Any tips for brookies through the ice

[troutfisherwill]

Tips for catching brookies?
 

[SLAYERFISH]

Here in colorado they like something with yellow.

[troutfisherwill]

thanks for the tips ,Corn maybe

[trapperdirk]

Worms and I use salties for them . Fish shallow 2-6 fow and never beyond 10fow for me .Trees sticking out into the water and old beaver houses if you can find them . Don't wander around on the ice too much if at all possible because of the shallow water and how close to shore you fish they can be spooky . Jigging small tubes or a small cleo will also get their attention or a spoon with a dropper baited with a minnow .

                                TD

[nhtroutfreak]

I have used rainbow colored power bait in shallow water (<10ft) w/ a tip up.  Just put a sinker a few inches up from the hook to let is float back up a little.  Smooth, sandy bottom seemed to help. 

[iceintheveins]

It's mostly a matter of finding them. Here in Colorado they are much deeper unless they are still on their spawning beds, in which case they will be in 4 - 8 feet of water on flats and bars with gravel. Generally the brookies tend to be more bottom oriented than rainbows though they do suspend at times. The best depths are 10 - 25 feet of water, but again thats for here in Colorado. Last time out I found the brookies to be scattered in depths from 7 - 20 feet and they tended to be close to the bottom. They were postspawn and seemed rather sluggish and their undersides showed the wear and tear of the spawn. But they still were in their gorgeous colors. Caught lots of them along with a couple splake and plenty of rainbows.
Check the shallows and if you don't find them don't be afraid to check deeper. Smaller spoons or teardrops tipped with nightcrawlers or waxies work best. Custom jigs and spins shrimpos and ratsos also are great brookie lures when tipped with a single waxy.
Brookies seem to like wood cover as well. During open water I always find them near downed pine trees that are in the water and especially if they are on a steep dropping shoreline. Often during the ice season the brookies will suspend away from these trees, usually within 3 feet of bottom.

[troutfisherwill]

I have used rainbow colored power bait in shallow water (<10ft) w/ a tip up.  Just put a sinker a few inches up from the hook to let is float back up a little.  Smooth, sandy bottom seemed to help. 

do you have to be quick with the tip up for trout what size hook would you use for them

[coldbum]

eagle claw trout spinner (copper) with red (not pink beads)  size 8 with just a tiny splitshot
tipped with a bit of crawler  jigged around stumps,logs, and other shallow structure 

not to many legal brook trout waters here in NY during Ice season... I have fished this technique in a few small private beaver dam ponds with success

once you find them stay put... with low winter O2 concetrations they stay with the highest levels

good luck

[cl733]

We usually fish the shallow water when the ice is still thin but it is 10" thick now and we were cleaning up in about 14' of water  and 2-3 ft off bottom jigging a white or yellow leadhead ice fly with about 1/4 inch piece of shrimp on it by after christmas the brookies will be just about impossible to catch

[4cator]

In wyoming, all you need to do is find the dadburn things and they will bite. I have caught a zillion of them on a simple kastmaster, and a very small kastmaster at that, or small jig tipped with a piece of dead minnow. As far as depth is concerned, usually 5-15 ft in the mountain lakes.

thats all i have ever used. 

[trapperdirk]

It's mostly a matter of finding them. Here in Colorado they are much deeper unless they are still on their spawning beds, in which case they will be in 4 - 8 feet of water on flats and bars with gravel.

 They were postspawn and seemed rather sluggish and their undersides showed the wear and tear of the spawn. But they still were in their gorgeous colors. Caught lots of them along with a couple splake and plenty of rainbows.
.

Are you telling me here on December the 13 th Mackdaddy that your brookies there are either still on the reds or have just spawned .
 
 Or are you telling me also that they spawn under the ice  since this is strictly an icefishing site .

         TD

[grumpymoe]

Easy Trapper.....he's just confused with the seasons.......as usual......and loves nothing more than posting misleading/confusing information to any unsuspecting member....and BTW.....will most likely post about this being a personal attack!!...yaddda yaddda yaddda....you're either part of the fun here...or part of the problem.....and likely wont get it either way.....Grump

[rob-s]

  well grump   :tell us what you reallythink

[TroutFishingBear]

if you notice he said they were post spawn, but still had some colors.
Why would he (or I) post misleading information for people? Makes no sense to me why we would do such a thing. People on our local fishing site obviously know otherwise, as many have fished with us before. Think first before you post trapper and grump.
later.

[coldbum]

Are we talking big lake run brookies or smaller ponds, beaver dams etc?

on small ponds and beaver dams I have had luck with
eagle claw size  10 trout spinners ( red beads) with nightcrawler tips
jigged near beaver huts, stumps or other obvious structures in shallow water
1-10 FOW seems to  be key for me

I have not been able to latch on to a lake run yet, but they are not common here in our legal Icefishing waters

[trapperdirk]

It's mostly a matter of finding them. Here in Colorado they are much deeper unless they are still on their spawning beds, in which case they will be in 4 - 8 feet of water on flats and bars with gravel. Generally the brookies tend to be more bottom oriented than rainbows though they do suspend at times. The best depths are 10 - 25 feet of water, but again thats for here in Colorado. Last time out I found the brookies to be scattered in depths from 7 - 20 feet and they tended to be close to the bottom. They were postspawn and seemed rather sluggish and their undersides showed the wear and tear of the spawn. But they still were in their gorgeous colors. Caught lots of them along with a couple splake and plenty of rainbows.
Check the shallows and if you don't find them don't be afraid to check deeper. Smaller spoons or teardrops tipped with nightcrawlers or waxies work best. Custom jigs and spins shrimpos and ratsos also are great brookie lures when tipped with a single waxy.
Brookies seem to like wood cover as well. During open water I always find them near downed pine trees that are in the water and especially if they are on a steep dropping shoreline. Often during the ice season the brookies will suspend away from these trees, usually within 3 feet of bottom.

