I live near several small lakes. I want to try ice fishing. I want to target bass and pickerel, but also want to catch perch crappie and bluegill.

 

what is a good beginner rod and reel that i can get at dicks or a local store?

 

braid, mono, or flouro?

 

what baits?

 

should i get tips too?

 

without a flasher where are the best spots?

 

You need safe ice!

Tom

54 minutes ago, WRB said:

You need safe ice!

Tom

x ∞

 

Honestly ice safety is nothing to joke about. Bring a chisel, bring safety picks, if you can bring a friend, wear a flotation suit or even a life jacket if there is any doubt about ice conditions. There is no such thing as safe ice. Ice can hold a semi truck and be unfit to hold even a small child on the same body of water. Things like underwater springs, flocks of birds, and many other factors eliminate the certainty. That being said if you take safety precautions and test the ice while you are out there you should be fine and have many safe and dry years of fishing ahead of you. 

 

As for targeting bass and pickerel, I personally use tilts (tip-ups) 95% of the time. I would recommend getting at least a few. I don't have a flasher either so it helps to fish places that you are familiar with during open water season. A lot of advice you hear about targeting bass in winter open water is usually that they go deep. But you will be surprised how shallow you can catch them under the ice. Biggest bass I saw come through the ice last year was in 3 feet of water. What I try and target are weed lines or drop offs. Like open water you want to be near some type of structure where bass can easily target prey. That goes for tip-ups or jigging. As for bait it depends what you want to target, bass will hit shiners of any size. If you want to target trophy bass or pike, you should check your states bait regulations but I've seen guys use 10" golden shiners and suckers, and also live perch and bluegills. These will probably require some slight modifications to your tip-ups if you want to use them as bait so they don't trip the flag themselves. 

 

As for jigging lures, swedish pimples and lindy darters are a pretty common staple that will catch you lots of different fish. You can try tipping them with wax worms too.