Author Topic: How/Why does Active Fishing work?  (Read 1637 times)

Offline wlai

  • IceShanty Rookie
  • **
  • Posts: 17
How/Why does Active Fishing work?
« on: Jan 21, 2018, 03:24 PM »
I am a newbie at ice fishing and recently learned the Active Fishing method.  I was wondering why/how it works and have some questions, assumptions, conclusions:

-  Assuming the fish you are targeting are on the move, don't you have as much chance sitting and waiting for them to come around than you moving to try to find them right underneath you?  Seems kinda analogous to trying to be rescued if you are lost in the woods: You can keep moving hoping to run into a search party, or you can stay put and hope they come to you.
-  If the fish aren't moving, of course, you have no choice but to hunt them down
-  So if it is dependent on the fish's activity level, what do we know about the reasons fish cruise or hold at a location?  Species, structure, time of day, weather, etc. right?  Can someone help me understand how Perch behaves, generally?
-  It seems to me that Ice Fishing naturally allows one to move around and cover ground, particularly compared to shorebound anglers. You can cover the whole lake with the only effort being hole drilling, there's no need for a boat, etc.

Anyway I'm rambling, just having a bit of a thought exercise and hope that the experts can chime in and add to my understanding.

Thanks,

Will

Offline RyanW

  • Team IceShanty Maniac
  • **
  • Posts: 1,223
Re: How/Why does Active Fishing work?
« Reply #1 on: Jan 21, 2018, 07:30 PM »
Usually when you see guys successfully “active fishing” as you call it, I’m assuming you’re talking about the “run and gun” and hole hopping tactics, what you’re seeing is the guys staying ahead of the school. They will fish a hole with active fish and when the fish start moving away, the angler will move to another hole in the direction that school is traveling. The goal is to start fishing that new hole before the school comes and goes. As the school is under the new hole, hopefully the angler can catch a few. Then, when the school moves again, the angler will repeat the process by fishing a new hole in the direction the school is traveling. Sometimes it works great and you’re on the school the entire time. Sometimes it doesn’t work great and you’re just slightly behind the school.

Usually, once the fish are found, a bunch of holes will be drilled in that general area so they are good to go when you need to follow the school. Some guys don’t mind sitting and waiting for the school to return. Some guys like chasing them. Comes down to personal preference of fishing style. I use to be a camper but since getting my drill auger setup I’ve been drilling lots more holes during each outing. In my opinion, if your goal is to catch fish and with the influx of fishing technology we have today, there’s no reason to fish an unproductive hole unless you just feel like hanging out on the ice. Sometimes I just like to wait for the fish if I don’t feel like moving around but I go into it understanding that day might not be as productive. Any day on the ice is better than a day in the house though.

The chances of catching fish are greater if you follow the school because there are actually fish under you. You can’t catch fish that aren’t there. Might as well be sitting the couch.
“When the fish are biting, it really doesn’t matter what you’re using. When the fish aren’t biting, it really doesn’t matter what you’re using” - Uncle Dave

Offline wlai

  • IceShanty Rookie
  • **
  • Posts: 17
Re: How/Why does Active Fishing work?
« Reply #2 on: Jan 21, 2018, 09:39 PM »
Thanks Ryan. That makes sense. I'm wondering though: How do you know which direction the school is going?

Offline RyanW

  • Team IceShanty Maniac
  • **
  • Posts: 1,223
Re: How/Why does Active Fishing work?
« Reply #3 on: Jan 22, 2018, 04:18 PM »
Anytime man. If you’re using electronics, you can swing the transducer of your flasher in the hole, under the ice. You will see, on the screen, if and when it picks up fish. Take notice of the direction the transducer is swinging when your flasher picks up the fish. They will look like suspend fish since the “bottom” is farther away now due the angle of the swinging transducer. Then, just fish a hole in the direction you picked up fish in. That’s why having several holes predrilled in an area helps, so when you find the school you don’t have to waste time drilling a new hole every move. Just drop your jig and you’re good to go.

Same concept applies without electronics though. Find a area that’s holding fish. Drill a series of holes. But instead of using electronics to locate directions of roaming schools. You could setup some tipups/tipdowns and observe the patterns that the school is taking. Use those as visually markers above the ice almost like checkpoints in a race. You’ll see which ones go off and which ones don’t and soon you can have a better understanding of there movements for the day. Then, when you know how they are moving, you can jig those holes and move the tipups/tipdowns to new locations to just keep an eye on the school incase they go off in a different direction.

