I've been saying that I'm going to get into ice fishing for the last two years. Well, last year I bought the auger, the tip ups, and a few other toys but we didn't get decent ice fishing weather. (Warm winter..) This, however, looks like it might be a decent season, so I'm raring to go. Now that I have some of the toys, tell me what methods will work for catching some fish. Walleye would be nice but I'd settle for some perch. I'm sick and staying home from work today so talk to me, people, and tell me what'll work best. Maybe Santa will bring me some ice fishing goodies.... Thanks.

Well...you are gonna HAVE to buy a $400 flasher ;) Seriously though, if the flag isn't always up on your tip ups, ice fishing can get a little boring. Buy yourself a jiggin rod to keep in hand and some jiggin raps and other lures for eyes. Perch like the little teardrops and stuff tipped with maggots. There is a start Ness...how much money you wanna spend? I could spend it all no matter how much ya got...

Ness, try to find some ice-fisherman in your area to tag along with a few times.That wat you can see what you want and need to be mobile on the ice.Ryan Hale

Small (size 10 and 12) teardrops for waxworms or mousies for panfish. I like #6 single hooks for small minnows(perch) and #4 hooks for bigger walleye minnows. Always go to bottom to start and work your way up unless you're after bluegills and sunfish ,,, then start higher and work your way down. That's what we do. Perch and walleye hug bottom MOST of the time. I'm sure there are exceptions.

More then half the time I go out the simplest rig catches the most fish. Hook, line and sinker and of course bobber. I have been using glow hooks recently and they seem to work good too.

You will need some small jigging spoons(sweedish pimple, cicada, etc...). These work well to bring in the fish and sometimes will catch them. The rig described above will more times then not be the one doing the catching.

For Walleye Swedish Pimples, Do Jiggers, Jiggin' Raps and Chubby Darters have all been good lures for me. Sometimes is helps to add some meat on some of them, other times when active, they hammer the hardware alone. When things are real slow a dead stick with a struggling minnow just off the bottom and next to your jiggin' lure, works for reluctant biters.

If I rig a tip-up for Northerns I generally rig it higher in the water and with a larger sucker type minnow, than I would if I were rigging a walleye.

For panfish tear drops, ice flies and tiny spoons. Gills and Sunnies insect larva(wax worms, mousies, maggots etc.) is what I start with. Perch and Crappie I start with small "Perch" or "Crappie" minnows. From there I let the fish dictate what I do next.

Good luck on the ice and be safe.

Ness.
Small in-land lakes are usually the places to chase panfish. And all the mentioned micro baits and lures stated will work great on these lakes. The bigger in-land lakes, bays and watersheds off the Great Lakes can also be great for perch and panfish, as well as bigger preditors like walleyes and pike. But where you find and fish for them will vary. At first ice, start shallow in these bays or cuts off big bodies of water. Thats where the minnows start feeding on small invertibrates up near shore and in the cattails. So thats where the bigger species who feed on minnows hang out. As the ice gets thinner, it squeezes the water column and pushes everything deeper. But because the ice is thicker, you to can also safely fallow the bigger fish to deeper water as well. And like one other poster mentioned, all the geer needed to succesfully chase some of the desired species can get pretty involved and costly. But there is 2 to 3 months where boat travel is impossible in my neck of the woods, so the cost is negligable.

If you are targeting walleye's, consider using one rod with an active presentation. Jigging rap, or what has been a good producer the last few years for me, a northland buckshot spoon. Usually I tip it with a minnow/shinner head. On your second rod, "deadstick" it. This would be a minnow/bobber combo or similar passive live bait presentation. Many times the jigging will bring them in, but the deadstick line will hook'em (especially neutral fish).
For perch, a smaller pimple, jigging rap or teardrop/genzworm/minnow will usually take its share of fish, along with the bobber/minnow rig.
Iceman

Hey Ness...

In fisherman had a good 2 tape series called "Ice Fishing Secrets" that was really informative. Its kind of old now, I dont know if they still sell it. Gives a lot of info you dont normally get in a video. Might be worth picking up. I just dug mine out after a few years, my wife wants to watch them to see why I get so excited about all this stuff.

Ness, give me a call. a small charge of dynamite can also be a good bait, but ya gotta be able to run fast, lol. good luck and good fishin.
Den

if your from minnesota I 'll take ya out for a while. My best advice is to look for the spot on the spot on the spot with you flahser before EVER drilling a hole or fishing. Being you can't fire up the outboard and cgange spots quickly, you better have a good one or you will get frustrated or bored. Save a lot of energy and bs and don't drill a hole to check the depth, shoot through the ice with your locator.

Ness I have a good tip for you. Check out the CROXTON POND ice tote.

It is a great system for keeping all your ice fishing rods and gear in a handy easy to carry case. It even has back pack straps, purdy cool! They can hold 4-6 ice rods and 2 tip-ups, plus other gear, lots of room. It costs about $40 and is WELL worth it in my opinion.

I use mine all year long, they work great for canoe trips or walk in fishing trips too.

Eh, and it could be one heck of a purse too! A purse you can stick fishing rods in, now what could be better for you then that Eh?

I have 3 years of hard use on mine and it is like new, a very well made product.

I've converted a backpack into that type of thing. But would be interested in their site if they have one do you know? Something is fishy around here.

The only link to Croxton Pond that I know of is on www.fishingminnesota.com, then click on products. I also seen Mills Fleet Farm had a few in stock.

Croxton Pond manufactures several styles of rod tote systems. The Ice Tote is a very good unit, all most ice anglers would ever need and then some. But if you wish to upgrade to something, they have some very cool high dollar units.

Like I said, I have 3 1/2 hard years on my tote, and still looks like new, so for $40 it is a deal in my eyes.

Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson...><sUMo>
Backwater Guiding