i use dead frozen smelt, hooked through the back on a circle or octopus hook, so they hang horizontally, set about 3-6 feet off bottom, with a small split shot 1' above, on 15 lb florocarbon line.
i use a fishhawk, which is a wind activated, banana shaped plastic rig, equipped with a rattle reel and fin at one end that catches the wind, causing the hawk to teeter-totter freely from its top mounted wire, moving the smelt under the ice the same as the fin in the wind. (the line comes out of the reel, across the device, and thrugh a small hole down to the water). Set the tension on the rattle reel very light so the fish can take line without knowing anything us up.
sometimes it moves erratically, sometimes, slow, sometimes nothing until a gust of wind comes up. Which i think is the key to its effectiveness. Some days, jigging has been useless, but the smelt on the fishhawk has put many good fish on the ice in the past few years.
this is generally a deadly way to fish, and has also been VERY productive as well on late ice walleye, when other jigs and lures havent produced.
I havent bought live minnows in years.
