New to 'Bow fishing...help!

[Hardwaternubie53]

Hey!
  I'm new to rainbow fishing. What do you fellows recommend for line, leader, hooks, bait & anything else I need to know....
Thanks!
HWN

[salmotrutta]

find a sandy bottom if able.Water 5' and shallower.4# flourocarbon with small salmon egg hook.Bait your hole with a few salmon eggs.Pautzke brand eggs work best for me.Powerbait is also good.There are also a few other techniques.Do a forum search on iceshanty for rainbows and you should find alot more info.

[Pasquatch]

I'll give you a quick rundown of what I know, as little as it may be...

Shallow water, preferably a fine gravel or sand for bottom.\
Light line, I usually fish with 6lb test.
Small hooks, I usually fish anywhere from #12s to #18s.
Shiners around 3-4".
Small splitshot for weight, might not even need any. Put that splitshot up about 18" from the bait.
Fish all different levels of the water column in this shallow water, I usually fish anywhere from right under the ice, to right near the bottom, ranging from 5' of water to upwards of 18'.
Get set up early in the morning, and jig for perch or whatever you'd like, away from the tipups. Keep away, keep your sound down.


Alot of this information is stuff that I have picked up from other IS members over the years.

That should get you into them.

-Wes

[Hardwaternubie53]

Thanks a lot, fellows!

[Wiener]

I agree with the other posts,

You may also want to try the following :

1)  use flourocarbon fishing line.

2)  use small hooks, I usually make quick strike rigs with Number 18 or 20 treble hooks.

3)  use a scent, like smelly Jelly.  This will keep the smell from your hands from contaminating your bait.

Keep very quiet,  Tip downs, rattle reels and very light tip ups are the best.


Hope this helps,

Wiener 

[baldy]

I'm more of a jigging guy.  We catch rainbows and browns the same way.  Using small jigs tipped with some sort of live bait (meal, wax, maggots).  Sandy bottoms.  In deeper lakes (100"+) we find them in 20-30'.  Flasher is a huge help.
Favorite jigs:  Rat Finkee (10 or 12) in glow, 1" tube jig (with scent), small maraboo jigs.  Just mess with color to find right one.
4lb test line with the jig on 3' of line under a barrel swivel.
Spring bobber on a light or medium rod.  They may be smacking the jig or may just mouth it so you need to be able to detect a really light bite sometimes.  We've caught 10" bow that come in a hammer the jig one right after another and 5 min later catch a 22" bow that hardly puts the jig in their mouth.

[Flash_King]

Using Polar Tip/up's
18in leader-4-6lb florocarbon
size 14 barrel swivel
Main leader 60ft 4-6lb florocarbon
*I tape the lightest trip setting so the flag just slides off
salmon eggs/velvetta cheese size 14 trebles where legal/or size 14/16 scud hooks(local fly shop)
live bait**size10/8 gold hook with the smallest shiner possible;you my be bothered with perch in some lakes,but trout should keep you intertested

**** BE QUIET(Remember your fishing SHALLOW water), and stay a safe distance from your tip up's

Lures - Small swedish pimple with a small sliver of shiner skin attached

[jflood]

as previously stated, stay shallow and quite. 95% of the time i cath the bows in 5 fow or less. Theother 5% is in no greater than 20 fow. I fish  I agree with all the, location, techniques & baits mentioned. My favorites bait in order of productivity :emeralds shiners, waxies, trout worms, hellgramites and ice flies for jigging

[Oldfart]

And the first 4 hours or so of the day outfishes staying all day long. For me, anyway.