Any tips for first time ice fishing?

[ccmtcanada]

Well, bly and I are heading out on our ice fishing adventure tomorrow evening on Lake Scugog. We have a heated hut and will be there from about 5pm until 5am....we may leave around 11pm or midnight depending on how the night is going.

 

I have never ice fished and bly hasn't been since she was a child, so we are pretty excited. We've received some advice from great members on this board thru chat and talking with fishindevil on the phone as well!

 

Here's what we have so far...oh yeah...we are probably going after perch and small walleye...secretly hoping for a stray muskie...haha.

 

- 2 tipups

- 2 ice rods with holders

- some spoons and small jigs

- depth finder

- 4 bait spreaders

- Ice scoop

 

The hut operator will be drilling holes outside the hut for us and supplying the minnows. We are also getting a ride out to the hut. The hut comes equipped with heater, lighting and stove. I also have that castable fish finder...will use it to mark depth and fish. Will also use a GPS that fishindevil gave me to mark where the car is on shore in case we have to pick up and leave in the middle of the night and walk back in. Could easily lose your bearings I'm assuming...especially if it's snowing hard. (thanks again for that fishindevil!!!). Will be dressed in layers, and we have neoporene gloves as well.

 

Any tips for what we are targeting? We will likely head out tonight to pick up a few last supplies...although depending on the responses, it may cost a small fortune...LOL.

 

Thanks everyone.

Cliff

[b2kptbo]

Munchies, refreshing beverage and a radio (need some tunes)...

[trapshooter]

Cliff,

 

I've heard the key on scugog is finding a hole in the weeds and jigging there. I would say keep jigging with one rod and set a minnow on a hook w/ a split shot up the line on your tip-up. Also, I think there's a real bite around dusk. Keep it simple. Small jigs and spoons... downsize if you feel it is a tough bite. No big clunky snap swivels to your jigs either! I tip with just the head of a minnow all the time if nothing is happening with a whole minnow. If your operator is going to drill you a bunch of holes, that's perfect... keep moving! Chances are you'll get bit early on in a hole or not at all. Nothing wrong with going back over to a hole you've worked before. Keep jigging, but try different speeds and lengths for your jigs. Sometimes I find moving the jig slowly about 3" up and down works while other times you've got to rip it up 2 feet real quick and let it fall. Depends what mood the fish are in. Try on the bottom (bounce that minnow into the bottom!) try just off bottom and try a foot or 2 up off bottom. I find a lot of the time when I get a hit it's right after I've changed something... presentation, location, depth etc.

 

Good luck and have fun!

 

Cheers,

ben.

[Mike the Pike]

Bring some hand warmers.And don't forget the bottle of wine for that wonderful wife of yours.Oh and bring your usual horshoe.A potty and toilet paper!!!!!!

 

Thats it .good luck to you and the wife.

 

Mike

[tonyb]

When jigging, lift...let it flutter down... then p a u s e (up to 3 seconds)

 

Try hooking a minnow through the lips so that when your jig is in the pause phase the minnow can twitch a bit enticing a strike.

 

You can change the cadence and agressiveness of the lift, as well as the length of the pause (including no pause at all)

 

Keep it moving, but don't be robotic about it, fish are often triggered by a sudden change in speed, movement, action.

 

Bring an extra fresh set of batteries for the GPS and keep in an insie pocket, keep the noise in the hut to a minimum (i.e. dropping beer cans on the floor, stomping, etc) Talking and music are fine, just limit vibrations as you are in shallow water.

 

Have fun!

Tony

[dsn]

Warning!! Your Smart Cast is not made for below freezing temps!! It's written on the back of your box when you bought it. You will kill it if you do.

 

The sale rep said to me its good for ice fishing too but on the box it says other wise!! Some folks will tell you the same thingy!!

 

 

dsn

[ccmtcanada]

Thanks everyone for your tips! Have made a note of them all.

 

One other question. We bought a few inexpensive tipups. They came with black line on it...almost feels like string and not fishing line. My question is, do you tie a leader on it or strip it off and put fishing line on it? Hmmm....who knew this would be so confusing...LOL. Thanks.

[Crazyhook]

thats dacron... I like to tie a fluro leader to it

[snag]

I bring a 3 by 3 piece of 1/8" plastic foam carpet underlay.

It weighs nothing and you can get down on the ground without getting wet.

[bob baker]

My #1 tip for hard water fishing is GO LIGHT - 4 lb test and SMALL jigs.

Where you're going there will be a good bite so minnows and jigs work fine.

 

When we fished Oneida Lake in Syracuse NY (large perch & Walleye), the bite would get real slow mid day. We had a good system that coaxed them in called "rocking the bobber". Basically you fish with a 1/2 oz sinker on the bottom. About 12" above you tie a small taerdrop jig with a mousy grub or maggot. About 10" above there we tied a plastic May Fly nymph with a couple more mousies.

 

We were fishing 20-24' so we'd drop in and with the line tight between the sinker resting on the bottom and your rod tip above the hole, you lower the line about 2", so the only weight pulling down is the small baited teardrop jig. (the sinker already resting on the bottom).

 

Then we made a slip loop in the line about 2" above water level andpulled it tight on a 1/2" length of thin rubberband. Hook a small (1/2") bobber just below the rubber band with the clip open, so the line can slide through but the rubber band catches on it.

The slight weight of the baited ice jig will keep the line pulling slightly against the bubber. (A good bite will take it right under)

 

But when they were finiky, we would just "rock the bobber" very slightly, every few seconds, a little less each time, wait, then start lightly rocking the bobber ever so slightly. Sometimes the bobber would barely move on it's side, but when you set the hook you had them.

 

It works great when there is a lite bite or mid day in slow conditions. When you reel in the rubber band goes right in on the spool. And when you drop back in the sinker get's it down in a hurry back to the fish zone.

Maybe bring an extra thermos of tea for comfort. Have fun!