Any 'secrets' or advice on BIG slime darts through ice?

[Mr.Harry]

Going to be sacrificing some of my time spent chasing trout this year in the interest of putting some of the next generation ice anglers on pickeral, and yellow perch too. I'm well versed in catching the greenies, but rarely target them, and previously never on hard water. Want to keep it as entertaining for myself as for the kids and try to catch a MONSTER pick. Have a cabin on a pond with truly large picks in it too, so easy access/on and off the ice for the littluns. Not dialed in on their winter behavior though. Is there a depth range to look for? All the usual open-water structure and 'haunts'? Anything I need to do differently to get after them? Like to put a beast on the derby board too if I'm not going to be getting after trout. Thanks.

[bngalloNHVTfish]

When I target big pickerel I focus on weed lines over about 10-15 feet of water using medium size shiners. They don't seem to be too picky though as I've caught some big ones over deeper water (30ft) fishing about 8-10ft down. Pickerel are solitary hunters and the bite may be sporadic.

Best of luck and hope this helps. Hopefully the ice isn't too far away now!

BngalloNHVTfish

[Spider1]

I love pickerel. Easy and fun to catch and they taste great fried in hot oil or ground into patties! if you're jigging then anything with flash along weedbeds will bring them in. Watch your line though, cuz they like to steal lures. If your using tip ups, bait with shiners and set at varying depths till you find them. Closer to the bottom but they will come in at 4 ft from the bottom too. I usually jig for them about 2 ft from the bottom. Steel leaders help and the picks aren't shy of them too much. If they are hungry, they will take the bait.

[Ericbres]

I love hearing stories of bringing the kiddos out onto the ice fishing! Some of my best times ice fishing are with my boys!
I always fish "jumbo" shiners about 2' from the bottom for largemouth at the ponds I fish and occasionally with pull up a big pic. So - if I were to target one, I suppose that's what I'd do.
As was mentioned, I find I pull up the slimy buggers when my traps/shiners are closer to the weed beds than my traps/shiners that are closer to the rocks.

[JoeGG]

One thing that works well if you're fishing shallow over weeds is to sporadically pick up your tip up over your head and put it  back down. They like to sit and stare at the bait. As soon as you move it or a few seconds after you put it back down, bam!   

[legend]

here in wyoming we have northerns. i suppose they eat the same bait, and we use frozen smelt on the bottom or a foot off.....local supermarkets should have packs of frozen ones...try them !

[meatandmetal]

Put some red beads above the hook and then use larger bait for bigger fish. The color red seems to get their attention. One of the best lures for them is the old standby "Red & White" Daredevil.

[hardwater diehard]

Big lively bait on tip ups ....set a varying  depths to find their cruising altitude over weedy flats ...into a drop off even better ..tend to tip ups often ...raise and lower as mentioned above ...we use to send my buddies kid on an ATV when he was younger to zig zag around the tip ups to "wake" them up . I tried adding flash ..beads/blades not sure it helped but didn't hurt.

[hardwater diehard]

Pickled Pickerel is the best ...nice Wasa cracker .MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm

[Mr.Harry]

One thing that works well if you're fishing shallow over weeds is to sporadically pick up your tip up over your head and put it  back down. They like to sit and stare at the bait. As soon as you move it or a few seconds after you put it back down, bam!

great advice guys. Thanks. Love this idea! Have seen this behavior in open water now that you mention it and would not have thought of doing the trap-lift. Great way to keep the kids interactive with the experience. "Waking them up". Love it.

[meatandmetal]

This works for pike so it should work for pickeral. Set your tips (5 in NH) around in a circle about 30 ft or so apart. Drill a hole in the center and jig with a noisy lure like a rattletrap. The noiser the better. They are attracted to sound. Most often the tips on the outside are the one that will flag. I have caught bass this way but not much luck going for trout.

[perch_slayer]

silver spoon with a whole shiner on the single hook

[800stealth]

This works for pike so it should work for pickeral. Set your tips (5 in NH) around in a circle about 30 ft or so apart. Drill a hole in the center and jig with a noisy lure like a rattletrap. The noiser the better. They are attracted to sound. Most often the tips on the outside are the one that will flag. I have caught bass this way but not much luck going for trout.

Interesting tactic, thanks for sharing that.

[meatandmetal]

Interesting tactic, thanks for sharing that.

Sort of like rattling in "Bucks". Which I will try to do later today. 

[JoeGG]

This works for pike so it should work for pickeral. Set your tips (5 in NH) around in a circle about 30 ft or so apart. Drill a hole in the center and jig with a noisy lure like a rattletrap. The noiser the better. They are attracted to sound. Most often the tips on the outside are the one that will flag. I have caught bass this way but not much luck going for trout.

I believe you may have 6 tip ups as long as it isn't a laker/salmon lake

[TheCrittaC]

I believe you may have 6 tip ups as long as it isn't a laker/salmon lake

Yes, but only 5 if you're jigging with your sixth line.

[meatandmetal]

Yes, but only 5 if you're jigging with your sixth line.

Correct.