Author Topic: what did you learn last ice fishing season?  (Read 9823 times)

Offline Mike84

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #30 on: Jun 09, 2021, 04:14 PM »
Learned how to inject my own soft plastics and use them successfully.  I also came to the realization that some folks aren't better fisherman they just fish a lot more than I do.  At least that's what I am telling myself. ;D
I'm just here for the ice fishing groupies..

Offline perch chacer

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #31 on: Jun 14, 2021, 04:32 PM »
My buddy and I ice fish a lake with large weed flats ( they extend 3/4 to a mile out from shore and 2-3 miles wide across the entire end of the lake.  Water depth in the weeds run from 1' at shore to 10 to 12 feet out at the far edges).  The weeds stay mostly upright throughout the ice season and are hard to fish in the Winter. There are quit a few sparse weed pockets throughout and most fishermen move around trying and find these pockets to fish in.  Lake bottom is a gradual slope out the 40 ft.  Perch caught within the weeds run about 4"-8" with a occasional 10" fish.  As large as this weed flats are when you get hundreds of fishermen wandering around looking for the spare weed pockets and continually cutting holes, the fish bite can be difficult.  It was the 2nd or 3rd ice trip to this lake last year that we decided to get away from all the fishermen, so we moved quit a ways out beyond the last hut.  I cut a sting of holes and found weeds at the 1st two and the other holes were weed free.  I had found the weed edge and no one within 400-500 yds of us.  The rest of the day we were into some very nice perch 9 - 11" as average and two of us catch around 75.  Needless to say we went out to the weed edge the rest of the season and no one caught on.  Lesson:  get out away from the crowd.

Offline smitty

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #32 on: Jun 25, 2021, 12:21 PM »

I learned not to rush onto the ice to get to the "sweat spot" even if it was well below freezing for a few days or so.
The edge looked completely solid until the third step and I shrunk 3 feet instantly. It was 8 degrees that morning I got out so fast the water never made it under my gore tex bibs so I lucked out. Lesson learned!!!!! Always check the ice first!

smitty :tipup:


Offline Tuma

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #33 on: Jun 30, 2021, 09:46 PM »
I learned that I may be out of shape but a smith sled made me feel young and in shape.  I could barely tell my sled was behind me when I was walking.
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Offline badger132

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #34 on: Jul 01, 2021, 04:12 PM »
I learned how much I miss the social part of fishing. COVID made me go alone a lot or with my wife, which was fine, but I really miss getting out with a bunch of kids and seeing them catch their first fish through the ice.

Offline Royalwapiti

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #35 on: Jul 11, 2021, 08:57 AM »
Might be old news for some of you.  When Perch fishing I learned to hook my minnows at the back end of the dorsal fin (on the body above the spine) so the head is hanging down slightly.  This compared to hooking it in the dorsal and have the minnow hang level.  The fish come up from the bottom and strike the head first.  My catch rate improved drastically.
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Offline Raquettedacker

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #36 on: Jul 11, 2021, 09:23 AM »
I learned it is getting harder and harder to stand back up after setting a tip up….. :P
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Offline hardwater diehard

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #37 on: Jul 11, 2021, 09:45 AM »
Might be old news for some of you.  When Perch fishing I learned to hook my minnows at the back end of the dorsal fin (on the body above the spine) so the head is hanging down slightly.  This compared to hooking it in the dorsal and have the minnow hang level.  The fish come up from the bottom and strike the head first.  My catch rate improved drastically.

Although its a dead bait Pike technique the logic make sense...why wouldn't it work scaled down and with live bait and a single hook placement  4:57 mark




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Offline Royalwapiti

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #38 on: Jul 12, 2021, 03:32 PM »
Although its a dead bait Pike technique the logic make sense...why wouldn't it work scaled down and with live bait and a single hook placement  4:57 mark


Yea, I don't hang them down all the way but same thinking.
You can't get the fruit if you don't go out on the limb.

Offline SLAYERFISH

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #39 on: Jul 19, 2021, 12:02 PM »
I learned that I'd rather be fishing from my boat in 75F weather! ;)
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Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #40 on: Jul 30, 2021, 02:13 AM »
I learned not to drill 20+ inches of ice….and then reverse my drill auger……snow/slush was enough to unscrew the shaft on the chuck of my clam plate. (Have a 2nd gen plate).

Also learned sight fishing in 15 ft of water is a blast.

Offline RapShack

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #41 on: Jul 30, 2021, 05:04 AM »
  When Perch fishing I learned to hook my minnows at the back end of the dorsal fin (on the body above the spine) so the head is hanging down slightly. 

