Jigging for Lakers

[Gezzah]

Hi, I recently bought a Vexilar and even though they are more commonly used for Walleye and Panfish was hoping it might be handy jigging for Lakers.... what tips do people have for jigging lakers, tackle etc? Your thoughts?

[adkRoy]

here you go



http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?board=42.0

[Hard_H2O]

I use my FL8-SE for the lakers. You can see them come in. You can see them sniff your bait. If they do not hit lift it up a bit and you will see them follow. Repeat as needed. Lifting with a little jiggle at the top teases them into striking.

The Vex is a great tool for all types of ice fishing.

[Gezzah]

Thanks for the info that will help! I have the same Vexilar and will be giving it a go this afternoon for the first time. Trout season starts this weekend, and I am hoping it will give me more success catching a trophy Trout!

[Hard_H2O]

What transducer do you have? Do the FL-8s come with the 12° or the 19°?

[Gezzah]

I have the 19 degree transducer.... i was hooked after watching my friend use them for Walleye and seeing the fish come up to the bait and then seeing the tip of the rod go!! 

[fshnfool]

  Do the FL-8s come with the 12° or the 19°?

19

[Hard_H2O]

I have the 19 degree transducer.... i was hooked after watching my friend use them for Walleye and seeing the fish come up to the bait and then seeing the tip of the rod go!! 

I have the 19° transducer also. The narrower cone transducers are better in deeper water. They also make 12° ones as a compromise between the 9° and the 19°. There are also dual cone that have a switch so you can select between a 9° and 19°cone angle.

A few years ago I bought a 9° before a trip to Canada for lakers. First time out I had it hooked up to the FL-8 and in the back of a snowmobile as we were heading out. The dransducer slipped out of the hole and wrapped around the track. That was $60.00 up in smoke. Luckily I also had the 19° with so I just had to unplug what was left of the new one and I used the 19° one. It was too much of a bad omen for me so I haven't replaced it.

Here is a chart showing the bottom coverage with various cone angles. YMMV. You can see that as the water gets deeper the higher angle cones cover a lot more area on the bottom.

   9° Cone
10' deep   Ø 1' 6.888"
20' deep   Ø 3' 1.77"
30' deep   Ø 4' 8.665"
40' deep   Ø 6' 3.554"
50' deep   Ø 7' 10.442"
60' deep   Ø 9' 5.330"
70' deep   Ø 11' 0.219"
80' deep   Ø 12' 7.107"
90' deep   Ø 14' 1.996"
100' deep Ø 15' 8.884"
   12° Cone
10' deep   Ø 2' 1.225"
20' deep   Ø 4' 2.450"
30' deep   Ø 6' 3.675"
40' deep   Ø 8' 4.900"
50' deep   Ø 10' 6.125"
60' deep   Ø 12' 7.350"
70' deep   Ø 14' 8.575"
80' deep   Ø 16' 9.800"
90' deep   Ø 18' 11.025"
100' deep Ø 21' 0.250"
   19° Cone
10' deep   Ø 3' 4.162"
20' deep   Ø 6' 8.324"
30' deep   Ø 10' 0.487"
40' deep   Ø 13' 4.649"
50' deep   Ø 16' 8.811"
60' deep   Ø 20' 0.973"
70' deep   Ø 23' 5.136"
80' deep   Ø 26' 9.298"
90' deep   Ø 30' 1.460"
100' deep Ø 33' 5.622"
   30° Cone
10' deep   Ø 5' 4.308"
20' deep   Ø 10' 8.616"
30' deep   Ø 16' 0.923"
40' deep   Ø 21' 5.231"
50' deep   Ø 26' 9.539"
60' deep   Ø 32' 1.847"
70' deep   Ø 37' 6.155"
80' deep   Ø 42' 10.462"
90' deep   Ø 48' 2.770"
100' deep Ø 53' 7.078"

[Hard_H2O]

19

Don't the higher end units come with the 12°?

