What bait/tackle for rainbow in a lake?

[Rogue Hunter]

Found a lake with a good population of rainbow. Never tried them through the ice before, so was wondering what I would want to use for bait/tackle?

Thanks,

Rogue

[almostthere!]

A silver/orange, silver/green, silver/blue castmaster spoon with one or two waxworms. Just drop it down and just jig, jig away.

Is this lake in the metro area?

[Rogue Hunter]

Thanks for the reply. This lake is not in the metro. How would rainbow respond to hook and crappie sized minnow?

[Quickstrike]

if it is a designated trout lake as most rainbow lakes in MN are, you cannot use live minnows. however preserved minnows can work well when jigged on a small spoon ext. if live bait is allowed in the lake you are talking about then i suppose a minnow would work just fine.

[traveler]

Yup, plain minnows work fine at times. There are a few waters where you can use them,

when (if)lake superior freezes and we can fish kamloops rainbows thru the ice I'll often use a 2nd line baited with a plain hook and minnow.

[Renneberg]

Remember, on designated stream trout lakes only one line is allowed.

[The Grebe]

Ice jigs, horizontal and vertical, different colors work at different times, Pimples and like jigging lure tipped with meat.

Wax worms, Spikes, Ggoldenrods, Golden grubs, fake bait, minnow heads, dead minnows, live minnows if it is allowed, chunks of Sucker meat.

Grown, hatchery raised trout, are fed pellets at the hatchery, they don't know squat about natural food. They could'nt tell a Royal Coachman from a Hummingbird!

When they first arrive in the pond, or lake you are fishing, you could probably catch them on a piece of Bologna! They are still fun though.

They don't school up like panfish and you can find them in just about any section of the water column. Sometimes a little pack will come through, sometimes a single, or a couple at a time.

Just get after them, cut some holes to hole hop, which seems to increase catch ratio and give them a shot.

[Gunny]

Rogue Hunter: For trout in designated lakes, I usually buy fresh minnows and then salt them down so they are then considered preserved. I pinch them in half and use the head half on a medium sized Swedish Pimple. Some people use the whole minnow but I find that the tail tends to flip up when you jig and tangle your line. The rainbows really love this presentation. Walleye sized chubs work well and you can never go wrong with a shiner. Good luck!