Where do we go wrong?

[Perchmaster]

I've been at this 15 years now - don't wanna sound like I've been coin this my whole life but over these years - I've gained equipment- i started with all the heavy flip over shanties and tip ups and augers and minnows buckets - probably spent close to 4 grand total switching up rods and equipment and lemme tell you what .........right now as of last year i bought a marcum - its a must have you need to know if theres fish down there - if theres not drill again and repeat - to be honest i drill 30 to 40 holes before i even put my lure down- i call it ice trolling and when the bite slows down i drill another 20-30 holes - it helps to have an auger thats a 4inch or a small nils master auger - the last 2 weeks of ice last year we drilled 50 holes and followed a school of perch for 3 hours and filled 2 - 7.5 gallon buckets full of 11"+ perch- I've never enjoyed ice fishing as much as i have until last year - the lighter the load the easier it it to move and fish and not have to concentrate on pulling shanties in 2 foot of snow and then have to drill holes when your already tired from dragging your stuff . i carry a bucket with a hole hopper for marcum and a small 4 inch auger - to be honest i don't fish for pike or salmon or trout i mainly fish panfish - perch and walleye - 8 inch holes are overkill- heavy augers that cake up with ice are overrated - keep it lite keep it simple keep it basic - i see more guys screwing with gas grills and heaters and tip ups and don't have the actual time to really fish the lake - tip ups are great if you wanna goof around and catch pike and drink beer but to have the thrill of finding a massive school of warlock perch that hit like smallmouth bass then i suggest finding a lake map and looking for rocky structure or weed beds - I've caught perch in 40 ft of water and and little as 6 foot - the electronics today make life much easier - i suggest the marcum vx-1p its a great starter unit and can be purchased from dicks or gander for under 300 or find a used one or even a vex on craigslist- i won't go fishing without it- if i were to leave my marcum home and i was 2 hours away from home i would drive back home and get it before i step foot on the ice thinking i was gonna have a successful day on the ice- with this tool you know the fish are down there and if there not then you need to mover and keep moving to you find them - don't get frustrated tho - you gotta find the fish first and also getting on the hard water before light helps i always go early say 5am I'm on the ice - you gotta be ready before there ready for you . hope this helps just remember keep it light keep it simple - don't hesitate to move if you don't get a bite within 3 to 5 min at a hole if you staying more than that your wasting time keeping moving- Team Ice Trollers

[inyahole215]

best thing to do is grab some beer and chips don't bring no rods and go talk to guys that are fishing walk around and ask them how they are doing you can feel people out and will no if some one is willing to help to show you how they set up tip ups are usually for big fish if going for pan fish try using tip downs

[run320083]

Joec I have only been in the area a few years but have done ok. If you want advice on a lake feel free to send me a pm

[pmac3]

Invest in a flasher. You'll never fish without it again.

[jsmex]

Leave your shanty home. Never get comfortable in one spot unless you're actively filling your bucket. If you're catching fish, you won't be cold, I assure you

Fish are often spooked by the noise and sight of the auger punching thru, so poke a lot of holes early and all at once to give them time to cool off. Then hole hop til you find them. If you find them, DON'T punch any more holes. In fact, don't make any noise at all. I see guys cleaning the ice off of the scoop by banging it on the ice, etc...game over.  That's one of those little intangibles that non-hardcore anglers don't consider....perch in clear water spook easily.

If you have a couple poles, try dead-sticking a jig/minnow a foot off bottom while hole hopping.

Jig your way UPWARD in 6" increments. Aggressive fish love to pound it on the way up. Non-aggressive become aggressive when they think it's getting away (that worked on the jumbo perch yesterday). I've found that dropping bait on a fishes head often scares them away. 

Marcum vx1-pro is a perfectly good affordable sonar. I paid $225 for mine at Dick's 3 yrs ago. The really expensive models have too many bells and whistles for the average redneck to figure out. Like that dude said earlier, I'd turn around and go home if I forgot mine, seriously.

Good luck, keep this thread going with updates on your success...AND JUMBO PICS!!!!

