Some Q's for the ice leaders and FMers.

[panfried]

There has been alot of talk about power minnows and power tubes. What size and style of jigs are good to use with them and where can a guy get them? (jigs and the power baits)

Also, i am looking to take my ice fishing to the next level, so to speak. I am sick of dealing with all the crowds and would like to find these spots away from the crowds. Mainly to get away from all the comotion but also to improve the quality of the fish. (I hope) What are some strategies to employ to achieve this? I have tried venturing away from the crowds and have had limited success. I have read alot about using a camera to find green weeds and such but unfortunantly do not have one.

Do bigger crappies and sunfish hang out in seperate areas than the average and small panfish? Because i have no problem finding the average keepers and small fish. It's just the big ones that seem to be hard to find. I realize that the lake has to have big fish in order to catch them and in my case the lake i fish (west rush) is known for some big crappies as well as some big sunnies. So i know that they are in there. Any tips and info would be appreciated. Thank you.

[markkstanley]

If you are real serious about speeding up the learning curve hire Matt Johnson for a day of ice fishing and you'll be at the next level as well as be able to put together a plan of attack for new water.

Power minnows come in 2" to 4" sizes. I use the 2" variety for crappies under the ice. I use the Scenic Tackle collarless jigs 1/32 or 1/16 (get them on this site) depending on depth. The lack of a collar is a big plus as plastics this size get torn up easily by collars. I also use Exude Micro Shads a lot. The Power Tubes are the panfish sized ones 2". They are getting hard to find. You can order them direct from the Berkley HSOforum I think it is called Pure Fishing. Cabelas, Gander and Fleet Farm also have some.

[Corey Bechtold]

panfried, If you are looking for Power Minnows/Tubes the best places to find them right now would be Reeds, Scheels or Fleet Farm. They tend to have the best selection of these baits as far as I can tell. I also like to fish these with 1/32oz jigheads. Collerless for the Power Minnows is perferred. For the Power Tubes Collared jigs work best.

As far as location I would start by looking shallower than you're normally used to. This weekend I found most of the active fish to be in 8'-10' of water. These areas are often overlooked by most. The fish that slide into these areas are mainly looking for a meal and that's what you are trying to give them . As far as green weeds that has been kind of over hyped. Yes, this will be true from time to time but any kind of weed is good for holding fish. There are also other times when Crappies won't hold near weeds at all. Often a slight change in bottom type will act as a corridor for Crappies. When you fish shallow be sure to be mobile. These fish will be on the move looking for that easy meal. I'll try and get my report up in the "What's working now" thread and I'll offer a few more tips for you.

As we often try and promote on this site, practice Selective Harvest and Catch and Release to ensure a good future for fishing.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[hanson]

Panfried-

If you have free time this Wednesday night, I would recommend attending the seminar that Matt Johnson will be doing at Thorne Bros.

Here is a link to the info-

Matt Johnson Seminar at Thorne Bros

Matt is definitely a panfish nut and he has a way of explaining things in language most of us can understand.

I'm sure Matt will go over many of the finer points to becoming a better panfisherman. IMO, these finer points involve just about everything, from quality rods & reels, line selection, lure selection, bait, spring bobbers, plastics, etc. There are many things you can do equipment wise that will put you ahead of the masses when you hit the ice.

[Jim Hudson]

Also, for those Power Minnows.. Check out the original Optic jig from Little Atom... Collarless and has a good hook for these types of baits.

For your other question on stepping things up a notch... Becoming a better angler means putting in your homework and putting in time out there on the ice... Study your lake maps and get all the info you can on the bodies of water you are fishing... Being armed with your info and then putting it to the test on a lake or multiple lakes will eventually lead to a pattern from ice up to ice out... And when doing so.. be sure to think outside of the box.. This goes for areas you fish and presentations you fish with.. Do not just check certain depths and give up because the fish arent there... Check shallow, deep, inbetween, in the weeds, on the muck, on the rock... etc etc... And be sure to experiment with different lures and presentations.. Even when your on fish... By experimenting and trying new things, you may catch bigger fish or you may not.. But you'll never know until you have tried... And remember,even if you end up skunked or running the gammet of catching small fish, you still have learned something.. Do not ever tell yourself that those days are bad ones, cause keeping a positive fishing attitude is what all good anglers have to keep em going, even through the bad bites!!! Lots of work for sure.. but the rewards will pay off in the end...

Good luck and let us know how your season progresses...

Oh, one more thing... Keep a fishing log... Be detailed on your findings and refer back to it on occasion... You will be suprised on how much you can learn.. and retain by doing this after each trip...

[Matt Johnson]

I'd also like to throw the Exude Micro Shad into the mix. It's a smaller profile than the Power Minnow, but it'll have its time and place under the ice. Another option for both crappies and gills...

Power Minnows and tubes are definitely a big-ticket item as far as producing larger pannies. Up-sizing can oftentimes be the way to go. On those days when you think you need to down-size, it can actually turn out to the be opposite...

[panfried]

I fished East and West rush lakes on Sun 12/17. Most of my time was spent fishing inside turns and points on East, hoping there would be some sort of weeds down there. I fished anywheres from 6' to 15' and was unable to even locate any fish let alone catch some. I finally gave up the shallow water thing and headed over to west and caught a meals worth on the edge of the 38' hole. Anyways, my question is this. How do you locate soft bottom or weeds with just a vexilar? What should i look for on the vexilar itself to tip me off to the prescence of a soft bottom? As far as weeds go i would assume that they would be the green lines that come and go just off the bottom, which i never found on sunday. Is there any way to determine where some standing weeds would exist by looking at the shoreline or a map? I really want to figure out this shallow water panfish thing. It sounds so easy but is proving to be much harder. (for me anyways.) I don't think i will have a problem catching them, i just need to find them. Thanks for the help.

[Jim Hudson]

For bottom content and your sonar... Probably one of the best things to learn how to do for locating fish... Pretty simple really...

Hard bottom will return a strong red signal onto your screen with a smaller trailing edge onto this reading.. And as you move out to that sticky area or soft mucky bottom and your putting your ducer into holes on the same setting as you had on the first hole, the signal maybe very weak or not even showing at all.. Doesnt take a lot of gain on your flasher to get a return from a hard bottom, but for soft bottom you may have to turn up the gain to get a clear reading. Also, these readings will have a longer trailing edge on the bottom signal you see on your flasher.

For weeds, you will see faint or pronounced green signals above the red bottom signal. For looking at a shoreline and determining if their is weeds.. I would say yes, for shallow weeds from 0 to maybe 10 feet of water.. As usually you will see weed tops in the ice at times.. But for deep weeds, almost best to get out and mark these spots during the open water period... Or drill drill drill until you cant drill no more.. But most lake maps will give you a good understanding of where to look for weeds as most are marked up that way...