How much tackle?

[cheesehead]

OK how much and and what sizes of tackle do you take along on the ice? I'm quite a newbie to the ice scene and don't want to over or under load my pail. I will be fishing mainly for panfish and walleye with tip-ups and jigging poles. I appreciate any help.

[Bobb-o]

you can never have enough, cuz invariably, whatever you dont bring, thats what the guy next to you will be catching them on.

[biggieroth]

The nice thing about ice tackle is it's smalled and you could carry a couple hundred jigs in a small tackle box.

Buy as many rods as you can and pre-rig them for what you are going after and keep them at the ready so you can change fast!

[matthothand]

For panfish there is no lure too small. I have hundreds of micro jigs, ice flies, or whatever you want to call em. That is way beyond enough...but they don't take up hardly any space at all. I would bring just a few different lures for panfish if you're worried about too much. A few that fish horizontal and a few vertical. Some glow some glitter. Red, green, whatever you think looks nice the pannies will too . For the eyes I think you'd be fine to just take out some #6 hooks and splitshot for the tip-ups rigged with a fathead or shiner. For the jigging poles I'd bring a few jigging spoons of various sizes and color. Tip that with a minnow head and you should be sitting good. Ice fishing really doesn't require a lot of fancy or expensive tackle. I often find myself fishing with either a jigging spoon or tiny panfish jig tipped with larvae or waxie and two baits is all that is needed to get some action. Small and simple usually works well.

[iland99]

It depends on what I plan on doing that day. If I'm walking out, I've got a couple small trays full of my favorites that fit in the pouch on my LX3. I've got one tray with small panfish jigs, and another with jigging spoons.

If I'm driving out, I usually bring the whole big tackle box.

[augernaut]

I'll take the opposing view point here - I try to limit my tackle selection to high quality lures in various sizes and colors, but not so many lures that I forget what all I have in the box. It's VERY easy to get caught up in the "I need more ice jigs" craze, when most people would really benefit from gaining skill and confidence with a few different styles and colors of jigs. I truly believe that having jigs you know intimately well as far as action, drop speed, etc, is a better path to success than having one of everything manufactured. You need some horizontal jigs, you need some vertical jigs. You need some that glow, some in gaudy colors, and some in natural colors. .

Plastic tails? Oh. Now, THAT'S a different story!! LOL!

[JP Z]

I have lately tried to organize my ice boxes by species. I keep 1 Fox Box loaded with my pannie jigs of different flavors. Then I have a Plano box with some floats and hooks and jigging spoons for Eyes. And of course 3 more boxes with a hodgepodge of gill/crappie/eye gear......I said I TRIED to organize.

[CrappieAttitude]

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I'll take the opposing view point here - I try to limit my tackle selection to high quality lures in various sizes and colors, but not so many lures that I forget what all I have in the box. It's VERY easy to get caught up in the "I need more ice jigs" craze, when most people would really benefit from gaining skill and confidence with a few different styles and colors of jigs. I truly believe that having jigs you know intimately well as far as action, drop speed, etc, is a better path to success than having one of everything manufactured. You need some horizontal jigs, you need some vertical jigs. You need some that glow, some in gaudy colors, and some in natural colors. .

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I was definately one of those guys that got "caught up in the ice jig craze" I tended to buy anything that "looked good." My problem was that I had a box full of stuff and ended up finding myself only using a small percentage of what I had. I still purchase the "good looking" jigs, but am way more selective.

CA

[BigDaddy]

Buy a walter/panfish kit and start with that. A basic assortment of colors in both vertical and horizontal presentations is the way to go. Don't forget some plain hooks too. A plain red hook with a minnow is often all you'll need for walleye.

I also like Chubby Darters a lot. I've caught walleye, perch, crappie, and snakes on the CD. It is really fun to work active fish on the flasher with a CD.

[cheesehead]

so far I have about a dozen tiny verticle panfish jigs.

3 jars of gulp maggots

1 jar of gulp worms

4 small spinners that I tied up last night

and a box full of rusted hooks (this PO'ed me)

along with new hooks I need to pick up a few small bobbers also.

[CrappieAttitude]

If you fish a lot of panfish, I would definately add some horizontal jigs to your arsenal. I have had great luck with the genz worms, bro bugs and rat finkees. Horizontal jigs tipped with either plastic tails or euros are the ticket for me.

[JP Z]

Check out JamminJigs as they have a great assortment and the prices are right. this will allow you to stock up on some good baits to experiment with.

[MNMAV93]

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Horizontal jigs tipped with either plastic tails or euros are the ticket for me.

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what is a Euro.

[JP Z]

Eurolarvae, spikes, maggots....silver wigglers. All the same.

[MNMAV93]

thanks

[blkfrg]

If you still have to get the bobbers, buy a couple Ice Busters. I have about seven or eight trimmed to just barely keep selected type jigs alfoat.

[federline]

Yah, I'm about in the same boat. I bring two or three 4"x8" Plano clear plastic boxes in a small Plano canoe tackle box with some other stuff, it velcros to my portable overhead poles. This bag is about 10"x8"x6".

For lighter scenarios when I'm not using a shelter, I have pockets on both sides of my Beckman rod bag (2-3 rods w/ reels) which can hold a 4"x8" each with room for tins of waxies and spikes.

Tackle is the smallest item I take out there!

- red and gold larger wide gap hooks

- gold aberdeen panfish sized hooks

- split shot and drop shot

- some 4" black-colored fine steel leaders for tip-ups

- bobber stops (get lazy sometimes)

- ice buster bobbers, small and large

- small and medium jigging spoons and an airplane jig :-)

- Lindy horizontal glow jigs like genz bugs in all glow colors (crappies love them)

- Custom Jigs and Spins soft plastic jigs

- a couple Chubby Darters (never go to a Perch or walleye lake with them!) and jigging Raps

- some micro teardrop jigs

[Borch]

Quote:

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so far I have about a dozen tiny verticle panfish jigs.

3 jars of gulp maggots

1 jar of gulp worms

4 small spinners that I tied up last night

and a box full of rusted hooks (this PO'ed me)

along with new hooks I need to pick up a few small bobbers also.

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Add some horizontal stuff like the Little Atom Optic stealth, Your bobber's down Wolfgram, Custom Jig & Spins Diamond jigs, Northland Fat boy or Genz worm.

Add a few finese plastic like nuggies, wedgies or noodles and you should have it made for pannies.

[Cheetah]

As others have said, the guy next to you is always catching them on the lure you don't have... So it's best to have a good variety so that when you ask him what he is using, you can mimic it with at least a somewhat similar presentation.

For me, that means 2 small boxes of lures. A variety of jigs of different shapes and colors, with extras of the colors I know work most often on the lakes I fish. I also have 6 ice rods that I keep rigged so I can quickly swap to a different presentation if I know fish are around, but possibly not biting due to whatever I'm using.