Ice fishing at night!

[Jig stick]

Do alot of you fish at night on the ice? I know crappie bite at night, but what about walleye,perch,or bluegills. And what are the best baits and lures to use?Would you use live bait as opose to plastic or a tear drop? Just thought I would start a educational post for thoes who are new to this type of fishing.Come on and lets hear it,and give up some of thoes secrets!

[Guest]

It allllll depends! I fish a little lake around Aitkin that you couldn't get a crappie out of after dark with scuba gear, then there is Upper Red where I always do the best after dark. Walleyes same, same...Mille Lacs during Ice I always pound them at nught but, Lake of the Woods I pack it up before dusk and head to Red for Crappie because the 'eyes on the Woods seem to TOTALLY shut down at dark (during ice) don't know for sure in the summer up there.

[Jig stick]

Chiro have you ever used the berkley power wigglers? and how do they work on the crappie, perch, bluegills Im from N.Y. I dont know anything about the lakes in MN.Maybe some day I'll make it to the land of 10,000 lakes for some ><sUMo> perch that I've been hearing about.

[Guest]

SKIDDER
The Double Fin Twins will be gliding into CNY sometime late Friday morning or early afternoon depending on the delay in Detroit.
Other than that, I'm not sure when everyones exact arrival times are but you can bet there will be people floating in and out all weekend and well into the following week.
Actually, Grnmtn will be getting here sometime Sunday like you and I'm anticipating the rest of the gang to be in town between friday and Monday including Father Maki, Big Daddy, Buckeye Bob, Vikingfan, Keebo, Big Buce, CNY Tim, Liteline and anyne else i've missed.
With the illnesses that have been creeping up on us this past week, My main priority for his gathering is seeing HRD-H20 improve dramatically and then see him step out of Makis truck at the Hosers place.
Dats da facts !!
Gotta go pick up my niece in a minute...more later.

[Guest]

Like Chiro says , It all depends on the body of water I'm fishin. Some lakes have a night bite but others don't. I LOVE night fishin !!! There's a lake near here that's huge but shallow at 6 feet max. Anyways , the waters kinda murky so I fish with a lantern near the hole. I'll fish two tip ups and a jig pole rigged with a slip bobber and small shiner , Fathead whatever. The jig stick/lantern gig almost always outproduces the tip ups.

[Guest]

Jigstick,
about those power wigglers, I grew up in Spirit Lake, IA (Berkleys headquarters). I still have an uncle that works for them on the line and he always gets me the new stuff first. They just came out with some power night crawlers that work surprisingly well so far this fall on panfish of every kind, they smell kind of like fish meal, can't wait to try them under ice. As for those wigglers there have been times I have outfished friends with minnows and waxies and sometimes not. When ever I fish Mille Lacs I always have one power wiggler through the hook as perch are such bait theives...it gets them to take it in deep enough to set the hook after they have stole all the real stuff!

[Guest]

Jig Stick,
I've had most of my success of crappies and walleyes during the twilight periods and at night. About a hour or two before dark and an hour or two afterwards. I was fishing a lake last winter that was producing crappies all night long but that was rare. Most of the time you will catch occational crappies throughout the night with most of the action during dawn or dusk. Walleyes are the same way. Up on Lake of the Woods you will find that the walleyes typically feed about three times a day. Dawn, noon-1pm, and dusk, with more emphasis on dawn and dusk. As for bluegills and perch, stick to daytime for them. Almost every lake I've fished for perch they shut off right around sundown.

As far as for the Berkley power winglers, I would say stick to live bait. I like to use Euro Larvae when fishing crappies unless I'm dead sticking with minnows. I've used power wigglers during the day for bluegills but I don't mess with them when hunting the crappies. I have used jigging spoons tipped with wigglers for perch though.

Hope some of this info helped. You can drop me an e-mail or post a reply again if you have any questions.

[email protected]

Good Fishin, Matt.

[Jig stick]

Thanks guys,Matt whats this dead stick stuff? Explain that one.I strictly jig that what I started doing a couple of years ago and Icant get enough of it.Come on ICE!! ><sUMo> ><>

[Guest]

Jig Stick,
Dead sticking is for the most part a non-jigging techique that is used for light biting crappies. I like to use a noodle rod or spring bobber. All you do is rig up a small teardrop or plain hook with a small lively minnow. Place a split-shot about 8 inches up to anchor the minnow from swimming all over. Now simply place your rod on a bucket or rod holder and watch the tip of the rod or the spring bobber. There is a few more pointers to dead sticking but thats the main idea. This works on those days when the crappies don't want a positive presentation. A lot of the time I'll punch two holes and jig out of one and dead stick the other just to see what mood the crappies are in. Some days dead sticking will out produce jigging two to one but most of the time jigging is the number one choice. Dead sticking is just another option for those tough fishing days that I've found to work quite well.
I hope this helped you out with deadsticking. I got some more info on the topic if you want to e-mail me.
Good Fishin, Matt.

[This message has been edited by MJ5 (edited 09-29-2002).]

[WallEYES]

MJ5
DEADSTICKING = T-BONE'S ROCKIN REEL, nuff said.

[Guest]

What is a noodle rod? I've heard it many times on this forum, but don't know what it is.

[Jim W]

Nothing like watching a lighted tip-up pop up during the night!!!

Jim W

[Guest]

Walleyes, explain the T-Bone's Rockin Reel.

Rod Holder, a noodle rod is basically a rod that is flimsy like a noodle. It bends very easy and the blank is rather skinny. Its almost like you could tie the rod in a knot without it breaking (not actually but close).

Good Fishin, Matt.