Hey All,
So I read the half dozen ice fishing reports from this weekend Saying anywhere from 8-30 fish iced and realize that I've got to be doing something wrong. I went up Saturday and got Skunked. Not even so much as a nibble. I was fishing next to the marina in 25 FOW and when I didn't get anything there for a few hours moved shallower without success. Tried Cut'r Bugs. Ratfinkees and Paddlebugs. Tipped with Waxies, Nightcrawler, and butterworms. Deadstick, Aggressive Jigging, light jigging, different depths in the water column.. Very Frustrating! from about 7:30 to noon.
There also weren't a ton of people out on the ice in the general area I was at. but it just felt like there weren't that many people out in general.
The only thing I can come up with is I'm in the wrong spot.
Does anyone have any suggestions on new area I can try? I'm not all the familiar with the layout/names of specific areas on the lake, so Diagrams or campsites or points that would be listed on a map are helpful!
I'm not asking for your secret Honey hole, and Completely respect the hotspotting rule as well, so PM's are happily accepted and will be kept in the same confidence they're shared.
Thank you in advance for any tips/suggestions
[signature]
Here are a couple of tips I have found over the years:
(1) If you are not seeing fish within 30 minutes, it is time to pickup & move. Sometimes the move may need to be only 10 to 20 feet away, other times several hundred yards. This time of year, with 20-inches of ice, this can amount to a lot of work.
(2) Early is generally better. The first hour of light is the best.
(3) Your jig needs to be almost perfectly horizontal in the water. Most times you need to roll the knot towards the bend of the hook to get the jig to ride horizontal. I will check the hook after every missed strike & reset the knot. Put the least amount of meat on the hook as possible. (this is probably my best tip that most people are not aware of)
(4) Provide action to you jig. I think you will catch 25 to 1, jigging your bug vs. dead sticking. Sometimes a small twitch is all you need.
(5) I try to target 25 - 30 FOW. I am not sure why, other than my fish finder has a decent cone diameter at this depth. A fish finder is very valuable to know whether you are in the right area or not. I fish with 2 poles. I start out with one hook 5 to 10 feet under the ice and the second hook on the bottom & then adapt to where the fish are. Generally the rainbows & kokes are shallow and the cutts are deep.
(6) If I have a choice, I try to set up on the end of a point & over some kind of structure.
I have spent many days fishing the area east of the Strawberry Marina. The fish are there, you just need to find them. Hope this helps.
[signature]
If you were fishing close to the marina and south or west (I consider the ramp as pointing east), of the parking area at The Strawberry Marina, that could have been your problem. I have noticed that area is good on early ice, but after that I have seen people fish that area all day and often catch 0 to 2 fish.
[signature]
We fished the area to the east of the lodge. We didn't kill them but we caught a few. We fished In 9 feet, give this place a shot and I second the first guy, move if your not seeing fish. Also a flasher is invaluable to have, it makes a big difference to know whether they want it moving or not and you know if they are just not interested.
[signature]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]You absolutely need to have some kind of sonar, be it flasher or chart. You just can't see if they are there without one and you can't tell if they want the lured jigged, dead sticked, or something in between. In other words, you're absolutely blind without a sonar of some type.
[/size][/#800000][/font]
[signature]
For sure, its definitely on my "to buy" list as soon as I have the money for one. and therein lies the problem haha. Good suggestions all around. Thank you everyone
[signature]
I feel blind without my sonar; however, there are some who do just fine without one. Ktrout can often out catch others, including me, without using a sonar. Anglers were still catching fish long before sonars were invented.
[signature]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I started ice fishing with a BottomLine Fishin Buddy (BLFB) and it served me well for 2 years before I bought my Vexilar FL-20. You could pick one of those BLFB on KSL right now for $50.[/#800000][/font]
[signature]
I have fished with a Fish finder before and I'm not entirely sure what the Cross section I look at is showing me, What determines the orientation of the picture? I.E. Fish shows up on the finder and it shows it swimming across the screen, is that Front to back or side to side movement?
[signature]
On one with a screen, the image (fish) will always show up on one side of the screen and move to the other side. Always moving the same direction on the screen no matter which direction the fish is actually moving. The fish may move up or down, and this will cause it to move up or down on the screen, but it will always move the same direction across the screen. It is showing you the history of what it picked up so one can glance away and then look back and see that a fish was in the area.
A flasher style shows a fish as a mark on the flasher as long as the fish is in the cone of the transducer.
[signature]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]There is no way to tell from either a digital chart sonar or a flasher sonar in which direction the fish is moving. You can only see its up or down movement. The sonar sends out a signal in the shape of a cone that covers a larger diameter circle as it gets further away from the transducer. When a fish swims into the cone area, his return echo is shown on the screen.[/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]
[/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]On a chart type system, that echo (return) is shown on the extreme right of the screen in real time. that means that as you see it on the right it is being seen right now. The circuitry makes a copy of the real time signal and pushes it off to the left about every tenth of a second where it is held in place until another tenth of a second passes and the next copy of the real time signal pushes it to the left. This is an on-going process that makes the fish mark appear to be moving to the left when in fact you are just seeing a time lapse of the fish mark. The further it moves to the left, the longer it has been since it was in your sonar cone.[/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]
[/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]A flasher works in real time only. If you see a fish return on a flasher it means the fish is there right now. If it just swims through the cone and you look away when that happens and then look back and it is gone, you will have no indication when you look back that there was ever a fish there.[/#800000][/font]
[signature]