Ice fishing on Nipissing

[HUKDONFAWNIX]

Hello everyone,

 

All this snow and cold weather has made me start to dream about the hard water season. I'm going up north to Nipissing this winter to try some ice fishing and I have minimal experience in this area of fishing to say the least.

 

Just wondering if I could get some suggestions on what lures to bring and any techniques that will help make our trip sucessful would be fantastic too!!

 

We are targeting Pickeral and panfish.

 

Thank you in advance for your help!!

[e-z-out]

lures to have on any ice fishing trip.

1) Salmo Chubby Darter size 3 is great for pan fish size 4 is great for walleye 5 and up is great bigger fish.

2) Glow Bug is always good for when it gets dark.

3) Fingerling have always worked great for me as well.

4) Devils Standup i use this one when the bite gets hard.

all great when jiggin the bottom.

 

Here are a few others that i have but don't use much of

Rubber Leg Ant, Moon Glow, Tear Drop, Dart Finky, Barracuda, Gold Roc, Fish-N-Eye, Glow Bee

 

Hope that helps

[HUKDONFAWNIX]

Thanks Aile Goby!

 

Do you use any spoons tipped with a minnow, worm or maggot?

 

Any particular colour for the Salmo Chubby Darter? Or specific colours for any of the other lures?

 

Sorry for all of the questions.

[e-z-out]

When it comes to spoons it would go with these spoons

Slammer, Hammer, Swimming Minnow, Rattler Mille Lacs, Jigging Minnow, Swisher Leech,

 

For the chubby darter colours i would go with

Gold Metallic Orange

Perch

Real Roach

Hot Perch

Luminescent Orange Dace

Red Tail Shiner

Luminescent Gray Dace

 

That are the colours i run they work great for me.

you might want to pick up other colours and give them a try.

 

As for the jigs i would tip them with maggots when it comes to pan fish but for walleyes minnows seem to work good.

 

Hope that helps

[4thgen]

If you are new to ice fishing, it will probably make for a more enjoyable trip if you rent an ice hut. Most of the rentals are on reasonable fishing areas (havent been in 8 years so it could be different) and they supply you with bait. When I was up there, emerald shiners off of 3 way swivels at one and three feet off bottom worked well. I think I was using size 8 hooks (fairly small). We usually caught around 40 fish in a day, mostly perch but the odd walleye, herring and pike to keep things interesting.

 

Although we didn't use artificials, swedish pimples with one side of lime green have been a killer walleye bait at other lakes tipped and untipped.

[Muskieman]

Jig & Minnow..

 

Pink or Chartreuse/Orange works for me...3" Shiner...on a jiggin' rod

 

Walleye[pickerel] rig on a dead line..... 3" Shiner X 2

 

RFS

[Bernie]

Clampit and Randy hit it right on. Forget the fancy stuff. Jigs and a minnow still the best.

[Thrasher]

I have a couple shacks out there. Do you know when or where you're going? Definately jig and minnow are tops. But there are odd days out there that gulp minnows work better. In terms of spoons, I like northland jigging spoons, good rattles and variety of colors, try tipping it with a minnow, just the head of the minnow, mix things up. I can't say it enough, the fish are always there, and 9/10 will always bite, you just need to find out on what!

good luck!

Thrasher

[CaseyB]

I use a jigging rod with a silver/yellow 1/4 oz. swidish pimple, tipped with a minnow head. Second rod just has a plain minnow inches off bottom.

[Gerritt]

I saw a TV show can't remember the name, the host took an outfitter out from Sturgeon Falls to go for a day outing out by the French fer Walleye.

The outfitter advised the host to use the simple jig and a worm (it was late June).

The host opted fer crankbaits, minnow baits, spinners, etc.

The charter guy was catching all kinds of Walleye (Pickerel), and after about an hour or so of catching nothing, but a Pike, the TV host reluctantly switched to the simple presentation of the Jig and worm and began catching fish.

 

 

crankbaits for ice fishing??

 

your hole must be HUGE!

 

G

[limeyangler]

I agree with the keep it simple idea. I was sat next to a guy last year who was using some mono line attached to red maple twigs, a sinker set 12 inches above a plain hook with a medium minnow. There's me with my fishfinder, fancy rod rests, Northland thumper jigs,........what happened?....i caught a tiny walleye...he was pulling them out one after the other...some nice size ones too,

 

CLICK HERE FOR A REPORT FROM THAT DAY LAST YEAR

 

 

Anyway, with all that said, the same method does not always work, and presentation for the same species on different lakes varies hugely, guess it depends on what the primary forage is...sooooo....keep it simple...but maybe have about 200 simple techniques available to you...lol....guess that really helps ya....NOT!