Biting, but not taking in hook?

[EricCO]

I was ice fishing over the weekend at a local reservoir.

The rainbow trout were hitting minnows, but it was like they were magicians and would get the minnow without taking the hook.

I have a fish finder and could see the trout coming. So the bite when it happened wasn't a surprise. I also had strike indicators and could just barely tell they were nibbling.

I tried everything I could think of the get them hooked. I tried trebles, small, large, colored hooks and jigs. I tried jigging it, letting em have it for a while. Hooked the minnows through the lips, back, tail. All with the same results. I did hook a few, but most of them would just end up stealing the minnow.

What can I do to increase the hooking percentage of these fish that are eating my minnows?

[sib]

did you try using a stinger hook? it's helped me on short strikes.

"go outside and play"
sib

[steve(IL)]

Sounds like Mickey Thill time. Spring for a few sizes of smaller slip floats - tapered design and barely enough to keep the minnow up(it's ok if the minnow pulls it down on a surge when fresh). Back hook the minnow just under the skin next to the dorsal. When hooking the minnow, hold it facing you. Just pierce the skin pulling the hook point towards you & back out. Most fish eat minnows head first and this puts the hook in the best position to score. Also consider placing a small ice jig w/ wax worm 18" above the minnow on a small hook or ice jig. Sounds to me like something besides trout may be down there. Small perch? If you mark a fish looking at your wax worm rather than the minnow, it's a good indicator that you may be dealing with small fish. Once you catch one, you'll know what you're up against. Those little bait stealers can be frustrating.

[Kevin/CO]

Did you ever consider that the trout were spooking your minnow so much that the slight strieks you were seeing were actually the minnow running for its little life? We hit Chatfield too on Monday and got more smallies that were just under the limit then is even funny. We noticed the rod tips "bouncing" ever so slighty. I use a full size ultra light for dead sticking and it is ultra sensitive, and honestly my minnows were going so ape when the trout went through that I could have sworn I was getting light strikes. I know I wasn't beacuse I got down on my stomache and watched the minnow go nuts and the fish look at it. Also we were getting really light strikes when the small mouth were hitting and we missed alot because we brushed them off for the minnow. Lonf story short you may have just been seeing your minnow try not to be eaten.

[REW]

Two things.
1. get a noodle rod - this rod is so light and long, that the fish can take the hook in its mouth, and not feel a thing, but you will be able to see the 1/8" deflection and set the hook.

2. Get rid of the minnows.
Get eurolarve or maggots. The trout absolutely love them.
Go down in hook size to a #10 or #12. This hook size is plenty big enough to hook trout, but they will be unable to suck in the maggot with getting the hook at the same time.

This hook size is little different from the size of a fly used for fly fishing and trout succump to flys by the thousands.

I suspect that if you do this your hooking percentage will near 100%.

Take care

REW

[GORD]

Try dropping a camera down there and see what's going on. They might hook themselves if you use use small circle hooks.

[WAeyes]

I think you are dealing with some little pesky fish that are nibbling their way around your hook. Either small trout or perch or whatever, try a small teardrop and cover the hook with a couple maggots and I bet you find your minnow thieves. Good Luck

[scott]

A stinger hook will solve your problem,fishing now in front of my rollers on the mississippi in davenport, I catch 75% of the fish on the stinger!!! good luck.

[TLY]

A spring bobber will be quite sensative. That, along with seeing the critter come to the bait will give a clue to maybe after x long give a reef and see what happens.

On the whole tho, I agree with others, cut down he bait size and see what comes up. We use Niblets corn alot for trout also.
We fish small but very deep lakes which may be similar to what you have in the west. We also see alot of good bluegills at depth where we would expect only trout.

TLY

[Kevin/CO]

I think I know where Eric was fishing and although the suggestions regarding maggots and eurolarve are good ones those baits are just not what the fish in where I think he was fishing really want. The noodle rod is a very good idea and is a strategy taht I use personally, but with strong and gearty minnows its hard to discern the minnow running around from a strike. Eric, we were over at the mouth to Senac today and the trout were being slayed on larger sized minnows (3-7"). Sometimes they were being really suttle other times they tried to take the pole down with them. Watch out for the open water though, no need to take a cold bath.

[manitobawalleye]

here's what some of the laker guides in ontario do when lakers are sucking off minnows.......
its a little bit of work but they don't steal the bait.....
on spoons with trebles make sure the split ring isn't one of the real tight ones.... then every time you put on a minnow pop off the treble make a small nick in the minnows belly and slide the shaft of the treble in the belly flap and out the mouth..... you will not lose many minnows this way............