Needing advice

[Preacherdan]

Hey yall im fairly new to ice fishing, i have only been at it the past 3 years, and well... Last year here in central il we didnt hardly get any ice to speak of. I have alot of beginner questions and i didnt see a beginner thread , so i figured i would post them in this one.  As far as my ogger it does me fine, my little $8 dollar plastic rod got old very quickly so i bought a small rod with a spinner reel on it.  Any other advice on a rod would be nice, and as far as bait, all i have used is a whole rainbow full of assorted jigs with wax worms, i catch loads and loads of gills, and some small bass, but i always see pics of guys pullin up big whoppers, what other kind of baits are there? And do you just jig them too? Most my fishing i have done during daylight but i had someone tell me that i could tie a glowstick on at night and have good luck? Any tips at all would help alot, like i said im pretty new at this and have only caught a mess of gills and some small bass, would like to get into this in a more serious manner if we get some ice down here

[cbwestwy]

It depends alot on what type of "whoppers" there are in your home fishery.  With that said most of them can be targeted in a similar fashion.  Go to your local tackle shop and talk to the fellas there and try to acquire some larger Jigs - Rapalas, 1/4 oz tube jigs, and different spoons.  Get an assortment of colors and don't be afraid to switch them up to start to see what works best.  At the very least you will be getting extremely proficient at tying your knots well.  Furthermore, don't be afraid to slow down your jigging motion.  Often people are over jigging their rigs and sometimes the fish just want to come up and see the subtle bounce and then tattoo it.  At least start slower and go from there.  Sometimes you can pull a fish off the bottom and have him follow your bait up many feet and take it.  For a rod, go get yourself a couple of medium action Uglystick combos so you can have a few different baits rigged at once. They arn't expensive and you will have them for a long time. Lastly, if you don't have electronics, get them!  I like the performance of Marcum.  You can get into a cheap rig with their, Showdown II, which is a great little starter unit and makes a great hole hopping unit for when you upgrade down the road.  Good luck and keep fishing.

[polski]

If your willing to drive when we get ice I'll meet you for the day The place I go to we can target anything you want to learn Also every time you go out talk to fellow fishermen some are willing to give advice I live a few miles from bass pro

[Preacherdan]

Hey thanks guys that helps alot, polski, where abouts are u ill take  you up on that

[polski]

Libertyville I added you to my buddy list will shot you a message when we have ice

[Preacherdan]

sounds good thanks

[harpenter]

# 1 get a flasher if you don't have one.  I wouldn't go fishing w/out one.

#2 if you are looking for a different bait other than wax worms, get Spikes.  They last a lot longer than wax worms, and I have always done better with them.  I buy mine each year at http://www.vadosbait.com/

[Neebles]

Libertyville I added you to my buddy list will shot you a message when we have ice

Shoot I'm in Gurnee, pretty much the next town over...I wouldn't mind a meet up....

[toadhunter2]

good electronics and a good rod are the most important things you need with those 2 things I could catch fish on a little gold hook tipped with a piece of bubble gum

[Roncarr]

Sea herring = big northern

Stay far away from your tilt until the flag goes up.

My 2 cents

Good luck

Ron

[polski]

Here's some good reading http://www.odumagazine.com/Magazines/ODUMagNovIce2013/