Long (summer) rods on the ice

[Skiff]

For the last few years whenever I've fished for perch through the ice, I've used my 6 1/2' spinning rod, particularly in less than 12' of water.  I lay the rod on a mound of snow or ice about 2' back from the hole, with the tip over the center of the hole.  Then if a perch so much as thinks about hitting the minnow, the tip will twitch.  When I have a bite I lift the rod tip straight up, keeping it directly over the hole, and the fish will pop right out by the time your arm is all the way up in the air.  You can just hear the fish saying "This is tasteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeGeez it's bright............"

Then quickly rebait, and drop the jig back down without even touching your reel, and no need to reposition the bait near the bottom.  My son and I have used this method for at least the last 4 years, and I'd say the spinning rod tip senses the bite faster than the short ice rod held in my hand.

[Mr.Seaguar]

You must have one heck of a tall shack.

[Skiff]

   Good one, Mr. Seaguar! It would look maybe like a Corn Flakes box?  A 6x8 shack with 14' tall walls!    - Actually I don't have one, all my ice fishing is on open ice, so I've got only the sky above me. 

[Mr.Seaguar]

my mistake

[Iceshanty]

The summer rod thing is an old Green Bay perch technique and works quite well! Out on the big water perch will bite quite hard on live minnows for bait.

How it was done was the rod would be rigged with a classic crappie spreader rig with gold hooks and a big 1/2-1oz bell sinker to keep the line straight when the current was up. We baited up with a couple bay shiners dropped it down (this was before most people had flashers) reel up a foot or more and set the rod on a 5 gallon pail. Bites can be spotted when the rod dips from a good distance, an excellent way to to search for schools of perch. The best part was reeling up two 13" perch at a time!

Most just had a piece of plywood leaned up against the truck to block the wind and set up some lawn chairs. Back in the 1980's it was really a heyday out there for perch, catching your limit of 50 jumbos in 3 hours was no big deal. There would be several shanty towns of over 3000 people in one spot on the weekends and they would all be nailing them. It was pretty neat to drive out over 5 miles and see nothing but snow and ice and then come across a large group of ice fishermen like that.


-Scott

[Kodiak Commando]

Yeah not everyone has a shack. I don't because i have to hike a mile to 4 miles to get to the best lakes. I have used short and long but i perfer short ones. It's hard for me to tell which is more sensitive when deadsticking because i use small slip bobbers which seem to be more sensitive than rod tips and i can usually detect small bites when jigging with either. I like shorter rods for three reasons. Because they are smaller i can use them in my friend's shack and they are easy to pack which is important when hiking. I also love short rods because when i jig standing up i can see the lure and the fish's reaction.