I took my 3 year old down behind the water gates by the pumps, we was there for about 3 hours and not a single bite! There was two other guys no luck either. I used about 8 differnt colors of tubes all tipped with meallies ! can anyone give me some tips on what im doing wrong? I would like to go back down there this eaving and try again, any help would be great.
Sounds like your fishing where the fish are not. Keep moving around the area, try by the weeds, in the middle, out in front of the channel.
Mealies are my last choice for bait. Wax worms and spikes are better, IMHO. Once you catch anything, a small piece of meat is best.
You must have a spring bobber to see most bites. I never set the rod down unless I’m doing something else. You usally only get one tap or pull and if your not fast enough to lift that instant, there not there.
Hope this helps.
thanks for the info i will have to grab some waxies on my way out and put my quick draw to the test [;)]
one more ? do i need to be jiggin with the waxies
You’d have to ask the fish that one. Sometimes I jig, sometimes just lift 2’ and drop, sometimes drop at 1/2 speed. Sometimes bounce of of bottom, sometimes just dead still ater a drop or lift.
Experiment, pay attention, if you catch one, you need to remember what you did.
thank you
You might also try the smallest colored jig head you have tipped with a waxie or a tiny piece of nightcrawler. Sometimes even the 1" tubes are too big.
I agree finees is key. Use the smallest rat finkee you can buy and don’t let that rod leave your hand. I don’t use a lot of motion just something I call the quiver.
Yes, and sometimes the quiver! Yes, super small ice flies, I like glow if there is snow cover, it’s dark down there. Yes, do not let the rod leave your hand, at the slightest dip of the spring, 1/4" or so, your rod tip had better be coming up. If the spring comes back up before the the rod does, you missed it. Picture the fish sucking in the jig, feeling the hard metal and spitting it out.
You may want to get it dialed in beore you take the 3 yr old, again and be careful of any areas with current, the ice could be thin. A 3 yr old could walk on it, but it might break when you go to there.
Did you catch the cats in your pic in utah? Sorry to hijack the thread, but holy crap those are nice cats!
[inline “16.5 walleye.JPG”]I I like to use either a sonar, or glow tube for eyes . The secret is, use two rods and fish near darkness and into the night. Yeah, not much of a secret, but secret two is to use the sonar on one rod to attack, and the glow tube for the strike once the eye has come in close. #3 and probably more important, use scent, I refer the actual slime of chub and the eye seem to go for it best. You can either just wipe you lure over a chub, or better yet if your using soft plastics, allow the lure to soak in a slime/water mixture for two days then allow the lure to dry. Soft plastic absorb moisture, hence in the mixture of slime and water the lure absorbs the scent of the slime and holds it until the scent is released when the lure begin to absorb more moisture while in the water again but at the time time releasing the scent of the slime and water mixture. An other thing to consider is, the scent is release from the soft plastic tube or grub at the molecular level which is far closer to the natural scent a pred. is use to smelling coming from it prey. Yes, the scent of white bass works very well also..
I like to get two rods tie a pink sonar jig to one and a chartrues sonar to the other. I drill the holes one foot apart and jig like a madman. I let the jig pound the bottom on each jig. It creates a small mud cloud and attracts the fish and throws them into a feeding frenzy. Believe it or not don’t just catch white bass with this technigue. I almost always pick up perch and crappie as well. The bluegill seem to take a little more finesse. Anyways your probably adviced out. I hope you get into them. One last thing. I stop fishing Utah lake after mid january. Fishing seems to slow down after that for me. I try to be the first guy on the ice for the season. If I am I can usually catch them as fast as I can unhook them.
Fishjon
PS coldfooter where do you catch the eyes? I have the deepest respect for all eyes and fishermen of eyes.
I have caught eyes during ice season on UL at many locations including the mouth of Af habor, the L, Bird Island, inside the habor at LB, the springs etc… I favor a rocky bottom near a quick raise into shallow water.
Btw, the techingue of pounding the bottom with the offering to stir up the mud and attact fish works very well on many species. Knowing sound travel VERY well under water I often pound the bottom/rocks when using a sonar at UL.
I have always found the techinque fairly effective when the bite has dropped off, no matter which species I’m targetting.
Thanks for all the great info any info on the eyes is always great i will give your technique a try and also try bouncing of the bottom! this was my first trip on the ice this year i dont do it often probably cause i have never had any luck! With the nice weather i couldnt resist so glad i got some tips being i didnt have much of a clue. THANK YOU