Deep Water Fishing ????

[Agronomist_at_IA]

I know that quite a few guys fish in some very deep water.....anywhere from 100-250 feet. Now this may be a stupid question but what type of ice fishing rods and reels are you using. All of the reels I have only hold about 100-110 feet of line.  Is there some special rod and reel to use for this type of fishing that I'm missing??

[slipperybob]

Get a baitcaster setup...

Or step up to a larger spinning reel.  I thought that even most of the UL spinning reels can do up to 100 yrds of 2-4 lbs test.  Even at 50 yrds pony spool thats 150 feet.  So which micro reels don't hold enough line?

[Drifter_016]

Normal rods and the next size up from small (size 500 for most) in reels loaded with braid.
So you want a size 750-1000 spinning reel and 10 to 15# braid.
You could probably get enough on a size 500 if you were able to use 4-6# braid.

[mk_bovee]

I know that quite a few guys fish in some very deep water.....anywhere from 100-250 feet. Now this may be a stupid question but what type of ice fishing rods and reels are you using. All of the reels I have only hold about 100-110 feet of line.  Is there some special rod and reel to use for this type of fishing that I'm missing??

i frequently fish waters that are over 150 feet deep, the set up i use is a medium/heavy action iceblues rod with a mitchell spidercast spinning reel spooled with 20/6 power pro line.   the reasoning being such a stout pole and superline is that when you start fishing that deep, you have a difficult time making a good hookset.   

[prchslyr]

I too plan on jigging water pushing 200' for lakers this year. I've got a quantum energy (750). If you're going to try jiggin lakers throw the micro stuff to the side for the day. I'll be mounting it on some sort of heavy action rod but haven't decided what yet. I'll be putting a 10-15' flourocarbon on it.

[mealworm]

i use 8# mono on a spinning reel and a medium action rods fish 100' to 180'

[prchslyr]

i use 8# mono on a spinning reel and a medium action rods fish 100' to 180'

Looks like I'm followin' your a$$ to the lake this winter.

[Chris Raymond]

After battling line stretch for way too long and not wanting to use a wire spooled hand lining thing called a "gebu", I went off the deep end so to speak.  I picked up a heavy duty Thorne Bros Pro Fiberglass in 36" and mounted it with an Abu Garcia C4 (with opposite hand retreive, I hate having to switch hands to reel) spooled with 20/6 Prower Pro and 12# flouro leader.  It's been absolutely fantastic in deep water and I've hit stuff as deep as 300' with heavy current.  I have used it outside the portable in temps as cold as 5 - 10 without too much of a line freeze up issue.  The lack of stretch and the ability of the rod to work with jigs as small as 1/2 oz. and as heavy as 3 oz. is amazing.

[JimF]

I'm fishing 300 yds. of 30 to 50lb. Power Pro line , a swivel and 6 ft. of 10-12 lb. flurocarbon on a large spinning reel. the rod is a 4 ft. homemade spinning rod from a solid fiberglass blank [ has butt] with oversized guides and tiptop. Tubes, jig and spoons, white and glow with and without meat.

JimF

[blackbeast]

Up here we use what we call a bobbing stick. Its normaly made out of plstic or wood and each wrap is about three feet long. We put 100 yards of 60# coated steel line, with a 12 ft leader of 15-20lb mono. unfortionaly its hand over fist on the way up. But the slightest hit and the added advantage of no stretch means a lot less lost fish. if you have ? pm me.

[slipperybob]

  ...That just reminded me of how Eskimo's do ice fishing...

[andercee]

How well does your vex work at these depths?

[blackbeast]

it don't work a 300 but I have had some luck at 200 you just need to drop the cord way down to keep the bottom in veiw. I don't think there is a flasher at all that goes that deep.

[SkeeterJeff]

I don't think there is a flasher at all that goes that deep.

What?  You mean those high powered Marcums don't go that deep? 

-Jeff

[mealworm]

it don't work a 300 but I have had some luck at 200 you just need to drop the cord way down to keep the bottom in veiw. I don't think there is a flasher at all that goes that deep.

my lowrance goes to 600', i know its not a flasher but it has flasher mode 

[mealworm]

Looks like I'm followin' your a$$ to the lake this winter.

sure i'll pick you up on the way to the lake,just leave my a$$ alone

[Chris Raymond]

Up here we use what we call a bobbing stick. Its normaly made out of plstic or wood and each wrap is about three feet long. We put 100 yards of 60# coated steel line, with a 12 ft leader of 15-20lb mono. unfortionaly its hand over fist on the way up. But the slightest hit and the added advantage of no stretch means a lot less lost fish. if you have ? pm me.

And that is what folks in our area call a gebu...or however it's spelled.

[andercee]

Anyone think of rigging up a downrigger for doing this?

[pikeking]

Sorry to sound stupid guys, but what lakes are you fishing that are 200-300 feet deep? Is the ice even thick enough to walk on at those depths? I'm sure some of the great lakes ar ethat deep. Around here in the Berkshires I think the deepest lake is about 65ft deep.

[dkfry]

it don't work a 300 but I have had some luck at 200 you just need to drop the cord way down to keep the bottom in veiw. I don't think there is a flasher at all that goes that deep.

Vexilar makes a flasher good for 300' but its a special order from vexilar.(Deep Model) They may be able to make an existing 200' Vexilar and make it a 300', not shure.

[carcaju]

those hand lines remind me of when i was growing up and went whith my grandfather, he hated jigging poles untill the day he died. we have a couple lakes that hit that depth lake george has some deep holes 195 max depth and lake champlain is over 350 in spots

[Drifter_016]

Sorry to sound stupid guys, but what lakes are you fishing that are 200-300 feet deep? Is the ice even thick enough to walk on at those depths? I'm sure some of the great lakes ar ethat deep. Around here in the Berkshires I think the deepest lake is about 65ft deep.

I fish a bunch of lakes in the NWT. Great Slave is the largest and it is 1600' deep in parts and the ice is up to 5' thick by late winter. Many of our trout lakes are over 200' deep. They have good ice by the beginning of December usually.

[Chris Raymond]

Sorry to sound stupid guys, but what lakes are you fishing that are 200-300 feet deep? Is the ice even thick enough to walk on at those depths? I'm sure some of the great lakes ar ethat deep. Around here in the Berkshires I think the deepest lake is about 65ft deep.

In Michigan there are a couple of places of which I am aware where folks have deep water but for the most part it is Keweenaw Bay (Lake Superior), Munising Bay (Lake Superior) and then Traverse Bay when it freezes.  There are a couple of inland lakes that have some depth such as Torch Lake, Crystal Lake and Higgins Lake but it's not crazy deep like the big water. 

[jacksmelt71]

i second the braid and heavy action rods for deep jigging. we have quite a few laker lakes over 100' but never caught anything deeper than 65ft. i do best between 25-40ft. whitefish are usually what i get when i push out to 40+ ft. of water.

[Chris Raymond]

Vexilar makes a flasher good for 300' but its a special order from vexilar.(Deep Model) They may be able to make an existing 200' Vexilar and make it a 300', not shure.

I talked with Vex about doing that with a software upgrade on their regular FL8SE and wanted to see if they could get a transducer with a beam more narrow than 9 degrees, but they pretty much told me it was special set-up at best and they didn't sound all that interested in pushing more that 240' and the narrowest beam was going to be the 9.  Marcum seemed a bit more interested in trying to put together a custom deep water box and cone but this was over a year and a half or so ago.