IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Whitefish => Topic started by: Yooper77 on Feb 03, 2013, 09:34 PM
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Watching my camera there were whitefish all around my lures, but only caught 1 dink. Changed colors, and lures multiple times. They weren't even hitting the chum, but it did bring them in. I was using spikes, going to try wigglers tomorrow.
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Sounds familiar! Was out from the Bermuda boat launch yesterday in about 15ft of water. Seen a lot of fish around with the camera but only had 4 actually bite, had 2 on but lost them both at the hole. So frustrating. Was using a white swedish pimple tipped with waxworms. Good luck out there!
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I've had this almost every time fishing for white fish. Except in my experiences they ate the chum and when bait would fall off the hook they'd eat that too. So what I did was made a dropper off my swedish pimple with a size 16 hook, baited it and then baited the pimple too. Jig the pimple while keeping the dropper on bottom. Watch em come in and check out the pimple and then grab the dropper off bottom, only way I've ever caught whitefish.
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They have to be the most frustrating damn fish swimming. It is just amazing how many can be swimming around your lures and not hitting
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They have to be the most frustrating damn fish swimming. It is just amazing how many can be swimming around your lures and not hitting
Yup, it's so frustrating when you see videos of guys using the same lure, bait, technique and they're just nailing the whitefish, while you sit there and watch them swim right by. A dozen nice ones swim within inches and here comes this dink and he attacks it. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
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How are you guys jigging? Subtle? Aggressive? I don't know if the whites over in MI are anything like the whites on Green Bay, but I've had the most luck on aggressive jigging patterns with #2 Raps tipped with single wax worm. They strike and miss a lot, but I just keep popping it 18-36 inches at a time and let it swing back down. They will be chasing it like crazy on the flasher. It seems like the moment I slow down and go to a subtle bluegill-like presentation the whites lose interest fast. Seems like most will grab it (or strike at it) when the rap is gliding back down. We did have one day though where the best presentation of a slow rise with subtle pulsing/jiggling was the ticket. Our fishing this year has been mostly in 4-15 feet of water, better luck up shallow in the 4-6 foot range. Haven't hit any of the deep water spots further north yet.
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whitefish act different in almost every body of water. it has to do with their diet. if they are feeding on gobies/ other fish, spoons and jiggin raps should work. where i fish i have to use eggs on the bottom. i can jig all i want with no matter what it is, i can watch them on the camera and they wont even look at it. find out what they are eating.
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Going to try wigglers the next time I go out. I figured since they are feeding on them and ignoring the spikes and waxworms I'll give them what they want.
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This sounds like a lot of my experiences too! I fish BBDN quite often and the whitefish there feed almost totally on gobies. I use the "double trouble jig" from Walleyes Choice http://www.walleyeschoice.com/catalog/index.php?categoryID=14 (http://www.walleyeschoice.com/catalog/index.php?categoryID=14) since it imitates gobies bouncing around the bottom. I think the trouble I'm having this year is every time I get a whitefish it's stomach is stuffed full of gobies so they are eating the real thing and not falling for my fake one. I have found you have to move it all the time to get a whitefsih to bite. In other bodies of water this would not work well if they are feeding on something different.
Here is a vid from 2-16-13 of the typical whitefish action that day.
http://youtu.be/Yv1KENulDOU (http://youtu.be/Yv1KENulDOU)
Here is one from last year when I finally got one to bite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEHCe0GlD5E (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEHCe0GlD5E)
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I fish BBDN quite often and the whitefish there feed almost totally on gobies.
If they are feeding on gobies, try the size 2 jigging raps, tip with a waxie or piece of gulp on the bottom treble. Pound bottom, pump them hard 2-3 feet, short 1-2" pumps to swim the rap in a circle. Gotta try something different when they aren't even looking. Had a few "drive by's" on Green Bay this weekend but for the most part, any fish that swam through the hole, if you could get it to look at your lure it went into frenzy mode and continued to circle and swipe at the bait until you got a hook in their lip. I know it can vary by location, but what worked for a buddy and I on sunday was pumping the raps 18-24 inches pretty much constantly until fish showed up then just swimming the rap in a circle or jiggling the rap in place. If they fish looking like they were losing interest, pump it again a few times and they almost always came back. Once you got them in that frenzy mode, 9 times out of 10 they ended up with a new lip piercing. A couple of our 30-some fish did puke up gobies while reeling them in and judging by the amount of excrement they were leaving on my tent and the ice, they are eating well. We were fishing over mussel beds, tried some sandy flats but nothing there. (Slider rig may also work well since it looks like you are fishing over a sand bottom and you could use the spoon to stir bottom and attract fish)
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Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try next time out. Any color work better?
