The first migrations of the late winter / early spring can be interrupted by multiple fronts and high wind conditions. This scenario forces migratory smallmouth and largemouth bass to be stacked vertically throughout the water column, as both groups of big fish and solitary giants make their way toward secondary staging locations. Many trophy bass hunters experience good results with slower horizontal presentations during this early time frame until fronts arrive. The stacking bass factor seems to elude many, as bass tend to have a miniscule strike zone and are suspending. These groups of fish can be located in various depths through the water column and generally in neutral to negative mode. Throughout the decades, I've seen this scenario every season and have made a habit of locating ... [ Pound this link... ]
Go Small or Go Home
by Matt Johnson Modern day society continues to push the mentality of doing things “big” and bold. “Go big or go home” is no longer just a term used on the sports field, but also rather in the office, at the factory, or even in the classroom. We are wired to take things to the max and “push it to the limit.” But what about fishing? Or better yet, what about those first few weeks after ice-out when the panfish are still in “ice mode” trying to find their appetite? “Go big or go home” might send you off with the latter, but “go small or go home” could be the ticket to an amazing day on the water. So what does “ Go Small or Go Home ” mean exactly? For me, it means keeping you ice fishing tackle with you when you first hit the open water scene. When you sit back and think about ... [ Pound this link... ]
Erie Walleyes Angler Take Notice of Perfect 10
By Abe Smith Charter captains on the Great Lakes don’t waste much time testing every new lure that hits the market. They know the two or three best baits for trolling for walleyes and that’s that. Don’t even bring a new lure to the party. So, when a lure crashes in from nowhere to enter the ranks of elite Lake Erie walleye baits, the old timers get a little upset. Solid belief systems are shaken. Old confidences are questioned It happened last fall in the Central Basin. The Smithwick Perfect 10 Rogue counted coup on walleye and topped the performance of every hardbait competitor, old and new. “By season’s end a lot of captains had all but abandoned the traditional trolling lures they’ve used for years,” says angler Matt Hougan. Derby winner If Hougan gets exuberant over the success ... [ Pound this link... ]
Winter Strategies for Spring Success
by Garett Svir The ice season is coming to an end but don’t throw out the larva or put away the ice fishing jigs quite yet. You might find success using winter strategies for spring success. After ice out, crappies will start to make their way from the deep water haunts of winter to shallow black bottom bays. It’s not spawning time. These fish are searching for the buffet line. Black bottom bays soak up the heat of the sun like a sponge and hold bug hatches necessary to start the food chain. Crappies sneak in on warm days for a quick meal long before the spawn begins. While minnows are a great producer once water temperatures have warmed, ice out slabs require finesse presentations. I think the experiment stemmed from my unpreparedness for the coming season. Winter jig boxes and larva ... [ Pound this link... ]
Panfish in the Abyss – Late Season Ice Fishing
Both bluegill and crappie often suspend or move out over deep water basins on many bodies of water each winter. Deep and basin are often relative descriptions to describe a large offshore bowl of deeper water but more specifically, look for the bowls or basins that bottom out between fifteen and forty-five feet of water. Most of these basins are typically soft bottom but points and other structure that protrudes into these basins are often a harder bottom structure. The rock that intersects or protruded into a basin is really an overlooked location for panfish but often, we often find fish drifting through this open water suspended off the bottom. Breaking down these basins for suspended fish can be intimidating but there are many adjustments you can make to become much more ... [ Pound this link... ]
Ice Fishing No Weeds
There can be surprisingly solid ice fishing, where there are no weeds, for panfish on lakes and reservoirs that lack classic weed growth. From an ice fishing perspective, good weeds in the wintertime often correlates with good water visibility. Poor water visibility, turbidity or exposure to strong winds might create panfish water that might offer at least shallow weed beds during the summer but by winter, most of the weed bed is down. There are also some reservoirs particularly in the Great Plains States built to provide irrigation and the drawdown prohibits good weed growth from ever developing. Many anglers mistakenly believe that most great panfish water has good aquatic vegetation. That is not the case and lakes that are devoid of any aquatic vegetation often require completely ... [ Pound this link... ]
Ice Fishing for Walleyes with Rattlebaits – Walleyes, Ice and the Rattlebait Revolution
Ice Fishing for Walleyes with Rattlebaits Get out ice fishing for walleyes with rattlebaits. Rattlebaits not only sink fast, they increase your coverage area exponentially by propelling waves of attraction hundreds of feet beyond the hole. by Nathan Shore They are children of the run-and-gun, born with the advent of trolling motors. They sink fast, require fast retrieves and vibrate with a tight, fast wiggle. Rattlebaits hum, rattle and roll to quickly cover water and call fish in with sound and vibration. When ice fishing for walleyes with rattlebaitst this quick sink-rate adds another productive use, as well. A few years back, walleye anglers rediscovered the effectiveness of lipless rattlebaits under the ice. Locked into one location over one hole at a time, the ability to cover ... [ Pound this link... ]
Ice Fishing Perch – Jumbo Perch Talk
When you go out ice fishing perch there are tactics that can keep fish in an area longer. Especially those Jumbo Perch. Jason Mitchell shows you how it's done in his own backyard of Devils Lake ND. by Jason Mitchell When we look at catching jumbo perch through the ice, I dare say that we typically catch ninety percent of the fish in a ten percent window. Ice fishing perch on most bodies of water consists of drilling holes to get on fish and getting that one or two flurries that fills the pail. You can go from zero to hero in about twenty minutes when you finally strike pay dirt. The key to putting the smack down on fish is maximizing the opportunities. Being efficient, getting fish up the hole, getting the fish unhooked and getting that lure back down to the fish is paramount. What ... [ Pound this link... ]
Weed Rattle Bait Walleyes – Ice Fishing Devils Lake
An intense reaction bite for walleyes in shallow water on North Dakota's Devils Lake. The anglers aggressively work rattelbaits and share some techniques on how to score walleyes with Clam Rattle Spoon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf_vSI-UR9c This episode was filmed last April. Last year was an extreme year for ice fishing with a lot of ice so most years, these patterns would be occurring in March on Devils Lake. ... [ Pound this link... ]
Learn to Lace Up the Right Lure at the Right Time – Ice Fishing Lures
Lace up the right ice fishing lures at the right time and you’ll put more fish on the ice. To help you do so, ICE FORCE enlisted four top pros to share tips for using the top-four ice fishing lures styles – spoons, jig-and-plastic combos, rattlebaits and minnow-imitators. Spoons As popular as spoons are, many anglers still struggle with when and how to use them, and which type to use where. “Too many people simply use spoons as a bait-delivery-method, but there’s a ton of nuance and action to each spoon type,” says ICE FORCE pro Nelson. Many anglers fish spoons too erratically, moving them too much and too far. “They never quit moving them,” says ICE FORCE pro and Freshwater Fishing Hall of Famer Tom Neustrom. “The bite will happen and they don’t even know they had a bite.” Nelson and ... [ Pound this link... ]