What's Working Now 2013/14...

[Corey Bechtold]

I know I may be jumping the gun with this thread but I have always enjoyed sharing my fishing experiences with everyone. What I like about this thread is it is exactly what it implies. "What's Working Now" is all about catching fish and sharing what we use to catch them. Honest information from anglers putting their time on the Ice.

I look forward to a lot of new stuff this Ice season. One product I am wicked excited about using this year is the new Vexilar FLX-28! I just put this unit on my boat and plan on running it on the manual mode in search of Crappies and Walleyes. I know that late Fall is a great time to search some fish and I will definitely learn this unit and share my experiences with it before the Ice gets here.

I hope everyone enjoys this thread and is willing to contribute to it as well.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Corey Bechtold]

I'm going to jump the gun a bit now because I am too excited to get this thing started. I recently made a short trip out to the lake to start searching for some early Ice spots. I played a little with the FLX-28 in my boat and it was AWESOME!!! I also can't put my FL-22 down and played with the new DD-100 and love that little addition to the Vexilar lineup!!!

All the new stuff aside it seems as if the fish are locking up in groups along the deeper weed edges. 15-18' was the key. I finally tried the Berkley 1.5" Helgremites (sp?) and they were great! I'm not sure if they will be great under the Ice but I will continue to use them until they stop catching fish...

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[MikeRaetz]

I was out the past weekend as well and I'm finding the big gills are starting to school up on the drop going into the basin and in the middle as well. Something different though that has happened is most of the fish I caught out deep before we're coming threw 15 to 20 feet down in the wAter column and now are showing there faces 5 to 10 feet from the surface but not as gitty to bite on the big ones. A slow presentation has been the key to triggering them and flourocarbon line has been a must to detect the bite. Make sure to keep a steady presentation because one different move in the bait will turn them off and have patience!!!

[Chad Peterson]

The one thing that I'm excited about is the new Clam X1 shelter. Seeing it up close, I was impressed how well it's built, and for the one's out there that go to Lake of the Woods, this is the shelter for ya.

Good points Mike on the slow presentation during the fall bite. As the weather get a little cooler, the bite will pick up.

[Corey Bechtold]

Had a great day today. Fished with friends and started to see some Fall patterns setting up. Water temp are falling which will excite anyone who likes to Ice fish! Last time I was out the temps were around 61 degrees. Today they topped out at 58.

As far as the "pattern" it goes like this. Fish were roaming the deeper water ( over 30'). There were smaller Bluegills along the break lines but the active Crappies and bigger Bluegills were roaming the basins. Searching with electronics was key. Cole used my FLX-28 and an ice rod to vertically fish. Crappies and Gills were pretty consistent and took Gulp! Alive! 1" Minnows. Some bigger Gills came on the Gulp! Hellgrammite and I am slowly gaining confidence in these baits.

Crappies were a tad lower in the water column (18-25') where the Bluegills were shallower (10-18'). 1/32oz jigheads were good but at times we were able to get away with 1/16oz on that deeper water.

Things should continue to progress as some cooler temperatures are forecasted this week.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Corey Bechtold]

Heading out today in the elements to see where the fish are stacking up...

Hopefully I have a good report later.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Corey Bechtold]

I hit the water Sunday with a buddy of mine and a co-worker in search of some Crappies. It didn't take us long as we were idling out and noticed a pile of fish stacked up in 25-28' of water. We threw out the marker buoy (I know that me be old school) and began working the area. We started getting the fish right away as they were fairly close to the bottom (within 3'). I played around more with the FLX-28 and am really liking it! Even though there were plenty of fish in that area they were biting fairly light. Most bites were simply a bump in your line. I could have switched to Fireline but I have better luck with Solar Sensation when the fish are nipping.

As the morning wore on the fish scattered a bit and we had to cruise around to try and stay on them. Once it got closer to noon the fish scattered big time and went "lock jaw" on us. We made a few moves and noticed similar results in various areas. Fish weren't in packs but smaller groups and seemed to be negative all of a sudden. "Timing" can be critical as we have all noticed and we were fortunate to get on the active fish when we did. It would have been nice to stay out and see what the evening bite would have to hold but I forgot to bring warmer mittens and the gloves I had got wet and very cold (as did my buddies too) so we dicided to pack it up and head home.

Water temps were in the low 50's but I think we still have plenty of time to get out in the boat.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Corey Bechtold]

[Corey Bechtold]

So the water temps are definitely getting down there. I've been seeing low 40's! Patterns are shaping up nicely. I like when the ice forms during stable weather. If it hits during a windy crazy cold front it really messes things up for me.

Today we found the Crappies in 35-40' of water adjacent to gradual "tables". Areas where there is a good shelf for the fish to slide on and off when they decide to eat. We caught fish on a variety of baits. Gulp! Alive! 1" minnows were heat as usual. Another bait that caught fish were 1" jigging Raps.

