Hey guys I just went ice fishing with my uncle for the first time and fished for ten hours and caught 1 dink gill.  I was just wondering if you could share some secrets so I could hook into some more and bigger fish.  

20 minutes ago, pleco_gecko said:

Hey guys I just went ice fishing with my uncle for the first time and fished for ten hours and caught 1 dink gill.  I was just wondering if you could share some secrets so I could hook into some more and bigger fish.  

Yeah, that's consistent with my experience ice fishing too.

 

(Sorry, I have no ice fishing secrets...other than stay home and organize tackle instead)

 

 

 

What were you using? Worms, minnows, jigging spoons, vertical jigs...mixing it up.

 

Were you close to a bunch of ice-houses (shanty town) or far away from others...there's a reason they group together.

 

I may not ice-fish, but I hear from friends who do about their times out, techniques they use and little tid-bits of information.

Trying for panfish, walleye, bass, pike? If you're not on a spot you know has fish based on past experience, then start drilling holes and find them.

Location, location and Rapala ice jigs.

You need a ice sonar unit to locate fish, drill a few holes and vertical jig.

Tom

small cast masters, small spoons,  the lindy micro slick jig is awesome, crappie jigs are awesome. small grubs on jig heads.  I do a lot of ice jiggin. Mostly for crappies and perch. I tip my jigs with gulp micro 1 inch minnow. I use horizontal jigs a lot. When targeting perch, pound the bottom. So you drop the jig all the way down, lift up and let it fall back down, repeat a few times. This is kicking up the sediment on the bottom, this is also kicking up the bugs the perch eat.
When I jig, I  try to keep the my hand still. Its nearly impossible. So that slight movement makes the jig dance. They cant resist it. I've caught a few different fish jiggin. Smallies, largemouth, white perch, yellow perch, crappies, sunnies, perch, rainbow trout, pickerel
 

I find smaller ponds. I set my tip ups near cover like blow downs. Then jig out in the middle. Thats mostly for warm water fish, Using shiners.  Then I jig out towards the middle, but jiggin near cover is also a great idea. 

For trout, I fish shallow, the trout cruise near the shore. I'm sure they would cruise shallow flats that are out a good ways, but from my experience its always shallow near shore. Small shiners, worms, power bait works well on tip ups. For jiggin the previous mentioned jigs work! 

22 hours ago, pleco_gecko said:

Hey guys I just went ice fishing with my uncle for the first time and fished for ten hours and caught 1 dink gill.  

I wish people would stop bragging all the time. I've ice fished 2 for a total of 20 hours and all I caught was a bad case of the Tijuana trots. Might have been the can of guacamole dip. I knew it was a gamble. Got it at a gas station. 

A fish finder, if you don't have one your results will continue to be the same. I don't have a fish finder for ice fishing so I always bring this....

 

Buy a plane ticket. Head to Florida. Forget the bass catch reds and snook. 

Clam Drop Kick and Custom Jigs and Spins Sleder Spoons are my favorites for panfish but I’ve been doing really well on the Clam Half Ant Drop for finicky crappie this year; put 45 on top of the ice for me this past Saturday.

The biggest problem most people make when ice fishing is lack of mobility.  A lot of people just park somewhere and sit there for hours on end.  Heck, some people in permanent houses sit in one spot ALL WINTER LONG.  Think about it like this: how long would you sit in one spot in your boat without a bite?  10 minutes?  So why do people sit in one spot so long when they're ice fishing?  Because its too hard to move?  Laziness.

 

Something else to keep in mind is that fish are cold blooded.  That means their activity level is dictated by the environment.  Cold water = less activity.  Less activity = less feeding.  Less feeding = less bites.