I'm looking for an ice fishing tip, stocked lakers

[chris.brock]

 

there's a small derby we go in every year, it's this Sunday, I know there's a lot of knowledge on this forum, any tips would be appreciated

 

some background info on the lake-

 

-typically tough fishing, last year, us 3 guys only had 2 bites total all day, for all 120 guys, only about 25 fish get caught

-lake is about 1.5 km long, 600 lakers stocked per year, no ciscos, clear water, max depth 120'

-the spot we like has no obvious structure, we like 25- 30', just off bottom, we have caught fish up to 100' deep though

-the local CO said there has been 10 lbs + lakers taken, but the derby winner is usually less than 4 lbs

-we like set lines (2 per guy), single minnows, checking and freshening the minnows often

 

if anyone has tips that might be worth a try, it would be appreciated

 

if anyone is in Haliburton this weekend and interested in the derby, let me know

[BillM]

Watch for big suspended fish just below the ice (top 30ft of the water column).. Also I like to run and gun, if I'm not marking fish I'm moving every 10 mins or so.

[Joeytier]

120 guys on a 1.5 km long lake? Yikes haha

 

I fish a very similar lake close to my house...I fish 15-25 FOW with bucktails/airplanes and white tubes being my favourite, but sometimes the set lines are key. This lake only gets 400 a year but i can count on one hand how many people fish it more than once a year.

 

Good luck!! Lol

[Acountdeleted]

Pick up a flasher and jig a white tube through the water column. When you see that blip, reel like your life depends on it. Lakers love the chase.

[chris.brock]

Watch for big suspended fish just below the ice (top 30ft of the water column).. Also I like to run and gun, if I'm not marking fish I'm moving every 10 mins or so.

cool, I've caught my biggest naturals higher in the water column, it's tricky to run and gun, because the lake is packed with people

 

 

120 guys on a 1.5 km long lake? Yikes haha

 

I fish a very similar lake close to my house...I fish 15-25 FOW with bucktails/airplanes and white tubes being my favourite, but sometimes the set lines are key. This lake only gets 400 a year but i can count on one hand how many people fish it more than once a year.

 

Good luck!! Lol

I was hoping you would chime in, thanks, yeah- the lake is pretty packed with people

 

 

Pick up a flasher and jig a white tube through the water column. When you see that blip, reel like your life depends on it. Lakers love the chase.

on this lake, you don't see many blips at all, a good tip though

[danc]

I used to ice fish on a similar sounding lake and found that we'd have 10 minutes or so of non stop action, followed by 2 or three hours of nothing. This would repeat throughout the day. I'm pretty sure that being such a small lake, the fish simply swam the perimeter of the lake in a school, and when they got to our baits we'd catch them. Then it took them another 2 or 3 hours for them to circle the lake I'm guessing. Probably not much help Chris, but that's my theory. Stay put and be patient.

[Sinker]

My biggest shield lake lakers have come about 30ft down....jigging or set lines. What I like to do is drop my jig down until I cant see it anymore when looking down the hole. Believe it or not, it works. You might only get one bite all day, but its always a good one. All the haliburton/bancroft area lakes, this works for me.

 

S.

[solopaddler]

My biggest shield lake lakers have come about 30ft down....jigging or set lines. What I like to do is drop my jig down until I cant see it anymore when looking down the hole. Believe it or not, it works. You might only get one bite all day, but its always a good one. All the haliburton/bancroft area lakes, this works for me.

 

S.

 

I totally believe it. Great tip.

[Steve1991]

I often fish smaller sized lakes in Haliburton as well as a couple larger ones as I have a place up there and try to get out every weekend. I find that all the lakers I've caught have been using similar techniques to the ones you've listed. However when I'm not having any luck I tend to move into shallower water. Since there's 3 of you I suggest fishing on a drop off (water ~20' to 50') and hope for the best.

 

Although nothing's guaranteed on a Haliburton lake.

[jimmer]

I think I know which lake you are talking about and they should change the tourney to January. LOL I have always had luck in January and squat once February comes along. I usually use one set line and jig (tipped with minnow) with the other. Most fish are caught in less than 30'. Try out from the boat house on the south west side of the lake.

[pike slayer]

i agree with sinker. i find 20-40ft of water and drop a small silver #30 williams wobbler about 6-8ft below the ice and jig that. you can also tip it with a small minnow. you hook into a 1lber and your hook set just about flings them out of the hole lol. i do awesome for lakers, specks, and splake this way.

[fishindevil]

I have a little story about 15 yrs of lake trout fishing in the Bancroft/ mcarthur mills area for lake trout !!!!!! My bud lives on a small trout lake up there and we would put his hut on top of a sort of weedy rocky muddy shoal in about 15-20 feet of water adjacent to the part of the shoal that drops very steep down to about 120feet deep and we would look down the hole and see tons of perch so the game was to keep the perch from taking your minnow or small grub and this would continue over and over then all of a sudden the perch would litterally vanish like in a split second and sure enough within another second or 2 there were the lakers !!!!!!!!!!! It was unreal !!!!! Your heart would almost stop and you are now looking down the hole watching a 5-10lb laker cruising around our baits !!!!! Sometimes they would hit right away sometimes just swim by !!!!!!!!! If they did within 30 seconds the perch were back and the game was on again !!!!!!! We did this for at least 15 winters and he still does it to this day !!!! Sometimes the trout would stare at the minnow for several seconds and then hit or sometimes just swim away it was called heart attack fishing cause it would all happen so fast !!!!!!! So it was actually a fishing game of keep away from the perch ..... It was awesome and over all those years we learned the smaller baits and grubs alwYs caught more fish !!!! But to see a 10lb laker swimming 15 feet below your hole in crystal clear water checking your minnow out was sure exciting !!!!!!

[fishindevil]

So if I was to fish smaller shield lakes like the above lakes don't hesitate to fish a lot shallower too !!! The trout will come in to chase down small fish and they love to eat perch we even caught nice trout just off weed beds while ice fishing in the same depth water 15-20 feet or so !!!!