Ice Fishing 101.4 Bluegill Search

[Captain Don]

1. I'd Start out by the dropoff near "Grumpy's Shin Hole". Drill alot of holes with my Lazer 224 from Shallow out to the deep and use my Vex and Color Spool Cam to help locate fish/weeds. I'd expect to find them at the bottom of the drop off where the insect life will be the hottest! Use my small handmade verticle jigs with spikes with a Fly (Bloodworm) 12 inches up and Jump holes til I find the Big Gills.

2. Next I'd move near the Gravel east of Johnny's Creek Inlet and again drill holes in all depths around the area and check with my electronics and Jig/Spikes.

3. Lastly I'd try in the shallows by Snakes Bay again using the same technique.

My 2 Ice Rods are light action with spring bobbers. Once the pigs are located I slap on some bigger Waxies and lightly "pound" the jig and catch my LIMIT!!!!

[Lone Fisher]

Before you start,   Rig 2 of your rods with 2-4# line, 1 with a CS&J Clown Gill Pill and the other with a CS&J Hot Orange Shrimpo. Make sure you have a full tank of gas in your auger, or charged battery for electric. A sled to pull your Flasher, auger, rods, bait and some snacks!! 


1. Start by Grumpy Shins Hole in the morning and drill from 5' and out to 20' and check on the Vexilar to see where they are. Look for them over a weedbed or on the edges of weedbeds. Jig 3-4 inches up for a couple seconds then hold for 10 seconds or so and repeat, with CS&J Hot Orange Shrimpo tipped with a waxworm on a light combo rod with 2 or 4lb testline.

2. By Old Toms Honey Hole in the afternoon, and locate the 20' divot andfish where it slopes back up to 15' try to locate Weeds. Once you found them, from where you are, drill about 20 holes around and jig aggressively with the gill pill tipped with a waxworm with same rod as #1.

3. By Shibbs Bay in the evening, At Johnny's Creek Inlet Drill from a little ways west of the inlet and go east until you hit the 10' spot off that point at depths from 5 to the 10' where you ended. Look with Vexilar for what the bottom looks like, find a weedbed and fish just above it with CS&J clown gill pill tipped with a waxworm. Using the same rod and technique as #1.

Bring your limit of bluegills home and cut em up!!

[TommyG]

    1 Snibbs Bay would be my first stop.  Checking for weeds in 5-10 ft.  Make the ice look like swiss cheese.  Lure to start with would be a 1/16 ounce frosty spoon with 5-6 spikes on it.  Set up the fl-20 and start hole hoppin.  I always start with a big lure that is easier for fish to see and will bring them in from a long way away.  If they come in to look but wont take it they are already busted. Cause i saw them on the fl-20 and will adjust to what they want usually downsizing.

    2  Snake Bay again 5-10 feet I would work it identical to Snibbs. 

    3   I really like the look of the 10-15 ft slow tapering flat from Old toms honey hole north to snibbs bay looks like a good midday spot for bull gills.  Again start with a frosty spoon the weight of it will let u get the lure down faster so you spend more time fishing so u can eliminate the dead water faster.

   Equipment   light and medium light st. croix legend rods, 2# p-line floro, vrxilar fl-20, 1/16 frosty spoons.  When I downsize I go to demon jigs, fatboys, fiskas, and  I love the panfish assortment bag from jammin jigs which has a nice variety of oddball looking jigs that u can't buy in stores.  U can usually be sure when a fish sees one of those he hasnt seen it before giving u the upper hand.

    Technique   Start with the frosty spoon and jig fast most people think it is to big for gills but i have placed very good in tournaments using it.   But to be honest it is mostly a search lure as long as they come in to investigate.  Then I adjust accordingly.  When I am chasing gills I always jig the lure down to them slowly.   Makes it look more natural than something just dropping right in front of there face.  Red and white spikes are my bread and butter but I always have some waxies on hand.

   So were is this lake so I can go tear it up.

[Pasquatch]

Assuming that we're fishing first ice on this lake, I'm going to look for shallow water, with an inlet nearby and somewhere that has moderate weed growth. I am also looking for close proximity to deeper water, as these fish are going to move deeper as winter progresses. With that in mind...
Area 1- Just south of the Shibbs Creek Inlet, in approximately 10 feet of water. I think the weed growth would be substantial, but not overwhelming here, and I would use a flasher to locate fish, which I feel would be settle right down near the weeds. I would use 1 or 2 pound test line, a small (#12 or #14 hook size) chartreuse or orange jig. I would tip this with a waxworm, and vary jigging actions. Considering this is first ice (or close to it), I would start off with a pretty aggressive jigging action for bluegills, and then slow it down until I am practically deadsticking.