Another good way to do it is, again, locate fish and drill holes. But this time you have a buddy or two with you. In this case, they are your tipups/tipdowns (visual markers) to let you know which direction they are moving. Still setup some tipups/tipdowns though. Once you find the school, have your buddies spread out and take notice of who is getting bites and when they are getting them. If “Joe” starts getting bites before “Bill”, then “Bill” starts getting bites while “Joe” is getting less, then they are moving in a direction towards “Bill”. As the angler, we have to do our part to stay on top of those directions. One guy can do it but 3-4 can cover some decent water pretty quickly and effectively (especially if everyone has their own sharp auger and flasher unit). Using fishing buddies will also help in determining what the school is really keying in on for food or if that matters at all. Have everyone start by using a different style bait (size, color, meat, presentation, etc.). Do the fish want that particular bait because it looks good or do they want that bait because that’s all there is to eat? It can also help determine which year class fish are willing to hit which bait. Little guys can go for anything but the smart big ones might prefer a bait more specific and those big smart ones are always mixed in with the school. But they have been around a while and aren’t always so willing to eat the first thing available. Jigging above the school 6” to a few feet can also help bring out the more aggressive eaters (usually the bigger ones).

With the tipups/tipdowns and with friends, you’re basically making a flasher unit out of the surface of the ice. A flag or a buddy getting a bite “over there” is the same thing, visually, as spotting fish on the flasher screen when you swing the transducer “over there”. I hope this makes sense. I have a tendency of muddling up information by over explaining things but I want to convey they most relevant information. Feel free to keep asking questions man.
“When the fish are biting, it really doesn’t matter what you’re using. When the fish aren’t biting, it really doesn’t matter what you’re using” - Uncle Dave

Offline 32footsteps

  • Team IceShanty Addict
  • *
  • Posts: 565
Re: How/Why does Active Fishing work?
« Reply #4 on: Jan 22, 2018, 09:57 PM »
RyanW touches on a lot of key points already. I'll expand on a couple of them a little bit... 

There's the active method of "hole hopping" which he has described very well...but you can also "Active" fish by camping out on a spot. More on that in a bit... 

I use tip-ups as an indicator..primarily for perch but I will also use them for bluegills if that's what I'm targeting. When searching for perch I won't use a pole until I get locked into an area where they are located. In WI we can run three lines. I'll put a tip-up in and move on to my 2nd. Get that one in and on to my 3rd. If the 1st tip-up I put in hasn't gone up when I'm done getting my third in it gets moved. When I'm done setting that one in I'll move #2 if it hasn't gone up. Rinse and repeat until I find the fish. The three I'll use are rigged differently. One with a basic treble hook, another with a jig, and another with a small 'lil Joe spinner rig. Eventually something will go up.  From there I tighten things up and get a bead on how they are schooling. If they show preference to one of the rigs I'll exclusively use that set up...the jig or the spinner or the plain treble.  Instead of jumping around with one line I am jumping around with three covering more water. Once the spread is tightened up I might pull a tip-up and work the area with a jig pole..or I might just stick to tip-ups. It all depends. Perch can and will show a preference to one type of rig over another and this is why I won't use the same thing on all three lines. 

Now...as far as "active camping" goes...when I'm focusing on pike I'll use dead bait 99% of the time. Most guys will just put tip-ups in and wait. Not me. Lines go in and every 10 minutes or so I'm skimming holes. Just the action of lifting a tip-up up with deadbait far enough to clean a hole out can trigger strikes. I might use the same holes multiple days in a row but even on warm days when holes are not freezing up I'll walk through them and lift them up a foot. That is "active camping." I will move lines around depending on conditions and time of day. The lake I do most of my pike fishing on has a very distinct time/location correlation. If I'm setting up before sun-up I'll start them out in about 4-5 feet of water. Once the sun reaches a certain angle I'll move them a bit deeper to about 10ft. Then when the sun is going down and that sun angle reaches a certain point they go back shallow. If you don't do this on that lake under sunny skies the shallow stuff will not work during high sun. Likewise, if you leave them in deeper water they "shut off" in the late afternoon.

Another "active camping" concept that I'll employ particular with perch is based on the notion that perch are curious creatures. Stir up the bottom a bit by pounding a bait down and they will sometimes come in for a closer look. Pump a flashy spoon around and they'll come looking at it. If I am in an area where I know perch are and don't want to work with tip-ups I'll run two dead sticks about 10 feet apart and drill a hole in between them. In that hole I'll drop a slender spoon, perch talker, or something along those lines and work it like crazy. I'll pick up a few fish here and there on that "active" rod but it's usually the dead sticks that are getting the most action. They wouldn't be as productive if I wasn't doing something to draw them in closer.

Combining the two principles...if I'm fishing with a small group targeting panfish I will always put out a couple of tip-ups with dead bait on them...then when the bluegill/perch/crappie bite shuts off completely I'll call the shot and tell the guys that a pike is nearby. When that happens I immediately do the one foot lift on the dead bait and wait. Usually within 5 minutes one of them goes off. 

By going "active" you can in many situations increase your odds at catching fish. If you are smart about how you do it those increased odds go up even more. Active fishing can seem like a lot of work but it is also fishing "smarter."

 



Iceshanty | MyFishFinder | MyHuntingForum
Contact | Disclaimer | Privacypolicy | Sponsor
© 1996- Iceshanty.com
All Rights Reserved.