What am I doing wrong?

[Fishing_Rookie_123_]

I just want to start off by saying how much I appreciate all of the info that the people on this site are willing to give up. For a newbie like myself, this site is my most useful piece of fishing equipment that I use. Thanks to you all!

I went out to Courthouse Lake this morning to try to add another species (or two) to the list of fish that I have caught through the ice. I was using a small teardrop jig with either 1 or 2 Gulp maggots on the hook (tried both). I could see fish on my fish finder coming up to my bait, but they would pretty much just look at it and leave (this happened about 5 times in 3 hours). I tried keeping my jig still in front of their nose, and kind of twitching it a few inches, but I did not get 1 bite.

My question is: should the jig and maggots that I am using work OK for trout, and what do YOU do when a fish comes right up to your bait?

I did get there a little late (8:00), maybe that had something to do with it.

[hartner62]

Where were you fishing? The trout in there will take anything just about anything you put down. If you head back out try some dead salted minnows. My best spot is on the dock side right in front of the metal pipe that is coming out of the woods. Good luck

[Sifty]

FISHING-ROOKIE, We also got there a little late. About 8:00 as well. We started in six feet of water in the bay and instantly my son picked up a nice 16.5" and then we lost one at the hole and then another 13". Then with all the traffic of everyone leaving the fish shut-off in the area we where in.

We moved out to the bigger part of the lake and found 14 feet of water. The fish where there and where bitting. We where off by ourself's (as much as you could). The next eight fish came pretty quick and we called it a day.

All of our fish came off of wax worms, and small sunfish jigs.

Pink and white was our best.

It seemed once we got them to come off the bottom a foot or two they just wanted it wiggled a little bit and then they would hit it.

Hope this helps.

Someone in the bay got a really nice brown.

Sifty

[Fishing_Rookie_123_]

Thanks for the suggestions and for the specifics. I think I will go back out there and try it again once the crowds die down a little. Maybe next weekend....This time with real wax worms.

[Sifty]

ROOKIE, Just remember this is a put and take lake. There has been some talk that 50% of the fish that are taken , are taken in the first week.

Going mid-week will help with the crowds.

Best of luck.

Sifty

[Dragon Fish ll]

You should of went back out there today.out in the deep water they were just jumping out of the holes by the dozens.Most nice size too. Just a tiny glow or plain hook with a waxie or two. I got a nice Brook trout with a two inch storm shiner minnow, an a seventeen inch bow on same lure yesterday.

[JohnMickish]

Picked up 4 of my 5 yesterday in 10 FOW, right off the bottom. 3 on a small Sweedish Pimple, silver in color. One with Gulp earthworms, one with micro larve and earthworms and one with earthworms and a yellow grub.

One on a small red weasle with the yellow Gulp grub. I pulled the first 4 right off the bottom, like walleyes.

The last one came over 30 FOW 10 feet down. I can't remember what I was using. Yesterday the fish really shut down after about 10 in the morning. After I was done I dropped my camera down to watch and they would just swim up to the jigs and run away. We tried all kinds of lures/colors/sizes and techniques and after they decided they where done we could not coax another bite.

We where straight across the lake from where the pipe comes out by the dock.

5 of us with 17 fish. (I had 5 )

[Zenit]

Quote:

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Thanks for the suggestions and for the specifics. I think I will go back out there and try it again once the crowds die down a little. Maybe next weekend....This time with real wax worms.

---

That would be my suggestion, as well. I personally never have had much luck with the Gulp maggots for ice fishing trout, at least compared to real waxies. I keep some handy, but only for use if I run out completely of waxies, euro larvae, angleworms, dead/preserved minnows, etc. Just IMHO, sounds like other people have had better luck with them than I have.

[jeff127]

I almost always use dead minnows and rarely get skunked---if they get finicky mayfly larvae work great. Also threading on a small orange bead above the jig helps trigger bites. Small things can make a huge difference.

jeff

[Fishing_Rookie_123_]

Thanks for all of the great advice, I'm going to try my luck tomorrow morning on Cenaiko.

[Dragon Fish ll]

use powerbait the orange with sparkles, or red white an blue just makes a little ball on your hook. one to three feet off bottom winter an summer

[Fishing_Rookie_123_]

Well, I hit Cenaiko today keeping everybody's avice in mind. I ended up catching a 13" rainbow (my first trout through the ice)on a glow jig with two waxies 5' below the ice. Then they shut down for a while and I tried about 10 different holes using the same rig, then swithcing to jigging raps,and a teardrop with one waxie, at all depths. Then my buddy showed up and caught another 13" rainbow 5' down on a small horizontal jig with a finesse plastic jig body and lost another at the hole.

Only two fish for a whole day's worth of fishing, but I'm stoked about it. They are a beautiful fish and I'm cooking one of them up for dinner tomorrow which is a treat because I very rarely keep any fish to eat.

Thanks again.

[upnorth]

We ran into something similar on a lake out in the boonies yesterday. This is a fairly clear water lake and you can see the fish down at least 8 feet. We had fish under the holes all day long, get them to bite...well let's just say they weren't having any part of it. I tried 1 waxie, 2 waxies, Gulp, tear drops, jigging spoon of all kinds and even a Jigging Rappala. For the most part they would look, nudge and even push the bait around...a couple would try to pull the waxie or gulp off, but they just really taking the bait. I tried letting is sit when they came, I tried shortening the jigging stroke, I tried letting them play with it for a while, nothing really helped. We did get a few fish on the ice, but I would say that in the 1st 4 hours it never went more than 15 minutes without seeing fish down the hole. You want to talk about frustrating.