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one of my favorite bait combinations is a piece of nightcrawler and a marshmallow
1) downsize your line to 4-6#2) keep your bait at least 3-4 inches off the bottom3) spring bobber on the rod tip vs bobber in the waterRod holder tends to be ineffective unless you're rockin' a Jaw Jacker... I like to hold the rod, maybe some slight motion up and back down. Always stay in contact with the jig, never let it slack the line on the way back down. Super slow motion. You'll feel the slightest touch or you will SEE it on the super-sensitive spring bobber before you feel it. GUARANTEE your catch rate goes up. I struggled at a lake JUST like yours last year. I was aggressively jigging for the stockers and not really getting em. The deadstick method was what they wanted, but by keeping the bait just a pinch off the bottom and staying in contact with the jig or hook and creating just slight movement, we were able to land 80-90% of our bites. Limited out in minutes and spent the next 3-4 hours rippin lips and takin pix.
What power and size ice fishing rod do you prefer for rainbow trout?
Cocktail shrimp are acceptable, but they fall apart somewhat too easily. I have had better luck with cooking large shrimp and then pulling it into pieces to bait the jigs.
Thanks dekatronic, I have an LX-5, I think 2014 was probably my 2nd season with it. It's especially deadly for the burbot and lake trout fishing I do. I typically don't bother with it where I fish kokanee b/c when they're not around, they're not at all, and when they're there, the action is limited only by the drop-rate of my jig. My focus has shifted to getting my son to catch them, but so far he refuses to reel them in. At least this season he's willing to jig, where last year as soon as the rod was in his hand he'd reel it until the jig hit the eyelet, then hand it to me expectantly like, 'it didn't work dad'.The kokanee in my home lake are really muddy tasting, unfortunately. This winter I'm planning on trying to smoke them to cover the flavour, fingers-crossed!
You don't want or need to cook them.Leave them raw.I cut mine into small pieces at home and put 40-50 baits in a container or baggie.Everybody gets their own container/baggie of bait.I get more baits cutting vs pulling apart the baits. Usually 12+ baits per shrimp.No need for big pieces even for big trout.Plus big pieces ruin the action of my jigs.Done this way I get my cost down to 1 or 2 cents per bait.Sometimes I add bait dyes or scents to the containers of cut shrimp.The scud or freshwater shrimp your imitating are small and not cooked.Why change that?