Ice fishing flies definitely work.

[filletedalive]

This is bountiful lake. Ice is only 2 inches we fished close to shore in 5-6’ water. I normally wouldn’t go out on 2” of ice but the fire department was there practicing ice rescue procedures lol. Figured we’d be good. 

[TubeDude]

Nice work.  The younguns look happy.    That's the biggie.

I never did try fly fishing on ice.  Too hard to hit those small holes with the fly...especially on long casts.

[filletedalive]

I really should get the fly rod out and practice on the ice lol. The kids sat with me and specified the colors and materials and both caught fish in the ones they designed. They loved it. They boys “orange shrimp” was getting hit non stop. Watching him miss bite after bites and the frustrations that come with that was wildly entertaining.

[meancuznalfy]

Nice, it's a great feeling to catch fish on something you've made.

[TubeDude]

That's a good looking little ice fly.  Is it weighted or did you have to use a weight on your line? 

This brings to mind an old ice fishing joke.  Seems a guy on a snowmobile was out running around on the ice and spied a guy with a fly rod making long casts to a small hole.  He watched for a few minutes and then drove over to the luckless fly fisherman.  "Hey", he said.  "You ain't gonna get anything like that.   Get on the back of my snowmobile and you can troll for them."

[RockyRaab2]

A not-so secret I used to do was to tie a hare's ear nymph into the line about a foot above my jig or spoon, a kind of "ice drop shot". The fly caught a lot of fish. One problem was that the fly sometimes caught on the edge of the hole when fighting a fish that took the jig. If I gave an inch or two of slack, the fish would sometimes pull the fly loose, but also would sometimes get loose itself. Seemed to lose about a third of them, but counting the times the fly didn't catch the hole edge, overall landed most.

[filletedalive]

Oh hey Rocky. You actually convinced me to become a member years ago. We had limited out on healthy trout up at mantua and we were leaving as you arrived. Nice to see you. Anyway thanks for the tip. I’m going to put start adding a teaser fly to my jaw jacker deadstick set ups and I’ll report if they do any good. These flys have a rainbow brass bead and fished with a small split shot but I think they were more interested in the bushy chanille tail. The fish had shredded that little tail by the end of the day. Fortunately these only take a few mins to tie.

[RockyRaab2]

Delighted to almost meet you again! Almost any kind of nymph or wet fly makes a fine second offering. Hare's ear, pheasant tail, soft hackle, streamer...

[wiperhunter2]

Delighted to almost meet you again! Almost any kind of nymph or wet fly makes a fine second offering. Hare's ear, pheasant tail, soft hackle, streamer...

When you are putting out a second offering, in the form of a fly or nymph, do you use any type of bait on it?

[RockyRaab2]

If the bite was tough, I'd add a waxie. But if they hit it plain, no.

[wiperhunter2]

If the bite was tough, I'd add a waxie. But if they hit it plain, no.

I'll give that a try, thanks Rocky.

[Springbuck1]

A not-so secret I used to do was to tie a hare's ear nymph into the line about a foot above my jig or spoon, a kind of "ice drop shot". The fly caught a lot of fish. One problem was that the fly sometimes caught on the edge of the hole when fighting a fish that took the jig. If I gave an inch or two of slack, the fish would sometimes pull the fly loose, but also would sometimes get loose itself. Seemed to lose about a third of them, but counting the times the fly didn't catch the hole edge, overall landed most.

Good plan!  I've done the same thing with a fly, but also used a tiny, wiggly soft plastic on a little light wire hook "drop-shotted" the same way.