I'm looking forward to checking out a few more lakes before the ice officially arrives..

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Corey Bechtold]

I finally had a chance tonhitvthe ice for the first time this season!!!

First off, the Clam drill plate is absolutely amazing! We drilled roughly 100 holes on a single battery. My friend picked up a new Dewalt 4ah drill and we were cutting holes like nobody's business. Fax is a lot of people had to come check it out which cut into our fishing time... Lol

As far as the fishing that was fun! We caught plenty of Crappies from 9-12" along with some Bluegills up to 9".

Key depths were 13-17'. Since there was no snow on the lake a lot of fish were under the rough ice areas. Maybe it offered them some shade.

Baits for me that rocked were Gulp! Alive! 1" minnows (figured they were working a couple weeks ago so might as well try them). I fishe them on a 1/32oz jighead.

When we were searching for Gills I went with the smallest Bomb Spoon and that caught a few good fish. I didn't tip the hook with anything but probably could have done better if I had...

Some of the new Maki plastics went over well with the fish as well.

We did head out to a deeper basin and caught some Crappir as well but sending them back down the hole was tough so we left those fish and went back up shallow.

Hope everyone is getting out and finding some fish!

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Corey Bechtold]

The new lineup from Clam Pro Tackle has been very good. The Dingle Drop works better than I thought it would for triggering bites!

The Maki Plastics have been good too. Still trying to find my favorite because they all work well. I have been using the Maki and taking off some tentacles to modify the bait.

I plan on hitting it hard after the Holidays.

Anyone else been getting out?

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[harvey lee]

I have been on a great eye bite. Fishing a shallow lake, I have been icing my eyes in 5-6fow. The daytime bite has been good as long as there are clouded skies.

I have been jigging with a JB Lures Rattlin Varmit or a buckshot rattle spoon in 1/4 oz,tipped with a fathead head. My deadstick has been doing as well. Hook of choice has been a Demon size 4 tipped with a crappie minnow on the days the eyes have been a little sluggish and on the days they slam it, a fathead. Ice Buster bobber.

Come sunset, I drop down another deadstick and forget about the jigging and the bite seem's to be better. Most all the eys came through 3-4 at a time, then 10 minutes or so and another 3-4. Fun bite to say the least.

Today, my granddaughter's wanted some gills for a meal as they love panfish, even over the eyes.

Fish a lake I typically do very well on for panfish and started out in 22-24fow. Graphed some fish but very negative. I went shallower hoping to find some active gills and drilled another 8 holes and fished them and iced 2 very nice 8 plus inch gills. But I did not marked many fish.

Tried another 8 holes and the same results, glad it was nice out other than the wind.

Moved in a bit shallower and cut another 8 holes and worked them and I marked quite a few more fish.

So, I set up my portable and fished one hole, seem's when the bite is on, I do better with one line as I lose to many fishing 2 on a good bite.

Fished 15-16.5fow and slowly jigged a white-purple tunsgten 1/32 oz jig with a white spike. One hour later, had my gills and a few crappie.

All fished came up from the bottom and once they came up, one had to stop jigging and just wait till the gills decided to hit it.

Seemed like only 1 or 2 gills would come through at a time but most times they were hungry.

Thank God for spring bobber's.

Been 8 straight days for me on the ice so I am going to take a break and give the fish a break also.

[ski_otter]

vmc tumblers have been pretty good for me, mostly using uv

[Scott O.]

So far, new Clam Drop and Ant Drops are working quite well.

[Corey Bechtold]

Glad to see some good reports coming in! I hope to get a couple hours in this weekend to try some new stuff.

Anyone else heading out this weekend?

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Brad B]

I might try to get out Sunday or Thursday or Friday after Christmas. I have made it out 5 times now and have been mainly using the red glow Drop Jig in size 12 with 3 euro larva on it. so far this season I have iced 20 crappies and 3 blue gills over these 5 outings plus lost some nice crappies right at the hole. looking to try and find a good day time gill bite. have the crappies somewhat figured out for when I go fishing after work and it is dark out.

[Corey Bechtold]

I snuck out for a couple hours to test some features on my FLX-28. I went into some weeds to play with the Low Power and the Weed modes. This is what I can tell from it so far. Weed Mode gives me a better view of my jig without having to play with the gain. I still see some weeds but it is cleaner than regular power. The Low Power still clears up more weeds but I find myself having to adjust my gain a bit more to find my jig. It's nice having the options and both definitely have their time and place.

As far as fishing I only found fish to be in the weeds. A mixture of Bass and Sunfish roaming the 8-12' depths. Little Atom buggies worked well in white.

