Hard Options: The Only Fishing There Is? - The Fisherman

Hard Options: The Only Fishing There Is?

Cover all your bases
Cover all your bases when it comes to fishing the ice by setting several tip-ups with minnows while actively jigging the remaining holes. Just be sure to check how many lines are allowed in your local waters! (Photo by Toby Lapinski)

With the open-water season all but behind us, ice fishing action comes at a perfect time!

Unless you’re a skier, there is not much left to do in the icy cold depths of winter. As a result, ice fishing becomes a welcome choice for we winter bound anglers with nothing better to do. Making a hole in the ice and lowering a bait or lure to catch fish is among the simplest of pleasures. Those who have done it keep coming back, and for good reason.

Methods

Two methods are put into play ice fishing: bait fishing with live shiners and jigging. Some, and I plead guilty to this myself, will set tip-ups baited with live shiners. Normally, anglers planning to do both will conform to the five line rule by setting out flag-equipped baited tip-ups for four while jigging a line to keep busy on the fifth. Your one jigging outfit will usually produce as much action as the other four baited rigs put together. Still, you’ll want to cover all the bases by using all five allowed lines which provide both baiting and lure fishing. It’s part of the fun. (Editor’s Note: be sure to verify local regulations on how many lines are allowed in your state.)

Setting out live shiners, what with four rigs, covers a lot of water but it can still be slow. What many of us do is jig a hole while watching the flags for a signal that something has picked up one of the shiners. When that happens, we lift the jig out of the hole and run to the flag. Usually, but not necessarily, when you get to a “flag” the spool is turning like the Boston girls have the tow rope, so you have to hurry. Don’t fool around. Few fish are going to drop the shiner. A natural bait is something they want to hold onto. When they stop their run, it is usually a sign that they are swallowing that little baitfish. It’s a good time to bang the buggah and set the hook. Bait hooked fish are usually hooked deep because they have swallowed the shiner, so there is no need to hurry or pull too hard; you don’t want to break off.

I am not wildly fond of live shiners because deep-hooked fish usually can’t be released. On the other hand, if you are planning to take some fresh fish home, who cares? Bag ‘um and tag ‘um. Freshwater bass, both large and smallmouth, are hardly an endangered species. Also, domestic Atlantic salmon, in those waters where they are stocked, are nice eating and they are large enough to gobble a 6-inch shiner. So also in the case of northern pike if your spot has them. I’m not wildly fond of pickerel because a charm in ice fishing is eating the catch and pickerel are bony. Yuck!

Jigging is a good way to find fish
Jigging is a good way to find fish, hopping from hole to hole until an active school is located. Joyce Daignault did just that on this day, scoring a mess of tasty yellow perch.

Jigging

Jigging through the ice is the most fun thing you can do with clothes on. If you jig with really small lures, real small so they fit in all size mouths, you can catch sunfish, perch, both yellow and white, and these species don’t travel alone. If you get a mess of these smaller gamefish, you can pile up a ton of fillets for deep frying. (My mouth waters at the thought.) Such panfish have liberal catch limits so you won’t have to hide them under the seat of your buggy.

Don’t attach your jig to the leader with any hardware. I dislike that because all that junk which makes life easier for the angler, tips off the fussier among the fish and that huge snap swivel big enough to breed with a brook trout will lower your results. It’s the first thing real fishermen learn right after they master walking. I know I am emphasizing small jigs again but I feel that is important. You want to catch the small perch as well as the overly large salmon or pike. This is winter fishing and the standard goes down while the appetite for fresh fillets goes up!

When you jig, find the bottom and plan to keep your offer about a foot off the bottom. If you are catching some weeds, go up a foot so as to have a clean presentation that looks right. This is serious business. Don’t jig too violently. Natural movement is all that is needed. If something—and we really never know what it is until we catch it—is trying to grab your wildly gyrating offer, it might leave in frustration. Try not moving your lure and you will see that normal holding of the rod will provide enough movement. If you change holes, which is a thing competent jiggers do often, raise your lure slowly because some of the little rascals will follow it right to the top. In the course of a day, you will have that happen at least once. If you jig wearing Polaroids, you may even see them. Remember to come back because the fish don’t really move that much. Same with a hot hole. If you have had good fishing, note which hole is producing them. In addition, pay attention to a hole with a little blood on the side of the opening. This is a clear sign that somebody, it doesn’t have to be you, caught something, even if it was the day before. Fish apparently like the spot.

Marabou laced jigs really slay them. One time I bought a fistful of leadheads at one of the shows and tied some black marabou tails from my fly tying kit to the plain castings. Dipping the lead in white paint which contrasted with the tail produced a high silhouette lure. My 1-inch jigs did alarmingly well and anyone who had one caught more than their friends did. Another popular option is any of the smaller metal lures, never over an inch long and tied direct. Sweeten lures with a perch eye or the eye of one of the dead shiners anglers leave on the ice.

Even if the fish are small
Even if the fish are small—like this little walleye—getting out for a day of fresh air does wonders for the soul over a long, cold winter! (Photo by Toby Lapinski)

Good Water

All gamefish under ice will hang out where there is current. Usually, outflows or inlets provide a change in water temperature. Springs will also produce new water of favorable temperature because underground water is warmer at this time of year. Just be careful about current because the ice is thinner where there is flow and should raise safety concerns.

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