Novice without a sonar

[Guest]

Hello,
I've been ice-fishing for three years now and I have only been able to catch sunfish and crappies and perch. I don't have a sonar, but I've been useing tip-ups and jigging but I haven't been sucessful. Any ideas on how to catch fish? Please
derek

[SpikeRoberts]

eyes are us,
I too fish w/o sonar (my wife's allocation to the fishing budget doesn't currently cover such an expenditure) and have found some walleyes anyway. Here's what my stategy has been:

1) Do some intensive investigation of the DNR's lake surveys to find a lake w/ a good population of walleyes. This HSOforum is also a great place for such info.

2) Get a depth map of the lake (also available on the DNR HSOforum) to identify good structure. Rapid depth changes, underwater points/reefs, etc..

3) Fish the heck out of the areas that look promising at different times of day. Drill a lot of holes to find weedlines, move up & down along breaks, try various techniques, lures, and differing depths relative to the bottom. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I've found that by fishing a promising lake with regularity you eventually get a feel for it through trial and error. I've become so familiar w/ the lake in my neighborhood that the last four times out I've caught walleyes in decent numbers if not decent size because I've spent the time to figure out their patterns. Unless some of the other experienced anglers on this site have some better shortcuts to fishing w/o sonar, I don't think there is a substituion for time on a lake.

[OLY]

For northerns try to find a weedline that falls off into deeper water, or fish the mouths off weedy bays. I use large sucker minnows with a circle hook on my tip ups. Also make sure you are fishing a lake with a decent population of pike. Also when using tip ups make sure your bait is above the weeds and not in them or on the bottom. I typically set my baits about 2.5-3.5 ft of bottom and have good luck. When I jig for northerns I will use a buck tail jig or a large white grub style jig with a medium size minnow. Then I will drill 10-15 holes in an area and go from hole to hole spending about 5-10 minutes in each hole.

[Guest]

I agree with SpikeRoberts. Use a systematic approach to catching fish. Find the high percentage spots and fish em' like mad. Later on in the season when the fish move shallow again, you can sight fish in 5 feet of water and you won't need a flasher.
Good Fishing, Matt.

[Sarge]

I don't have a vexilar either, but one thing I have picked up the last couple times, is to watch those who do!

Location is key, but you can have success by imitating what the people with sonar are doing while jigging. Last time out I managed to keep up with my buddy who had a vexilar, simply by watching what he was doing when he caught fish.(he probably didn't even realize I was watching, he was busy watching his vexilar.)

Watch him drop it to the bottom, see how far he brings it up, watch what he is doing to entice the fish, is he jigging short and fast, long and slow, ect. Is he stopping to get the bite or are they hitting on the up or down.

If they are catching fish you can tell pretty close, what is getting the fish to bite. Obiviously you can't do this if they are in thier shacks, but if the weather is nice like it will be this weekend, there should be plenty of people around to watch. Heck most good natured fishers, will even talk to you and let you watch for a minute. Just don't claim that you drilled that hole right beside them earlier and want it back.