IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Jigging => Topic started by: five fathoms on Jan 16, 2018, 09:11 PM
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Looking back, it has dawned on me that practically all the bass of 18" or better that I have landed on a jig rod through the ice have been victims of panfish lures and were caught incidentally while targeting panfish. More than once, I have been hard pressed to tame a beast of a fish on wimpy gear, and always small spoons and ice jigs have been responsible. I have noticed that this tends to happen in shallower water. While I have used larger and more obnoxious lures, I can't recall them ever producing nicer bass.
I suppose I could draw all sorts of conclusions from this, though most of them would probably be erroneous.
Could it be that bass are sluggish in the winter, and seek small and infrequent meals? That doesn't gibe with the philosophy endorsed by the bass assassins in my area, who advocate large live bait for the undoing of the hawgs they catch on tip-ups.
Is it simply a result of probability? If panfish and bass share the same wintering areas, it would stand to reason that sooner or later, if a bass were present, it would chow down on a small morsel.
Could it be because bass and sunfish are more alike than different? What works for one member of the family may translate reasonably well up or down the scale. Bass are equipped with larger mouths and therefore more piscivorous , but I think in behavior and habitat and temperature preferences they are not far removed.
What have your experiences been with bass through the ice? How do you target bass while jigging?
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Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass are actually panfish
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Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass are actually panfish
Yep. Sunfish on steroids.
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I guess my wordiness confused the issue. Yes, black bass and sunfish are both members of the Centrarchids. That's a fact that can be easily verified.
What I'm left wondering is why I caught those fish the way I did. Why would all the largest bass I've caught jigging have been duped by lures much smaller than any I would have intentionally selected for bass? I haven't caught dozens of them, but it's happened enough times that I can't attribute it to chance. There may be a pattern here.
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Plain ole dumb luck. Got a bass on my wall that ate a ten inch smelt. Seen bass on the camera eye up almost anything they seem to be pretty curious. I'd say you probably fish more with small jigs so you catch more of them on small jigs
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#1 lure selection should be match the hatch. If you've got that lure...all fish that feeds on that will bite it.
Fish do have preference in forage too.
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Thanks to all who replied. Your input is appreciated.
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Might be that the bass are in the same area and notice the feeding activity and it is a crime of opportunity? Some of the largest bass I have seen on the ic3 were caught on jigs in the 1/32 range. Go figure!
Keep it safe! JDL