Area 2- I would focus on that flat ranging between 5 and 10 feet off of that point near Johnny's Creek Inlet. (Flat is marked by that large area between gradient lines) I would set up a set of tip-downs here with pinhead minnows to locate these bluegills, with a few different depths to see if the fish are right on the bottom or suspending above the weeds a tad bit. Once I find those fish, I'm going to focus in on them with the smallest sized chartreuse Hali tipped with waxworms, then moving to marmooskas.

Area 3- I would head over to Grumpy Shins Hole and look in around 12 feet of water. Since I am in a bit more water here than the other spots, I would really rely on my flasher to find the fish. I think the weedline would die off a lot faster in this spot than those flats on the other side of the lake, so I am going to look hard on the edge of the weedbed to find the fish. I'm going to stick with a small chartreuse or orange teardrop tipped with a waxworm and hold it right above these fish. Considering they are sitting in deeper water than the other fish, these bluegills are moving towards their midwater holes, and therefore I would move the jig very little, and then work it faster.

If were talking later ice action, I am going to look for suspended bluegills, and deadstick for them. The flasher is absolutely necessary then.

I gave it a good whirl.

-Wes

[Iceshanty]

Last day to enter guys! I'll read the entries over and announce a winner some time this week.






-Scott

[bayonne]

1st spot would be grumpys i like the changes in dept in close to each other ive done good in other lakes with the same
2nd spot the in side bend of south bay in 5 ft of water
3rd spot would be johonnys point varing my dept
and lure choice i always use a small swedish pimple tiped with a waxie or a mousie this has always been my go to bait for gills

[Iceshanty]

Why is Shin so grumpy you might ask? Because the word is out on his hot spot and he's surrounded by team iceshanty members hammering slob bluegills! The 8-18' drop-off by Grumpy Shins spot is the place to be on this lake at this time of the year, if you work too deep you tend to get into the small fish. You may find some weeds still standing in 12' fow around grumpy shins spot, this is a prime area to drill a bunch of holes and start hopping. The fish aren't real fussy on this lake and the large fish will be in small schools, suspended somewhat, using something that gets down quick will help catch them faster. Have some teardrops and horizontal jigs in greenish colors on hand, some spikes, waxies or plastics are all you should need for baits.

Winner please pm me your mailing addresses.



1st Captain Don   -Icegator Cap, Marcum Charger, Militia Trial Package
2nd Lone Fisher  -Marcum Cap, Marcum Battery Monitor, Militia Trial Package
3rd rgfixit  -Team Iceshanty Medium Profile Cap, Militia Trial Package
4th Agronomist_at_IA  -Bumper Sticker, Militia Trial Package
5th Pasquatch  -Militia Trial Package

Gonna kick in two more Militia trial packs for
6th Mud n fun  -Militia Trial Package
7th Big Smith  -Militia Trial Package



Pretty neat to see everyones plan of attack. I think we can all learn from everyones posts.
Congrat to the winners and thanks to all who entered!


Thanks to Icegator and Marcum for the prizes!




-Scott

[bart]

Congratulations, everyone! Thanks for taking me to school...

[rgfixit]

Hey, Hey, Hey.....and to think...without electronics.

Actually this lake X is very much like our shallower Finger Lakes in NY. It very closely mimics Honeoye lake. A big Bluegill Factory.

I'll donate my winnings to the door prize booty for the NY Ice show.

This was fun.
RG

[Pasquatch]

Very cool.

Do you need my address for a militia trial package, Scott?

-Wes

[Captain Don]

WOW I won! Sweeet!

PM Sent... What's the Marcum Charger? Does it come with a Marcum Color Underwater Camera?

[Lone Fisher]

Sweet i cant believe i won! My buddy goes hey did you buy the Militia Package? and i said no no no.. but the first thing that i thought of was " hey didnt i enter some contest??" haha Thanks Ice Shanty!  I think i sent my PM.. if not tell me.. Does mine come with a Flasher or Underwater camera?!?! 

[Lone Fisher]

Very cool.

Do you need my address for a militia trial package, Scott?

-Wes

Nope he already added that for ya.

[Captain Don]

Received my Marcum Charger, Icegator Hat and IS Stickers yesterday...THANKS! 8)

The wife called me at work and said " NOW WHAT DID YOU BUY??!!!"

I said nothing it's stuff I won for being so smart at fishing! LOL!

Now I got another charger that will be "in the way" LMAO!

[bearbgone]

I can't take it anymore!! Give up the name of the lake!!