Ice Fishing Site » Crappie

Ice fishing for suspended fish

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 03:47:46 +0000

There are times when suspended fish dominate the ice fishing world. There are times when it seems that the only crappies you can get to bite are the suspended fish. So what are the best tactics to find and catch these fish? Here is a tried and true method to find them

It is no secret that deep holes (think 20-40 feet of water) are great locations to find wintertime panfish. Target these areas, especially if the hole is drastic and rather small in size. Drill many holes with your auger and use your ice fishing flasher to look down each hole. It won't be hard to find the suspended fish as they will show up on your screen 10-15 feet from the bottom as a fairly sizeable line on your flasher. Once you locate them all it takes to catch them most of the time is to dangle your presentation over their heads. The fish at the top of the suspension tend to be the most willing to bite, so target them first. Simply keep your bait above the top of the school and jig it. The fish will tell you what they want.

Try this tactice the next time you are on the ice. It is a great producer of winter time panfish.

Use Multiple Ice Rods To Increase Time Ice Fishing

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:32:04 +0000

To me there is nothing worse than having a fish show up on your ice fishing flasher, not take the bait, know you need to switch your presentation, but don't want to retie a different ice jig on your line. My solution to this is to have multiple rods all set up in advance.

Now, I am by no means the only person to do this and truth be told I stole the idea from a good friend that is a bass fishing fanatic on soft water. The premise is to have 3-5 rods (more if you really want to get into the spirit!) and have a different presentation on each. Perhaps if I am crappie fishing I would have on a 1/16 oz Lindy Frostee Jigging Spoon on one pole, a 1/16 oz Genz Bug on another, a Gill Pill on a third rod, and a small Chubby Darter on a 4th rod. Obviously you can mix and match with your personal favorites, but you get my point. The key aspect being if you see that fish rise on your Marcum VX-1, but he won't bite, switch to a different rod and presentation and see if that works.

I think you will see a noticeable impact in the amount of fish caught when applying this method.

2009 Ice Fishing New Year’s Resolutions

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:40:52 +0000

As many are wont to do this time of year I am making some New Year's resolutions focused on my ice fishing. Without any delay here they are:

1. Ice fish at least 3 new lakes this year. This will help both in terms of enjoyment as well as affording me many spots to be able to fall back on.

2. Use a jig with no bait to catch a crappie.

3) Build my own 1/64 ounce crappie jig. Well I should say build it after buying the jig head. I've heard these small jigs can work wonders on crappies and want to give it a shot.

Hope you had a great 2008 and here's to an even better 2009!