I wonder why they haven't made that standard for the FL-8?

[Gezzah]

So from what I gather from the info you posted, with my 10 degree transducer if I am fishing 30 feet of water I am covering a 10 foot area on the bottom?? Correct?

[Hard_H2O]

So from what I gather from the info you posted, with my 10 degree transducer if I am fishing 30 feet of water I am covering a 10 foot area on the bottom?? Correct?

Yep, with a 19° at 30' you are covering approximately a 10' circle. The cone is really not circular in shape IIRC but that is pretty close. It also depends on the bottom. If you are over a sloped bottom the coverage is different.

9° Cone
30' deep   Ø 4' 8.665"

12° Cone
30' deep   Ø 6' 3.675"

19° Cone
30' deep   Ø 10' 0.487"

Any Vexilar transducer will work on any of their units.

I need to get a new transducer.

Looks like from Vexilar.com the 9° is $89.00, the 12° is $79.00, the dual beam 9°/19° is $109.00.

You can also get a switch box with two plug holes to run two seperate transducers. You can then use it in two holes and switch between the two.

We ran one in a fish shack with the 9° in about 40' of water. We were crappie fishing. We drilled two holes with a third between for the Vex. We could see both of our jigs and it worked very well.

[Gezzah]

wow, and I thought I took my fishing seriously!! But then again, you are from the land of 10000 lakes!

[Hard_H2O]

wow, and I thought I took my fishing seriously!! But then again, you are from the land of 10000 lakes!

There are guys here with a lot more experience, info, and equipment than me. I have been on ice shanty for a while and Vex questions come up pretty often. The chart is a simple spreadsheet I made a long time ago when Vex was first changing from the 19° as their standard.

I have an old FL8-SE with the old style 19° transducer. Hardly cutting edge. It would be nice to have one of the newer units with the narrower cones, better interference rejection, brighter display, bottom zoom. The new units cost to much when my old FL-8 just keeps working.

[baldy]

I bought my first flasher (Marcum LX-3tc) last year and likewise, caught and landed my first lakers through the ice. 
It's amazing to see a fish come to your jig and then know that they are not interested as there is no bite.  But to see them react to raising the jig to get them to strike was awsome.  I would have never caught the ones I did without. 
I use horizontal jigs that flow a lot with the jigging action and tip them with some bait.  (tube jigs with sucker meat, rubber/maribou jigs with meal worms, rat finkee tipped with meal worm).  If they come to the jig and don't take it, raise it.  If they follow keep going up.  If they stop, drop it back down past them and then start to raise it again. 
The last 3 I caught, the I raised and dropped the jig ~15' at least 3 times.  They finally nailed it after a minute or 2 of the game.

[Hard_H2O]

I bought my first flasher (Marcum LX-3tc) last year and likewise, caught and landed my first lakers through the ice. 
It's amazing to see a fish come to your jig and then know that they are not interested as there is no bite.  But to see them react to raising the jig to get them to strike was awsome.  I would have never caught the ones I did without. 
I use horizontal jigs that flow a lot with the jigging action and tip them with some bait.  (tube jigs with sucker meat, rubber/maribou jigs with meal worms, rat finkee tipped with meal worm).  If they come to the jig and don't take it, raise it.  If they follow keep going up.  If they stop, drop it back down past them and then start to raise it again. 
The last 3 I caught, the I raised and dropped the jig ~15' at least 3 times.  They finally nailed it after a minute or 2 of the game.

Exactly the experience I have had. I fish where it is artificial only and barbless hooks. We use tubes also but plain and unadorned by meat.

Old school is to drop to bottom, crank up a couple, jig, crank up a couple, jig, crank up a couple, jig...until you have worked the entire column and then repeat. With a flasher you are not blind and you can see the fish. Drop down, see the fish, tease them up, see them react, set the hook.

[GAMBELL]

I use my Fl8 se for lakers and it works just fine.  I love seeing them rush in and slam the jig.