Fly the Team Iceshanty Flag! Iceshanty Proshop
Stick a camera down there and see what they are. Could be shad.
I bought a camera last year and could not believe how the fish acted to different presentations. Watching a gill suck in a 1/4 inch of a plastic and spit it out while the rod showed a bite was enlightening.I also watched blue gills suck in and spit out wax worms that I had dropped down the hole after taking them off the jig. Suck in and spit out a number of times and never actually eating them.I think that if I was watching this stuff going on with flasher it would have drove me nuts.I also watched gills take the swivel I had to keep jigs from spinning and run off with it. Just need to make a jig with a swivel with a hook on it.
One thing many don't take into account is in the transducers cone and the depth arc it shows under the ice. Usually our jigs are directly below the transducer showing its true depth. The arc of distance of the cone is showing distance from the transducer, not the objects true depth under the ice. If the jig is directly below @say 10' and a fish shows up on the outside edge of the signals cone showing 10' the fish may only be 9' under the ice due to the arc. Often one hears of the fish coming up to hit the jig as you lift it up when actually the fish finally sees it and is simply swimming over to it. Possibility that they aren't swimming up to the bait but actually swimming above it off to the side. They may not know it's even there
(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)this was something i made a while ago to help with this description. I always tell people fish don't just rise up from the bottom like magic they come in from the side of the cone which extended to the bottom is always longer on the side. totally makes you change your thought process when trying to get the tight lipped to bite. jigging 2' on the dial higher may actually put it right on their nose depending upon depth.
When fish aren't biting I have not found a presentation that will always work. As you can see from the other posts anglers try almost everything. My best luck has been to slow down and down size, that is not consistent either but has probably worked best for me out of all the things I have tried. I believe downsizing represents the natural food best especially for trout. In lakes around and most trout lakes in Alberta chironomids and scuds are two of the main food sources that are active year round, they are small and they move very very slow which makes them an easy target. If you have ever pumped a trout in the winter that is mostly what they have in them.......sometimes the odd boatman/beetle as well. (Image removed from quote.)This trout had three different sizes and 2 colors of chironomids in him. The orange are parts of dead scuds, dead scuds will be orange, usually lots of these in the winter.