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We both used glow hot perch on sunday but I seem to use a different color every time we go. I honestly can't tell if color makes a difference and I have used a handful of different colors - black/gold, chrome/blue, firetiger, pearl/chartreuse, clown, glow hot perch. I think it's more of a reactionary bite to the movement than anything. If we are marking fish or seeing fish and not getting their attention, we either change presentation (jigging motion or change your lure all together) or we change locations and find active fish. We usually don't stick to a spot unless we are getting results.
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I went out and gave the wigglers a try. Pimple on the bottom pounding away, and glow jigs with wigglers on top 2 jigs. After 2 1/2 hrs of prime time fishing 3-5:30 pm only 1 fish on camera and it didn't come with in 3 ft of the jigs. Not sure what the heck was going on, pounding the bottom and even pounding the camera, usually brings in a few curious fish.
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i fish where everyone uses single eggs for bait. i tried jigging with just about everything under the sun but i can watch the fish on my camera all day not even look at my lure. i do a lot of fly fishing and tied up a few bead head nymphs. tied one on the other day and man they loved it. i would just barely move it off th ebottom.
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the problem here is you are using too large of lure in conjunction with bait. I've fishing whitefish successfully for 26 years with just a copper wire worm, no beads, no bait at all, if you use it they tend to come up, snif around and swim off. With wireworms they don't hesitate to attack.
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i fish where everyone uses single eggs for bait. i tried jigging with just about everything under the sun but i can watch the fish on my camera all day not even look at my lure. i do a lot of fly fishing and tied up a few bead head nymphs. tied one on the other day and man they loved it. i would just barely move it off th ebottom.
Were you in the Soo fishing, or downstate?
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Good thread. I never had any luck with the dang things.
WS
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Made it back out to BBDN yesterday but the current was way to strong to try a small jigging rap. I went with a 3/4 oz double trouble and caught 3 whitefish, 2 of them took it off the bottom, the other with the 1-2" jigging near the bottom. I was tipping the double trouble with a couple waxies on each hook. The 2 foot jigs did seem to bring some in best I could tell when the current would let up.
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you off the garden peninsula?
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TTT
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here are some flies I tie and they work really well on whitefish for me
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152048586194720&set=a.6210719719.8938.503349719&type=3&theater
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I bought some wiggler flys last year, but I haven't been out this year to try them. Another guy told me he uses tapioca soaked in salmon oil (not cod oil) for chum and uses small fish oil tabs for bait. I haven't tried it yet. Tough, because I fish for them on a river.
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ashmun bay or mosquito bay?
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I haven't heard anything being caught yet. I'm living in St. ignace and commuting up to work. My gear is near East Lansing. Not a good situation.
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I have a buddy who works at customs u.s. and we fished ashmun bay before. too shallow for me
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So here's how I catch finicky whitefish;
I use a very light action rod(the lightest they sell at my shop), 3lb fluorocarbon line (any heavier I find they won't bite) a small eggsinker above a swivel and a good 2 ft lead to a tiny teardrop jig that's maybe 1.5 cm total length with a single LIVE wax worm hooked on keeping it 6-8 inches off the bottom. I use an orange-red color jig. To jig it I just barely move my rod, just enough to tell if there's any weight on the line. Long/hard jigs deter them. I usually get one every 10 minutes in the early morning, first light is the best but they hit in the afternoon as well, kinda. Even catch some Lakers with this too. If you don't want to re-spool to 3lb, just use a long lead.
Such a finicky fish requires very fine methods. Every Lake is different but who knows try it out.