better either, go with the GOLD!!
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When I ice fish I like to use attracters. I use a Kastmaster that I have taken the hooks off of. I put the attracter about 10 inches above my bait. I am not going to say that they are great for actually attracting fish because I'm not sure that they work as well as we would hope. But, I do think that a Kastmaster(or something similar) serves another very important purpose, and that is to provide some weight. When you have a bait that is not very heavy, such as an ice fly, then it is real hard to know for sure what your bait is doing. The nature of ice fishing means that it is very cold. This means that your line is extra stiff, and other gear as well, you are wearing gloves, the hole is freezing over, and maybe your fingers are less than warm. And if you are like me your finger are less sensative when they are cold. All of this means that very light baits are harder to work with through the ice. Adding a heavy attracter makes is easier to get your bait to the right depth quicker and more surely. The only gotcha is that you have to be careful when lowering your bait so that the line doesn't get tangled because your attracter sunk faster than your bait. Also, if you are fishing near the bottom, it is so much easier to know when your bait is actially on the bottom when you use a heavier attracter. So, I use an attracter more for the usefulness of its weight than it ability to draw in more fish. And it has worked well for me.
m
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I always use an attractor, most of the time I use a swedish pimple or a buzz bomb. I use the attractors about 10" below a ratfinkee or small tube jig on a 6" dropper. I normaly only use the buzz bomb fishing for Kokes to get down faster. I leave the hooks on the attractors, many times I have had doubles while fishing for kokes.
The heavy attractors get the jig down fast, they show up on the dish finder better, I can tell when I'm on the bottom really easy, and I can bounce the attactor on the bottom making a small mud cloud that the fish like to investigate.
I started leaving the hooks on when I could see the big cuts early season cuts at strawberry attacking my swedish pimples.
fdg
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I've seen people use 6" flashers for there attractor at Strawberry . Not sure how well they did . I like using Kastmasters or Swedish Pimples . Lot of the times I take the hooks off but end up putting them back on when I get bites and no hook ups . Sometimes I tie my line on the bend of the hook or on the ring . When the perch are thick in a water it not uncommon to hook up doubles on that set up . I bought some supplies to make my own ice flies and jigging spoons this year . Just got to get the painting done now . Getting close to walking on water now .
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From the sounds of it here, some people are putting their attractors BELOW the jig/bait. I've never tried that. How do you tie that on? How is it possible with little lures like rat finkies?
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I always rig up without an attractor. I too have tried them but found that they don't make that big of a difference. Early in the year at Fish Lake they would work quite well, but as the year went on and the fish became more selective they would choose the jigs without the added attraction. I just gave up on using them totally, too many knots to tie in my line and too many tangles expecially with jigs smaller than 1/16 oz.
Mjigs
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