[lowaccord66]

Go fish and have fun.  To every post in here there is a solid anti-thesis.  For example one guy says noise spooks yet I'm sure we can all remember nailing them one after another right after drilling!

The key to this is the one thing humans are terrible at.  Change.  Change your spots, change lakes, change tactics, change everything.  Sometimes the only identifiable pattern in fishing is the way we actually fish!

Eventually you'll weed out doing all the wrong things out there.  We all started doing it all wrong until someone or something put us on the right path!  Speaking of, pay close attention to those that do catch.  What are they doing different?  Also pay attention to those getting skunked around you.  Pretty easy to exclude whatever they are doing!

[WARRIOR_ON_ICE]

I know I am repeating other people's replies, but here goes

1.) Make sure you are fishing early and/or late. The best bite for perch and crappies is the first and last hour of daylight.

2.) Make sure your tipup spools spin freely, having no drag. Panfish will notice this and drop the bait.

3.) Follow the 3 smalls rule - small lines, small hooks, small baits. I fish with bait from dinky fatheads up to 8 inch suckers, but caught my biggest pike, a 13 pounder, on guess what ? A 3 inch Hunt bait.

4.) Sounding the hole and marking your line to set bait at the right depth is absolutely critical - make sure to compensate for the extra distance your tipup sits down in the hole. If I had to pick a single depth to set every tipup at- I would choose 2 feet off bottom.

5.) Fish the edge of weedbeds, in sharp dropoffs, at the mouth of streams or rivers feeding a lake. Fish whgere you see a lot of fishing activity, there is a reason they are fishing there.

6.) Don't waste too much time on small ponds or lakes - I have personally seen this raped and almost completely fished out in 1 season as soon as word leaks that there is a good bite on them. Fish on the bigger lakes, you have 2 of the best in the whole country within an hour's drive, Lake George and Champlain.

[jsmex]

Go fish and have fun.  To every post in here there is a solid anti-thesis.  For example one guy says noise spooks yet I'm sure we can all remember nailing them one after another right after drilling!

The key to this is the one thing humans are terrible at.  Change.  Change your spots, change lakes, change tactics, change everything.  Sometimes the only identifiable pattern in fishing is the way we actually fish!

Philosophically speaking, you can also try some other intangibles like: hope and prayer....wishing works well at times. A little luck is nice too !

There's some solid advice here. Even with the solid antitheses....

[prchslyr]

Philosophically speaking, you can also try some other intangibles like: hope and prayer....wishing works well at times. A little luck is nice too !

There's some solid advice here. Even with the solid antitheses....

Firm believer in positive thinking helping me catch fish. It helps me with life in general, but I'll spare the mumbo jumbo I spew on my friends when I'm fishing. 
Try this the next time you're fishing: When you visually scan your tipups. Are you checking your tipups to make sure all the flags are down? A lot of my friends do. I check my tipups to see which one's have a flag standing. 
Stop walking on the ice planning to get skunked as always. Try something different like everyone has said and try it with confidence knowing that you're NOT going to have worse luck than you've already had.
I better stop before the granola crunching comments start. 

[lowaccord66]

Philosophically speaking, you can also try some other intangibles like: hope and prayer....wishing works well at times. A little luck is nice too !

There's some solid advice here. Even with the solid antitheses....

Thanks for the compliment I think.  Short of telling the guy how to fish exactly the way I find successful, I figured rattling off intangibles was the way to go.

Then again what do I know, not like I'm slaying fish every weekend 

[carcaju]

Firm believer in positive thinking helping me catch fish. It helps me with life in general, but I'll spare the mumbo jumbo I spew on my friends when I'm fishing. 
Try this the next time you're fishing: When you visually scan your tipups. Are you checking your tipups to make sure all the flags are down? A lot of my friends do. I check my tipups to see which one's have a flag standing. 
Stop walking on the ice planning to get skunked as always. Try something different like everyone has said and try it with confidence knowing that you're NOT going to have worse luck than you've already had.
I better stop before the granola crunching comments start. 

to late