Try hooking them straight through the tail like you would for crappie.  Also if you're just using a plain hook with a splitshot try the HT Tiger Willow spoons or something similar.  Its basically just a weighted hook so the minnow has no freedom of movement it just dangles there.  Orange and purple have done well for me on tipups.
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Offline DR.SPECKLER

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #42 on: Jul 30, 2021, 06:14 AM »
I learned i have enough icefishing  gear and i am no longer buying anything new but bait.why invest when the season  gets shorter and shorter and prices go higher and higher.i already have a hoard of gear.think im back up to 5 flasher/fish finders.

Offline Agronomist_at_IA

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #43 on: Jul 30, 2021, 08:25 PM »
I learned i have enough icefishing  gear and i am no longer buying anything new but bait.why invest when the season  gets shorter and shorter and prices go higher and higher.i already have a hoard of gear.think im back up to 5 flasher/fish finders.

We had a nice length season here. With decent ice

Offline Fish Farmer

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #44 on: Aug 01, 2021, 07:33 PM »
I learned that whatever I thought I knew about "the bite" at one favorite lake didn't work this year or happened much later. I went someplace else and caught fish doing the typical things they should be doing.

Offline slipperybob

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #45 on: Aug 04, 2021, 12:49 PM »
I learned that I spend a lot of time sleeping if I'm not really catching much of anything.  Gosh also great to suddenly wake up to a flasher screen full of marks and catch fish.  ;D
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Offline FreshwaterPhil

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #46 on: Aug 23, 2021, 08:40 AM »
I learned that government lockdowns (here in Canada) while paying people to stay home from work indefinitely, end up promoting fishing like never before. Never seen as many people out ice fishing on weekdays as last season, on spots where I'm normally alone. Now that the free ride finally expired for most people, hoping to have some more ice to myself again this season.

Offline zcm_82

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #47 on: Aug 23, 2021, 08:48 AM »
I learned that government lockdowns (here in Canada) while paying people to stay home from work indefinitely, end up promoting fishing like never before. Never seen as many people out ice fishing on weekdays as last season, on spots where I'm normally alone. Now that the free ride finally expired for most people, hoping to have some more ice to myself again this season.

+1 on that. I've been ice fishing the same batch of small ponds for several years, and very rarely see anyone else on them. A couple of seasons, my holes were the only ones on some of them all season. Last winter they were all swiss cheese a week into good ice, and there was trash left everywhere 😑

Offline badbrad2186

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #48 on: Aug 23, 2021, 09:23 AM »
My buddy and I ice fish a lake with large weed flats ( they extend 3/4 to a mile out from shore and 2-3 miles wide across the entire end of the lake.  Water depth in the weeds run from 1' at shore to 10 to 12 feet out at the far edges).  The weeds stay mostly upright throughout the ice season and are hard to fish in the Winter. There are quit a few sparse weed pockets throughout and most fishermen move around trying and find these pockets to fish in.  Lake bottom is a gradual slope out the 40 ft.  Perch caught within the weeds run about 4'-8" with a occasional 10" fish.  As large as this weed flats are when you get hundreds of fishermen wandering around looking for the spare weed pockets and continually cutting holes, the fish bite can be difficult.  It was the 2nd or 3rd ice trip to this lake last year that we decided to get away from all the fishermen, so we moved quit a ways out beyond the last hut.  I cut a sting of holes and found weeds at the 1st two and the other holes were weed free.  I had found the weed edge and no one within 400-500 yds of us.  The rest of the day we were into some very nice perch 9 - 11" as average and two of us catch around 75.  Needless to say we went out to the weed edge the rest of the season and no one caught on.  Lesson:  get out away from the crowd.

Been doing this for years no one catches on to us at least. We always do better than shanty village
If you sit around all day and do nothing your a bum, but if you sit in a boat all day or in a shanty and do nothing they call you a fisherman

Offline Buckshots

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #49 on: Aug 25, 2021, 09:40 PM »
I learned that the Strikemaster 24 volt with the 8” bit is a piece of sh$&! I feel like I got a bad lite-flite. It wobbles when it drills, and it chews out the flighting. I also learned that I’m not the only one, and SM blames it on the blades and says we need new blades and we are going n our own for that. Sure were a lot of new 24 volts sold that need new blades! Where has quality control gone. Quality has gone down hill on all ice gear. Strikemaster, Otter, Striker... all crap anymore. But the prices have all gone up! At the end of the day, it’s all made in China. And all these folks care about is getting rich at our expense.

Offline Baetis62

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #50 on: Aug 25, 2021, 10:33 PM »
 I learned that not all the gps marks and presentations I used successfully 20 years ago on a 7000ac reservoir 2 hours west of Denver catch fish like they used to...and the weekend drive on I-70 sucks WAY worse! 

