Tale of Two Baits

[SkunkedAgain]

I've hit the pond three times over the last two days, not very long each trip, well 2-3 hours each trip, well maybe an hour and a half... Anyway Shawn told me the next trip I'd catch a big bass... Well the next trip came after I got one of the last few containers of Spikes at Sportsmans Warehouse... So I set up with renewed confidence and I was even seeing some fish on the graph... Well seen a lot more there than on my hook, but eventually one grabbed a hold, it was a nice crappie... As the night went on I found 2 more to go with that and all of them were on a dinky tungsten jig with spikes... While my other rod with cut bait remained unmolested...  Fast forward to this morning, since last night all the fish came through in about a half hour the rest of the time was dead and nothing showing on the graph... So I got out and set up by just before 7:00, then nothing showed on the graph until just before 8:00, well actually before I seen anything my jaw jacker with the cut bait tripped and I scrambled to get to it, but just as I was reaching for the rod, the bend went out and the fish was gone... So as I was kicking my but and dreaming of what monster I had just let get away, and I noticed a slight bend in my wimpy stick, so I raised up and set the hook... Had only seen small blips on the screen, so I expected a gill or crappie...nope it was a monster cat, for that rod.. I took quite a while wearing it down, and finally pointed its head up through the 6" hole and landed a nice 22.5" channel... I know I said big, but with the ultra light rod I was using it was a big fish for that rod and the tiny tungsten jig with spikes... So I know that isn't that big of cat, but for the circumstances it was a good fish... Anyway seen a few more fish on the screen and then nothing for a couple hours... So I moved to a new spot and put down the 360 and there were big fish everywhere, I tried for a half hour or so and then got the call to come home and watch my grand daughters... So I did... About 4:30 I figured I'd go try it one more time... This time nearly nothing on the graph again, but one little tiny fellow came through and I got a dinky green sunfish to avoid the skunk and nothing else till my batteries died about 6:00...  All in all I think i may have to give the bait credit for turning around my dismal ice fishing season... Spikes 5 to one hit on the cut bait... I've given up on the meal worms and night crawlers, since i've tried them multiple times and gotten skunked every trip and some of them even had lots of fish on the screen...  So my thoughts are bring on the spikes for me...
I do think I need something else for those big fish i was seeing.... I think they are probably carp, so I may have to get some corn or something that carp will want... I have caught them on spikes and crawlers before, but I think that was more fluke than something consistent... There was a lot of fish in that second area and nothing wanted to bite and they were coming close to my bait, so I think I need to figure that out... Anyway not too exciting, but I do think the spikes are a hit for me... later J