Read this TFB . Hes talking on the reds and off .You betcha its misleading and if you followed this advice then its way off base . This is an ice fishing site is it not, and trust me ice is ice no matter where your from or is that pelagic too . Give me break .

               TD

[trapperdirk]

note the word UNLESS in there bud....I think he was giving a reference for open water maybe...not sure can't read his mind lol. He talked about finding them near sunken trees later in open water too... If you follow the advice he gave for catching them, then you'll catch them. We did. Another guy did also that same day.
Read this and answer my question: Why would we mislead other anglers? It makes no sense... we have no reason to and therefore we don't. I don't have alot of pics but I'm sure I can scrounge some on ice ones up .
you have a pm.

Why would a brookie be on the bed while the ice was on . Hopefully we can agree on that at least TFB that this is Iceshanty.com where we talk about icefishing or is that different in CO too than anywhere else in the world . Why he's trying to intentionally mislead I have no idea . All I know is if I say fish close to wood or cover Mack says the opposite .If we say fish shallow, he says deep . Lets see those deep water brookies from under the ice . I dont have alot of pics but I'm sure I can scrounge up some on ice brookies if I must .

                           TD

[Pasquatch]

It is worded in a way that makes it seem as if a certain amount of your brookies are still on their reds. I know that they aren't but it puzzles me greatly why he would bring up the spawning patterns of brook trout when the question pertains to icefishing for them. I do not think the idea here was to intentionally mislead, but it sure was confusing to me, and I am sure others. I am not sure if Mackdaddy was talking about openwater postspawn fish, or some elusive strain of brook trout that spawn during the winter.... Either way, it is pointless in helping an icefisherman out.

It's iceshanty.com here guys, we're here to talk about icefishing. Want to talk about open water brookie patterns?
Try MyFishFinder

Don't hijack this thread please.

There is plenty of good information on here, guys, follow the basic consensus, and you will be well prepared for icing some nice brookies.

Good Day to all.

[deadsmelthead]

I usualy catch them by accident fishing for lakers and they never seem to be small always the 16-20inch range, usually get them on shiners and dead smelt hung halfway between the ceiling and the floor,  jigged a few up before also using medium to small pimples.

[grumpymoe]

We kept like 9 rainbows and 1 brookie from our first trip

My favorite cover for rainbows is rocks during ice season

All I need to say is look at my pictures of both he and I from last season

.....then post the pics of YOU and HIM......I've yet to see one....and this post is about brookies....not rainbows.....come on you two!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....or is everyone here speaking a language thats foreign to you?.....Wes.....if you run out of patience.....start a new topic about using cement shoes to wade for Brookies...Grump...BTW ....there's no pics to compare whatsoever...there's only ONE of your brother in his entire history here on IS..

[iceintheveins]

Why would a brookie be on the bed while the ice was on . Hopefully we can agree on that at least TFB that this is Iceshanty.com where we talk about icefishing or is that different in CO too than anywhere else in the world . Why he's trying to intentionally mislead I have no idea . All I know is if I say fish close to wood or cover Mack says the opposite .If we say fish shallow, he says deep . Lets see those deep water brookies from under the ice . I dont have alot of pics but I'm sure I can scrounge up some on ice brookies if I must .

                           TD

Good lord give it a rest. I have caught plenty of brookies every time I go ice fishing. In fact why don't you ask another angler around here by the name of Lynn Ensley. He and I agree that at times during very early ice, particularly in November, they ARE still near or even on the spawning reds, though they are POSTSPAWN and finished spawning several weeks earlier.
I WAS talking about ice fishing and I'm NOT trying to mislead anyone. I am talking about what works for ME here in Colorado and for ALL OTHERS who fish here. Fish in Colorado live in different environments than in Manitoba and thus ACT DIFFERENTLY.
You want pics? I'll give em to you. I just haven't even bothered with it because I'm not a braggard.

[grumpymoe]

You want pics? I'll give em to you

.....and??

[bigredonice]

I'm not a braggard.

oh dear lord.  I've tried to stay out of this.  I can't take it anymore.  You two Colarado brothers wouldnt get crap If your ego wasn't so freakin big...it seems like every post you guys act like your crap don't stink...and it does...just like everyone elses. 

Just drop the whole ego BS. please.

[TroutFishingBear]

to heck with it.
I've posted enough pics so people can see I catch fish, as does mackdaddy.
I'm done posting here for the most part.
Bigred, your post was referring mostly to trapper by the way. That is exactly his attitude you are talking about.
Enough.
http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=18223.0
no brookies, I know, so don't whine. You'll get a pic of a brookie soon enough. Course, this will help also cuz you insist we can't catch regular trout, lake trout, pike, perch, crappie, etc.