Help from the hard water fisherman

[Billmo]

ok so I hae a buddy who is starting to ice fish and has no ideas about what to use.. he is in CO and I guess its mainly walleye, crappie and trout.  He asked me and I have no idea because I have never done it.. He see's guys using spoons tipped with bait, plastics, live bait. Do you guys have any recommendations for him? Hard baits? softbaits? spoons? jigs?

[andrewlamberson]

If you pour the Nano's or Small Fries give him some of those and some small jigs. They will catch darn near everything through the ice. I was catching big bluegills and crappies on them (mostly Nano's) at 8-10' in 18 feet of water this weekend. Caught a couple dandy bass too!

I would think Rainbow trout would love them.

Andy

[jmatheny9]

How do you jig the nanos? Do you just bounce it sorta? I'm interested in ice fishing too


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[andrewlamberson]

Crappies like them moving pretty fast, but the bluegills take them sitting still or with a very light jigging motion (just make the tail quiver).

The crappies I caught the other day came through on the Marcum (depth finder) at 5-7 ft...where the bluegills were just off the bottom or suspended about 1/2 up. Soon as I would see them I would reel up to slightly above them and they normally hit it right away.

The bass I've caught were all on the bottom.

I often use just the tail of the Nano on a bluegill jig like the Gill Pill.

FYI... I like the CCM medium plastic because I want the tail to stick straight out (I'm really big on a horizontal presentation...after watching them take on the Marcum underwater camera). The slightest movement causes the tail to quiver.

They also like both the Nano and the just the tail in clear with a little tiny bit of pearl  (and now with the new highlights) ...it's the "hot thing" right now. Apparently there was an article in InFisherman about clear baits. I also make them clear with a tiny bit of rainbow micro glitter.

[Brent]

For me it really depends on the body of water, I have used the 1.75 frys, I have used both Ice picks. Sometimes they like it almost still or times pounding the bottom, yet other times it is a game of keep away.