Havin some troubles finding fish...

[Laska]

Ok, so I have been to 4 different places in search of atleast one northern or even a single fish for that matter, Ive tried depths of 5ft and it drops off, 6ft and it drops off, 15ft on a drop off, and 20ft.

I havent seen a single fish in over 20 hours of outtime. The weather was different every single day I went out. I have 2deaks and live sucker minnows and have tried white beans on the bottom to see better which actually worked.

So my question is what am I doing wrong or whats going on, the last spot I tried today was 6ft of water just off a weed bed and a drop off going down to 30ft of water and the only thing I saw today was a 6" shiner minnow tha was dying n I sat in that spot for 3 and a half hours.

Anyone have some suggestions on what to do to "entice" the fish to come in?

Another thing does drilling holes scare fish away?

[merkman]

Find a good spot and put in your time.

They say this is fishing...not catching. lol

The same thing goes for spearing.

Most of the time I spear mornings.

I have found that most pike move between 8:30AM and 11:30AM.

I rarely see anything between 1 and 3 PM.

I am rarely out past 2PM though.

I would say go back to that last spot you tried with 6 FOW and the large drop off.

Set up right on the edge of the weeds.

If you are afraid that the pike are "seeing" you, then point the front of your hole toward shallow water parallel to the weed line and expect the pike to come in from underneath you or to the sides.

If you can find a spot where the 30 ft water goes shallow in a draw that would be an even better spot.

If you find a good spot and wait them out they will come.

Some days you will see many some days none.

That is just the way it goes.

Drilling holes can scare the fish away but in general you want to set up where the pike are moving. Find the spots where the pike move in and out of the shallows and set up on those spots.

[Fish Toys]

I agree with merk. What pike population does the lakes you’ve tried have? Maybe they aren’t good lakes for pike? For the amount of time you’ve spent you should have seen more fish.

[GoneFish'n71]

When pike are moving in the morning and late afternoon are they more aggessive vs. midday. In my limited experience the one I have seen in the afternoon come in nice and slow and just stare at the decoy, and the ones in late afternoon seem to bolt in and attack. Just wondering if this is normal behavior.

[bassNspear]

the three days that i was up north spearing and watching 15-25 fish come through, it was a crazy time where you will have 2-4 fish in the hole at the same time. It seemed like you would have a push from 11-2 and then 3:30 to dark.

[Laska]

Thanks for the info guys, The places Ive been are infamous for northerns, I just must of been in a bad spot, most of the weeds that used to be in the same spot in summer are gone, Im trying a place today where I caught n released over 60 northerns this past summer, its only 8ft deep then drops to 35ft hopefully Ill be successful today, its a cold one today w/windchill its -23f but suppose to get in the teens tho.

Its hard to tell where the weed lines are through the ice because the water receeded alot cuz of the ice, is there a better way to quickly find a weedline than to keep drilling holes? I dont have a camera or depth finder its all oldskool with me.

[bassNspear]

look at the shorelines when you are out on the lake. I have a camera that i use along with GPS, but if you dont have that kinda stuff, watch the shorelines. that will tell you alot about what the bottom is going to be like in that area!

[Laska]

ok so I went n sat 6hrs today with my buddy, 8ft of water, sandy bottom, and again nothing wow I just must really suck huh? I saw 1 sunfush n 2 minnows the size of a nickel, but no other species of fish, n the location was the same place where I caught all the fish in the summer, whats up with this?

A question I have is is it ok to spear in 30ft of water period? it seems to me there isnt much happening in the shallows so do I go deep or keep trying in 8 to 10 ft of water?

[Gordie]

laska spearing deep water can be a blast but it seems like I dont see the numbers of fish that I see shallow. what I do at times is find out where the people are fishing for pannies and then set up on the outside of them and set decoys down around 4-5 ft down. It will happen for you and as these other guys said paitence and time will produce. I havent seen a fish in the last 3 outings but thats part of it.