Offline uncleshorty

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #51 on: Aug 25, 2021, 10:50 PM »
I learned that even if we had ice in Texas we wouldn't ice fish.

Hell, it'd take all day to chop a hole big enough to get the boat in...
Ice fishin' & turtlin's all I crave...

Offline Sylvanboat

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #52 on: Aug 26, 2021, 03:39 PM »
I learned that even if we had ice in Texas we wouldn't ice fish.

Hell, it'd take all day to chop a hole big enough to get the boat in...

Local fishing notable Spence Petros also won’t ice fish. He said he couldn’t get the hang of casting into the hole.

Offline badbrad2186

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #53 on: Aug 26, 2021, 06:15 PM »
Local fishing notable Spence Petros also won’t ice fish. He said he couldn’t get the hang of casting into the hole.

Casting is the toughest part of ice fishing
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Offline nindo24

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #54 on: Sep 10, 2021, 05:43 AM »
I grew up targeting trout, because that's what my grandfather went ice fishing for and I went with him. Only recently did I start targeting panfish through the ice. I better learned where to catch them.

I also learned a valuable lesson while ice fishing in Erie too.
Keep Your Stick On The Ice!

Offline RStock521

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #55 on: Sep 10, 2021, 07:48 AM »
I grew up targeting trout, because that's what my grandfather went ice fishing for and I went with him. Only recently did I start targeting panfish through the ice. I better learned where to catch them.

I also learned a valuable lesson while ice fishing in Erie too.
Care to share what your lesson was for fishing Erie?  Was it Erie, PA or are you talking Lake Erie (western basin) in general?  Just curious because I went all-in to ice fishing after the 2014/15 Lake Erie ice season, but have since learned that it's not too often we get the opportunity to fishi it!  Got out a couple days last year, but it was as sketchy as can be.

Offline nindo24

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #56 on: Sep 10, 2021, 10:06 AM »
Care to share what your lesson was for fishing Erie?  Was it Erie, PA or are you talking Lake Erie (western basin) in general?  Just curious because I went all-in to ice fishing after the 2014/15 Lake Erie ice season, but have since learned that it's not too often we get the opportunity to fishi it!  Got out a couple days last year, but it was as sketchy as can be.

I was fishing the Presque Isle Bay area and, after doing some hole hopping, lost track of the ice in relation to the shore line. The wind had been probably a consistent 35-50 mph all day and the ice got blew off the shore line. Needed ice rescued by the US Coast Guard. I live 4.5hrs away so it was definitely an eventful first time ice fishing the Erie area. Definitely going again, but will pay better attention.
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Offline RStock521

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #57 on: Sep 10, 2021, 11:36 AM »
I was fishing the Presque Isle Bay area and, after doing some hole hopping, lost track of the ice in relation to the shore line. The wind had been probably a consistent 35-50 mph all day and the ice got blew off the shore line. Needed ice rescued by the US Coast Guard. I live 4.5hrs away so it was definitely an eventful first time ice fishing the Erie area. Definitely going again, but will pay better attention.
  Yep, wind speed and direction isthe name of the game on Erie.  I didn't realize Presque Isle Bay didn't completely freeze though, good to know.  I know the main lake very rarely freezes completely, so always gotta keep your eye on the wind.  Glad you made it off safe and learned from it.

Offline IceAddict87

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #58 on: Sep 12, 2021, 09:54 AM »
Fishing with a camera is an absolute blast. Really helps show fish behavior when they are being finicky. Also learned that I may need to downsize my gear for trips. I’ve been using an otter lodge as a one man. I got a cottage at the end of the year and I am really enjoying it. Also if the fish aren’t biting somewhere get the hell out. Wasted an entire day of a South Dakota trip waiting for a bite window that never opened.

Offline hardwater diehard

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Re: what did you learn last ice fishing season?
« Reply #59 on: Sep 12, 2021, 10:52 AM »
Fishing with a camera is an absolute blast. Really helps show fish behavior when they are being finicky. Also learned that I may need to downsize my gear for trips. I’ve been using an otter lodge as a one man. I got a cottage at the end of the year and I am really enjoying it. Also if the fish aren’t biting somewhere get the hell out. Wasted an entire day of a South Dakota trip waiting for a bite window that never opened.

I'm with you on a couple things ...down sizing is recommend.. especially  late ice for sure ...hard lessen to learn/apply as I often bring way to much gear . A camera for me is a scouting tool after holes are drilled ..down the hole looking for structure and/or fish ..mark those and fish them first .

My late ice set up ..PS bring sunscreen .. This was my last outing sunshing/bluebird/beautiful day but.. limited fish were cooperating . That Walmart directors chair is wort the price of admission



Give a man a fish he eats for a day .Teach a man to ice fish he has an obsession for a lifetime

 



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