Maybe I will get a chance to try again in the morning.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[harvey lee]

Hit the lake today about 3 in hopes of icing some eyes. Set deadstick up with a demon tipped with a fathead and jigged the other hole with a Buckshot rattle sppon in perch tipped with a crappie minnow head.

I set myself up at the top edge of a breakline hoping they would swim up to feed.

Ice 1 eye in 1.5 hours and missed maybe a dozen. They were just sucking on it. It started to snow and I thought if a front is coming through, the bite could shut down or be a very negative bite.

So, I put the smallest glo white lure on I had and a whole crappie minnow in hopes they would take the smaller profile bait. Dropped down in size with the jigging rod and a crappie minnow head. May have been the fish just turned on and would hit anything also, really does not matter why I guess.

Bout 5, the Bird lit up and it was game on. maybe there was no need to reduce the bait size and every eye just drilled it.

Ended up to be a fun filled 45 minutes and I was on my way home with some eyes for ourself's and my son's family.

My granddaughter wants to try some ice fishing so we are headed out the next 2 days in hopes of icing some nicer gills like I iced a few days back. My luck the fish will shut down but I will drill until I find an active group of gills. Will report back and let you know what worked and if we iced some gills.

[clayton08]

Ive used the clam stuff works good but Id rather stick with my lindy toad which actually this year they came out with a tungsten. I have been sticking with northland plastics Ive tried the clam ones but when it comes down to it northland is my go to plastics. It all works every lake is different had the first tourney of the year last weekend and I had my northland impulse tapeworm on the whole day. I typically fish with 2 lb test and have an arsenal of rods but its hard to pry me away from my 13 white out rod. I hardly use live bait myself I went out yesterday with some buddies on waconia they thought I was crazy but when it comes down to it they were digging thru my plastic box. Plastics, tungstens, good ul rods, lake maps, vexilars, thats what I use on every giving fishing trip.

[harvey lee]

Scouting trip done for my Granddaughter for her first trip ice fishing tomorrow. She has fished alot on the open water but never on ice.

Started this am about 8am. Started fishing in 20fow and found nothing after 15 minutes.

Move in shallower to 17 in the area I fished a few days ago.

Didn't make a ton of fish but enough to know where to go in the am tomorrow.

The gill's did not want what they hit on 2 days ago and ended up with a Lindy Bro Bug in green on one line and a JB lures Ju-Ju in chart and yellow on the other. Both tipped with a spike. I would jig it until a fish should on the graph and then just let it sit till they either took it or swam away. More swam away than bite but I was only looking for fish for tomorrow so that was fine.

With lighter snow falling, the bite was negative at best but I did ice 16 gills from 8-9 inches, dandy gills again today. Not sure where the smaller ones are but the nicer ones sure fight nice. All fished releashed as I did not want to clean fish today.

I wish we could get a few days of stable weather instead of snow one day, then something else the next. Tired of finicky fish.

I did talk to a few groups in deeper water and they were icing some crappie in 27-35fow. Most were suspended with some close to the bottom. They were coming on a jig and crappie minnow or a gill set up tipped with a waxie and they all said it was slow for them this morning.

The rod of the day for this finicky bite was a Thorne Bros Sweet Thing with a spring bobber. Rod was awesome in picking up the gills on a super light bite. Kudo's to TB's.

Well, we will see what tomorrow will bring for a bite.

[harvey lee]

Corey, are these reports suppose to be from Ice Team member's only?

[Lusid]

My 2cents.

fished from 9-15 FOW, Found them in 14-15, and some cruising in the 12's. Mostly in 15 though at the bottom. But this was by a break off point in structure where it went from 10-15 fairly quickly.

Next was lure - ironically lead lures the slower lures were working a lot better than the tungsten lures. Since lead weights less than tungsten it swims better underwater with plastics/bait attached.

[harvey lee]

Yep, my tungsten jigs were of no value this am.

Fished 16fow and iced 18 very nice Gill's, well, my granddaughter iced them as I helped with setting the hook as the bite was like way like with the exception of 6-8 of the gills.

Taylor's 1st ice outing ever went very well even withy the cooler temps.

Friday, she wants to ice some eyes so we will be off again.

[Icefishfun]

What is working for white bass,crappies, and catfish through the ice on the st.croix river right now. Thanks in advance for any suggestions

[Corey Bechtold]

Yesterday was a great day. At least the morning bite! The Crappies were very active in 17-20' of water. Horizontal jigs were key and brighter plastics seemed to work best.

The afternoon was tougher. Did manage some Bluegills in shallower water with weeds. 8-14'. Had to downsize jigs and plastics a bit which triggered more strikes.

Now we have a wicked cold snap... Yay.

Anyone else get to enjoy the last few decent days on the ice?

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold