Custom Baits - Forum
Fishing News and Reports => Fishing Techniques and Rigging => Topic started by: Igor on 12/07/13 10:20 UTC
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Who catches the soft lures under the ice?
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I have for years and years.
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I fish almost exclusively with Powerbait and Gulp! - especially for panfish.
Looking forward to some of the micro plastic molds that Do-It will be coming out with!!!!!
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I haven't had that much luck with plastics under the ice. (love maggots and larve) but I'm looking forward to the plastic ice baits for deep water summer fishing (dropshot)!
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I guess I should have elaborated on shapes and techniques! First of all - Ice plastics for the most part, need action imparted on them to work. The Berkley Powerbait Wiggler has been a staple of mine for years - I fish it on small spoons like the Demon and Rocker. I also like baits with a tail on it - toothpick style baits. Those I fish mostly for crappie and keep the bait moving.
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We catch only iron winter baits.
Photo soft bait on the ice?
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Like Tommy, I have exclusively used power wigglers for about 15 years and I consistently out-fish those with natural baits. Also (as Tommy said), movement is key, but not all movement is equal - I employ a wrist roll technique which causes more of a stationary flutter than the standard up/down jigging motion; simply raise/lower your bait while doing this to fish the water column. (Having a camera really helps to see what you are doing and how the fish react... this will dial you in more than anything.)
One thing I do differently (that may make the difference for my higher catch ratios) is a take a pair of fly tying scissors and cut the wiggler - in line with the bait - half way up the body from the rear of the bait twice at 90 degrees... this gives you four tails, which I cut each in half to make eight. This ends up with a micro tube which I think looks like a freshwater shrimp. I also think the "skirt" has more water friction and allows the fish to suck the bait (hook) in much easier.
The nice part of plastics over natural baits is they don't ever die, need to be fed or kept cool... plus, fish can't squirt the guts out of it and leave you with just a skin.
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Very interesting.
Thank you.
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I'm hoping to try some of the Do-it small fry baits or trout worms in this capacity, but as of late, time has not been on my side. I need to mold some of my little pretties before I can test them... and all I can do is sit at the window looking out, knowing that I'm missing the best panfishing of the season. :'(
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ice fishing plastics is my thing, I use plastic 95% of the time, both on jigs and spoons, I have also been know to put them on a windlass tip up. I use the wedge or ice picks a lot, would love to see a 1" hellgie.