Fishing Forum

I seen this guy the other day who was using a trolling motor for ice fishing.

He just took the whole trolling motor out on the ice and stuck it in an enlarged hole, and angled it at about 45 degrees.

Then he drilled 3 to 5 more holes in a straight line from the hole the trolling motor was in. Each hole placed about 10 or 15 feet apart.

Then he would turn the 40# trolling motor on full blast. The motor would send a strong downward angled current strait down his line of holes.

He would walk up and down the line of holes, fishing them all but the one the motor
was in.

He had the transducer for the fish finder mounted on the motor shaft pointing it strait down the current line. He said he rarely looks at the fish finder.

He was in about 8 or 10 feet of water. He said that he believes the trolling motor does a few of things for him that makes him catch more fish.

It moves his lure out away from the hole.

The current gets better action out of his jig. {He was using small curly tails.}

He claimed cruising Trout that may have gone right past your hole 50 feet or more away will turn and swim right up the current to your line of holes.

Also that the current itself will trigger fish to bite that might have lock jaw, and that the sediment stirred up off the bottom attracts and triggers fish to bite.

I was not fishing that day. I had just walked out from the house to talk to him because he was fishing right in front of the house close to where I always fish.

There was no body out on the lake that day so I did not have anybody to compare his catch rate too. I was watching from the porch with my spotting scope as I often do.

I can say that he was catching way more fish than I had caught fishing close to that same spot a couple of days before.

He also explained that it worked best fishing in shallow water. And he had two 12 volt batteries on his slay.

Oh ye he had one pole on a Jaw Jacker set about 20 feet down current from the hole the motor was in. It's jig was just fluttering in the current. Take note that this is a lures only lake. No bait allowed. The Jaw Jacker was getting hit.

That was the first time I had seen that. Might try it myself.

Do any of you guys do this?
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[#008000][size 3]Nah, when I want to troll on the ice, I just cut a [/size][/#008000][#008000][size 3] slit a [/size][/#008000][#008000][size 3]quarter-mile long and a foot wide with a chain saw and then run alongside it with my rod...

Don't have room for 24 zolts in my slay.
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Ok you got a sucker nibbling I may have to try that. I didn't understand the 45 degree thing can you tell me more? Thanks J
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Ye, The guy had the motor in the hole at an angle, instead of just strait up and down.

That angle is to send the force of the water to the floor of the lake to stir up the bottom in the area of some of the holes in the line of the current. My guess is that is why it is a shallow water tactic.

Seemed a little crazy to me as well. But I have seen some other fishing stuff that seemed crazy and turned out to really work.

I guess you have to think like a fish to understand why it might work.

That being said if I do try it I will probably make sure no one is watching.[crazy]
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Sounds crazy and profound at the same time.
Might just work.
Steelhead and salmon in rivers are frequently caught right in the propwash of the outboard motors.
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Thanks for the details, I think I have all the pieces of the puzzle to try this so I may give it a try. Could you tell how far back seemed to fish the best. Now I wish the ice was going to last longer. Later J
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No, I can't tell you which distance from the motor was working best for the guy.

I did notice that he had his Jaw Jacker about 20 feet or so back.

I would mostly just turn the scope down from time to time off from the hill above where I was watching a big buck. Plus trying to get a few chores done at the same time.
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Thanks for sharing this crazy idea, it just might work. Thanks J
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Yes this works done it a few times . A friend from back east showed this to me when I was In high school over 20 years ago . This can back fire on you . Ice should be over 12 inches . The movement of the water melts the ice - As I found out I went in deer creek at night . Kinda not fun when you are fishing by the train tracks and parked about a 30 min walk away .
If you do try it make sure for sure ice is more then 12 inches.
It is also a ton of work to set up right !!!!
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Just when I think I'm getting the hang of ice fishing, there's a new technique I have to learn. I would honestly like trying this sometime.

How thick is the ice in your neck of the woods these days?
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in2fishing, Affter looking into what you said about a trolling motor melting the ice I kind of looked into that.

I see that setting out a trolling motor over night is a pretty common practice used by duck hunters to open a decoy hole for the next day of duck hunting.

So thanks for bringing that to light.
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It's likely possible to ice troll as described with minimal disturbance of the ice thickness. When a trolling motor is used by duck hunters to make a clearing of ice, it is positioned significantly different to move warmer water from the bottom up to the top to melt the ice on the surface as shown in this video:

Homemade ice eater: http://youtu.be/E6UPtRhYlGg
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