Rainbow and Brown Trout

[Guest]

Wow! This is such a great ice fishing site.I was wondering can anyone tell me how to attaract rainbows and browns in.Do you use spoons or still lines with power bait ? We have these great trout lakes here with trout up 10# plus and nobody fishing them.Was out yesterday lost one seen lots,caught only one small brooky guys beside went home with 10 rainbows betwwen 2&6#.

[Guest]

I don't know where you are fishing, but I do my trout ice fishing in Kenosha, WI, right in the Lake Michigan marina. Ice is slow forming there, as the big lake doesn't freeze over. By end of Jan and early Feb there will be browns in all the L.Mich. harbors.

OK, the bait. Best bet for us is what are called locally "golden roaches," which look to me like the minnows we call golden shiners in MN. Plain hook and minnow works great. We use a half-way-down approach. If the water is 12 feet deep, we fish 6 feet down, etc. And, we use spinning reels on short rods in order to enjoy the action. Once in a while we'll get a bonus salmon, but not often. Most are browns, then brookies (3 to 4 lb common), then rainbows.. There may be similar action off Lake Superior in protected harbors, I don't know.