9 Day Report: Starting Tomorrow

[aaron otto]

Thanks CPR. Yep go for it Pete.

Lawrence if that would be okay with you I would love to come and watch. It would be awesome to see how the guys who know what they're doing actually fish.

Thank you for the invitation!.

ao

[aaron otto]

Just checked I will see you @ Pelican.

[aaron otto]

Okay so here was the game plan for this morning. Please if you have advice or suggestions how I could do this differently please weigh in. My goal for this last week was to focus on becoming a better angler. It turned into me spending a week taking my kids, and wife fishing: which is totally fine- wouldn't trade one minute of it back for a pounder-gill.. (well maybe a couple minutes lol).

Committed to plastics this morning. Yesterday I went into Thorne B. Just can't say enough about how great those guys are. Got helped by a guy who was probably a decade younger then me and he walked me right over to what he uses. Didn't try and sell me a ton of stuff, or point me in the direction of unnecessary gear. We are so lucky to have those guys in this state.

The hooked me up with some Fiska's, Gill Pills, and a couple other Tungsten treats. Then the salesman helped me by suggesting the two plastics he relies- don't really know the name other than they look like (pg-13) sperms. from the old sex-ed movies we saw as kids in school.

Okay so I don't usually make disclaimers around pictures. Typically falling into the camp that it's art and too-bad if it doesn't strike you well. This time though only camera I had was on the GPS unit so please look passed the photography on this one.

Step 1: Worked out a game plan around the following points on the map. The idea was simple in theory: Drill 12 holes around each piece of structure I thought would hold fish. Then only fish plastics.

Got on the ice after a quick stop for Coffee. 7:15am and there were already two 1-ton pickups ahead of me. Made the decision to drive the Ice-Beast out to the first way point and drill a dozen in a big circle so I could drive around the perimeter, open my door, drop my ducer & jig- then fish.

While hot coffee fogged my glasses and Eric Church sang me his own private ice concert the vexlar on our very first hole shared good news.

Here is exactly the set up used: Black Wolf Fiska, one of the Spermy tail-things in pink glow, 2 lbs ice line, and I stole this from a video Matt did on slowing down the drop above the fish instead of shooting to the bottom. This allows the aggressive fish to rise up and pop it- basically targeting the fish that ready to eat.

Yep, not a giant, but over the course of two hours Crappies, Sunfish, and too many Perch (carbon copy of that one) to count fell to Plastics. After 30 minutes of every drop getting ate, I decided to change things up and used a Gill Pill with a couple different color tails. When the fish shunned that I trimmed the tail down and turned the fish back into positive targets.

This maybe the first panfish outing in my entire life where I didn't even bring Waxies. Wanted to share a heartfelt thank you to all of you who know what your doing ( so much more than this novice) and shared thoughts, tactics, and advice on how to stick with and go after fish using plastics. I'm a changed angler for it.

Sincerely- ao

[Crappyfisherman]

Great post Aaron.

[aaron otto]

Thanks Dan.

The video referenced above where Matt shows how to present jigs through the vertical water column, suspending a couple feet about the fish marked on the vex - targeting the active fish. Video is at the Ice Fishing Today HSOforum - really good stuff there.

http://iceleaders.com/pages/episode_ultimate_panfish_tactics.php

[Scott M]

Great thread here aaron, thanks for taking the time to take pictures, sprinkle in thoughts, and best of all, share with the rest of us. Nice looking jig box, you've got a nice setup with the Ice Beast!

[aaron otto]

Thanks Da_Chise. For a novice ice fisherman, such as myself, this forum has helped me raise the bar almost immediately. Can't get enough of the videos and to be able to get feedback from folks who are real pros is priceless.

I've printed off a couple of the threads already and use them purely as a study tool to try and figure things out quicker. Humbling audience here for sure. So much to learn. Hopefully, I can add something back to the community eventually.

[Pallansch]

Been following every post, very entertaining and interesting. Glad to see the passion you have being on the ice and family.

[draagyn]

Good Luck today! I would love to see pictures of your Mothership both inside and out! I love sleeper shacks!!

[Pete Maina]

Continued great stuff! I agree on pics of the "Mothership"

[aaron otto]

Here is one from this summer. Prior to seeing ice and getting lo-jack installed.