Ice Tackle

[joatmon]

I'm fairly new to ice fishing and really enjoy it. I was wondering if anyone would share what tackle they have success with. I'm not asking to share your secrets just general tackle used for ice fishing. I generally fish scofield, ottercreek, mammoth, and wanna try yuba this year. I appreciate any advice.

Many (myself included) started ice fishing with our longer poles and whatever jigs and lures we had in the tacklebox.  I drug my stuff along on a kid's sled for the first couple of years.  

After a couple of frustrating trips, I added a short ice fishing pole.  I have found I prefer a medium or medium heavy rod.  Not a fan of the "noodle" rods.  Many of my poles have come from WalMart, and I eventually replace the reels with Quantum Optix 10 reels or Abu Garcia Black Max 10 reels.  Initial auger option for most people is the eskimo 8" hand auger, but many serious fisherman upgrade to power augers.  I upgraded to a propane auger, then last year to a nils auger and Milwaukee hammer drill.

For jigs, lures, spoons, plastics, etc. there are plenty of options.  I think a handful of small painted jigs in several sizes and colors is a good starting point.  I seem to have most luck on white, green, or a fire tiger jigs, but you can find many options out there.  Lead jigs are the standard, but tungsten jigs have made a lot of headway recently (not meaning to open a debate here).  I do like that tungsten jigs sink faster, allowing you to get your presentation down to where the fish are.  You can get two tungsten jigs for just under $2 at Walmart.  I also like Skandia jigs (at Scheels) and shad dart jigs (sometimes available in the jig "drawers" at Sportsmans Warehouse).

For perch, I like the Hallie jigs, but also see a lot of success on small jigs.  Tube jigs and other plastics like curly tail grubs, cuttr bugs, gizillas, etc. have their place.  I quit using them for a while after having a hard time with hooksets.  Have been using them a little this year again with some success.  I think sometimes with that much plastic and some bait on, the fish don't actually get the hook in their mouths.  So maybe less plastic and bait to allow more exposed hook.

At some point, you may want to add a flasher or other fish finder.  This does eliminate some of the guess work about presence and depth of fish.  I started with a Humminbird Ice 35, and added a Marcum M1 last year.  I would definitely consider the Ice 35 over others due to it's larger screen and dual beam option.

I am willing to meet you on the ice so you can see some of what I have in action.  Catchinon and I are headed to Scofield tomorrow morning if you want to join us.  As my user names alludes to, I have a lot of tackle, still trying to master it!