Can I get some helpful tips

[Home Wood]

I have been ice fishing since I was in elementary school. My dad first introduced me to it and since then we always make it to the Meredith NH derby every February. We have always used tip ups with small or medium shiners. We usually send them to the bottom and then bring it up a foot or so in about 20 -30 feet of water not far from islands and rocks. I know Winnipesaukee has alot of nice trout, but I have only caught one laker in my life and that was Feb 2005. I caught a bunch of perch and then caught the laker and then caught perch again. I don't remember the brand of line we use, some tip ups have black line and some have light blue. The hooks are tied to that line with no mono leader, though I am not sure what the mono leader is for anyway. I would appreciate some tips for catching more fish, specifically trout, I have caught a bunch of perch, pickerel and some smallies. What am I doing wrong? Thanks

[Home Wood]

Oh ya, I am 25 now and one laker is not successful in my opinion.

[billditrite]

the only thing in your desription that dont seem right is the no leader thing. i wolud add a 10# to 12# flourucarbon leader to your existing set up. the leader will be much less visible especially in clear waters of winni    if you are putting all your baits a foor or two off the bottom id bring one up higher in the water column as lakers will very often feed higher in the water column. put some nice lively bait halfway up the water column and something dead and smelly on the bottom. hope this helps.

[pieman1998]

well her LG we use suckers in 75ft to 125ft on the bottom and a 10 ft flou line  8 lbs test with acoulpe of spitshots just anuf to get it down

[Home Wood]

Thanks for the tips. I assumed the leader was for the visibility issue, but was not sure. I saw that somebody uses Fireline, I have used that on my regular pole, but never on a tip up. Is that a good idea? I will change the line this winter and add leaders like you said. I caught the laker out of the same hole I was pulling perch after perch out of. So maybe he was hanging around them for feeding. I have seen suckers at the bait shop, but they seem huge and not to mention not cheap. I never knew what to do with them, so we have never used them. The neighbor next to us on the lake uses cut up sucker and jigs with it. I want to give jigging a good try this time too. I am looking at a fish finder from Cabelas, I think it's called the BottomBuddy or something. I have never used anything other than a sounder to find the bottom, so I have been fishing blind basically. Thanks again. Happy Thanksgiving to ya'll.

[billditrite]

get yourself some of those suckers and fillet a strip of meat off then cut a slit in the tail end to fork it and jig that sucker fillet halfway down. and hang on

[Home Wood]

Sounds good, I can't wait. I will absolutely take your advice. I still have about two months before I head back home from North Carolina to fish. I like to get up to the lake about a week before the Meredith derby so I can "practice" and find a good spot. Plus, two days of fishing is not enough anyway! Hopefully my buddy from work will come this year and he has never ice fished before, so I would like to show him a fun time and not get skunked. What do I do with the cut up sucker when I am not on the ice to keep them fresh in manner of speaking?

[deadsmelthead]

Home Wood, since you have some time before the ice hits I would do a little research and see what the lake has to offer for baitfish.. You mentioned you caught one before on this particular lake along with a bunch of perch, I target lakers 80% of my ice fishing and I believe if you find perch the lakers arent that far away..I have jigged up perch and had lake trout try to smash them just below the hole.. I would go back to that spot and expand from the area you fished before.. Somtimes for me lake trout fishing means drilling a lot of holes and moving around..

[tommyboy]

HW,

Do not use fireline on your tip-ups.  When a fish runs, that stuff can go right through a glove, and if you are barehanded, you might get to take a look at one of your finger bones.  I would go with the standard tip-up line and attach a barrel swivel or use a uni-knot to a 10 to 14 pound flouro leader.

And when you are using a jigging pole, don't be afraid to ditch the live bait and just use a 3 or 4 inch white tube jig with a good 'n heavy jighead buried inside the tube.  Those things can work wonders out there.

As far as the Bottom line fishing buddy from cabela's - my brother-in-law had one of those to use in his canoe, and it had more problems that he does.  I'd hate to see how that thing actually worked in the winter.  When I used to browse ebay a lot, there would usually be some used FL-8's going for around that price which would probably be a better fit for out on the ice.

[Home Wood]

Ok thanks. I will look into the Vexilars. I am going to respool all my tp ups with new lines and leaders. Thanks again guys.

[BOOBSS]

Hey Home Wood Dont be shy about using big suckers. Just step on them  till the guts blow outta em. Make sure to puncture the air blatter as they will drop better. On a trap put them 6in. to a foot off bottom. Give em a jig every once in a while to rile up the juices. As mentioned already go back to the perch. Good luck. It works for me with great sucess. And leaders are a must.

[Home Wood]

Ok I will give that a try. So suckers are better dead if I am understanding correctly?