Missing a lot of fish

[timeflies]

Went to a reclaimed trout pond over the weekend and got one small brown but had probably 4-5 more strikes on the jig i was using and 3-4 missed fish on the jawjackers, don’t have a bunch of experience going for trout through the ice and was wondering if there was something i didn’t know or if it’s just how it goes. I was using a clam rattle jig with what appears to be a size 6-8 treble and a 6 single hook with a small minnow on the jawjacker. Thanks -Gator

[meandcuznalfy]

Might try a #4 hook, check line for stretch, I had some line that would stretch a lot and I missed a lot of fish earlier this year.

[timeflies]

I’ll give the bigger hook a go, don’t believe it’s the line cause its all fluoro that i respooled this year and the stuff seems pretty stiff compared to mono at least thanks!

[Seamonkey84]

Trout tend to slash at bait a lot. Chances are the fish are nipping and pulling at your bait, and the rod pulls it before the hook is in the mouth. Try going with smaller bait so they get it all the way in their mouth. For bows and brookies I always have better luck with worms. Try a piece of night crawler big enough to cover the hook and have a bit dangle on each end, you can use bigger hooks in this case. Or go with smaller minnows and a #8-6 wide gap or octopus hook (or treble if legal) just under the skin in front of the dorsal fin.

[timeflies]

I might have to go with a worm because i was using some tiny minnows, smallest the local b&t had, maybe 2” at most thanks!

[flagup!]

I can't help you much on jigging (except on some days trout will just pick) but I have been using jaw jackers pretty consistently for the last 8 years.  I made my own jaw jacker style tip ups and had the same problem when I started. My 1st successful trip was when I changed from a single hook to a small treble (#14) and hooked a small 1 1/2" shiner right behind the head.  I was hooking trout in the upper lip every time.  The down side of the jaw jackers is the fish don't have any time to take the bait and swallow it.  They just set the hook to early.  As sea Monkey said on some days the trout just don't take the bait so readily and will nip at it until the jaw jacker goes off and the hook just isn't in the fishes mouth.  The best improvement I made to my jaw jackers is I glued a spinning reel spool just below the reel and I'll wrap my line about ten times around the spool and this allows the trout to take the bait with no resistance until it pulls all the line off the spool and the trap is set.  This set up does not work with large shiners but works fine for small shiners, worms, salmon eggs etc., etc.....  Some days trout inhale everything instantly and I'll change my hooks to a single #10 hook and use no wraps to maybe 2-3 wraps around the spool.   All depends on how they are feeding. 

[flagup!]

One more thing,  When I'm missing a lot of hits and none of what I said works 90% of the time the trout are pretty small 9" fish.  In that case if that's all I had to fish for, I would down size to 3-4 lb test and #12 single hook with a single egg or piece of worm.

[claymore6]

I switch out the treble hooks that come with the lure for one size up single "circle" hooks.  I do this on Lindy Darters and all my Swedish pimple type lures. I get better hook ups and loose fewer at the hole. My experience is that the treble hook is not the best for ice fishing unless you are using large suckers for pike and then a double hook treble rig (one in the back and a smaller one in the tail) seems to work better.

[skifisher]

Agree with changes in hook sizes/types, but it will definitely make a difference if they are sharp! Try the fingernail test to see if they’re ready to go.

[gf hardwater guy]

Sharpen your hooks. Just because they may have just come out of the package from the factory doesn't mean they are as sharp as they should be. Hooking on the edge of the ice coming up thru the hole can cause them to become dull as well. Check to make sure they treble hooks are also straight. Nothing like a bent treble hook to create a hook setting problem.

[eyeflyer]

I had an auto fisherman a few years back, sort of the same idea as the newer jaw jacker. I took the float that came with it off and used one of my wave wacker floats (similar to venom floats) which has the line slide under the water so it doesn't freeze in the winter. I would pull a few inches of slack so the rod didn't set immediately, that little bit of delay in hookset resulted in a lot more hook ups. I now use wave buster or venom floats on all my ice fishing rod/reel setups, it eliminates that knee jerk hookset which you miss a lot of fish on.

[Trophyman1]

I like the idea of using the float I think I'm going to give that a try

[slipperybob]

Some days, I miss a lot of fish.  Some days, I hook them all.  Some days, I pull them for a few feet before they unbuckle.  Some days I lose them just at the hole either when their head bumps the ice or they just surface and then their head starts to shake and the hook pops off.  Sometimes a single #14 or #16 hook does the trick.  Sometimes a size 2 or 1 hook is the answer.