Since 1987 I am ice fishing on Lake Hopatcong in New Jersey. Every year I was looking 10 months for ice and only 2 months I was fishing through ice.
At least I decided to try vertical fishing in open water from boat using ice fishing jigging lures. The result was astonished, I caught the same fish as in
the winter and sometimes catch was better as in the winter. Last Fall I visited Lake Hopatcong, Nolan's Point and fished between Halsey and Raccoon Islands. I caught 60 Yellow Perches (35 Perches I released because
limit in New Jersey is 25 Perches) and 2 Pickerel, all 14 pounds. Today me is easier to wait for winter because starting from May I am using ice fishing
equipment for vertical fishing in open water. For successful vertical fishing in open water is necessary to have 3-4 rods with different lures and every time
to check them. I have usually good catch using Pike Superglider #1 and Walleye Superglider #3. Sometimes I am using these lure 2 hours without result. Then I tried Perch Superglider #4 relatively small lure and
immediately I start to catch very nice Perches. I understand fish is very sensitive to size of the lure. The lure are plated: silver or gold. I am using
mostly silver plated, but do not forget that for Walleye and Pickerel gold color is very attractive. Today I have not problem: Spring, Summer and Fall I am
vertical fishing in open water waiting for hard water and ice fishing. The lures do not require any additional bait, bare hook only. The boat is provided with electrical drive 30 lb or Nissan 3.5 hp outboard , also by windy weather I am using drift anchor.
Sometimes drifting boat allows me to have more strikes and catch too. See
Superglider lures: http://pages.prodigy.net/rjlures. Sincerely, Konstantin.