01-19-2011, 02:28 AM
sunday I went out, and all I got for my efforts for a whole day of fishing was one jumbo perch, Monday I went out and for the whole day I got 4 small gills.
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/14809/cat/745"]![[Image: DSCN1530.JPG]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/data/745/thumbs/DSCN1530.JPG)
[/url]
I dont get fish every day, some times I have to work real hard for them, I have yet to bring in one crappie this ice season.
Today I went out at 8am and fished till dark-30. at 10 am I caught a perch, I emediatly put it on my tipup, and I did not get another bite all day, that was untill about 3pm when I got a nibble, then a little more nibble, then a little more nibble then a little more nibble then nothing for about 15 minutes. and I waited patiently, then finaly I got an all out bite... lol
I ran over and set the hook [:p] then the fun began, in and out and in and out and in and out over and over again for a good half hour, yep I got ahold of me another big one.
of corse as par for the corse, I left my gaft at home. [angelic] this meant sticking my hand in to the fishes mouth to get him in.. Just incase you dont already know, it is a pike, 36 inches and 13 pounds. Half hour later I pulled in a half dozen gills.
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/14810/cat/745"]![[Image: DSCN1531.JPG]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/data/745/thumbs/DSCN1531.JPG)
[/url]
Point is, there can be any number of reasons the fish are inactive, From weather conditions to fishing preasure for preditors to just being over fished by anglers.
to over come or indure an inactive ice, one first needs to know why it is inactive, maybe the fish have moved off, maybe the fish are just dormant, maybe you dont have the right color or the right bug, or your presentation can be off.
It also dosnt hurt to remember to wiggle your jig a little bit.
I have had days when I was the only person catching fish, and days when I was the only one not catching them.
It helps if you have company to shoot the bull with. Take a radio, beleive it or not, it helps to bring fish in. I like clasic rock and blue grass, ya know something with a good rythem and beat.
The key or rule is, if the fish are not bitting chang up, either your lure, the color, your presentation, your location.
If you know the location your in is a good productive spot, then you can circle back around to it.
Take an arsonal of live bait, wax worms, mousies, wigglers if you can find them, spikes, minnows.
the best thing to do is know the body of water your fishing, this means you may need to fish it from dawn to dusk and then some.
when the fish are not feeding you need to jig in an antaganistic manor but not frightning. For crappie when the bite is slow, I bow my rod to the lake, most people will lift thier rods and lower it back to the depth it was at, I lower it and hold it down for 5 - 10 seconds and raise it back up,, this helps to entice crappie to hit.
the other thing to know about crappie is to allow it to run, there is a couple good ways, Use a bobber and allow the crappie to pull the bobber all the way under the ice before setting the hook, the other way is to loosen the drag on your reel and allow the rod to bend fully twards the ice and allow the crappie to strip some line off the reel. "provided you have a limp rod and have a stationary mount for it"
there is on the market "crappie candy" I have not used it yet but would not hesitate if I had some and found my self in a situation where I was not getting any hits.
keeping your minnow health and swimming is a plus for catching crappie and perch, This means changing your water once a day with lake water, and oxigenating it with those blue oxigen tablets. "they work great"
to attract more crappie, it is good to have half dozen fishing buddies near by all using minnows. more minnows suspended in the water the more it is going to attract crappie.
There are days when nothing will work, we have dropped under water cameras down just to watch the crappie not bite, It is unreal some times, and hallarious when we bounce our jigs off of them and they just sit there like nothing happened.
I found at dusk in to the night that glow jigs with waxworms work better some times than minnows.
remember when the bite is off, that is the time to practice your presentations to perfection and learning new ones.
[signature]
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/14809/cat/745"]
[/url]I dont get fish every day, some times I have to work real hard for them, I have yet to bring in one crappie this ice season.
Today I went out at 8am and fished till dark-30. at 10 am I caught a perch, I emediatly put it on my tipup, and I did not get another bite all day, that was untill about 3pm when I got a nibble, then a little more nibble, then a little more nibble then a little more nibble then nothing for about 15 minutes. and I waited patiently, then finaly I got an all out bite... lol
I ran over and set the hook [:p] then the fun began, in and out and in and out and in and out over and over again for a good half hour, yep I got ahold of me another big one.
of corse as par for the corse, I left my gaft at home. [angelic] this meant sticking my hand in to the fishes mouth to get him in.. Just incase you dont already know, it is a pike, 36 inches and 13 pounds. Half hour later I pulled in a half dozen gills.
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/14810/cat/745"]
[/url]Point is, there can be any number of reasons the fish are inactive, From weather conditions to fishing preasure for preditors to just being over fished by anglers.
to over come or indure an inactive ice, one first needs to know why it is inactive, maybe the fish have moved off, maybe the fish are just dormant, maybe you dont have the right color or the right bug, or your presentation can be off.
It also dosnt hurt to remember to wiggle your jig a little bit.
I have had days when I was the only person catching fish, and days when I was the only one not catching them.
It helps if you have company to shoot the bull with. Take a radio, beleive it or not, it helps to bring fish in. I like clasic rock and blue grass, ya know something with a good rythem and beat.
The key or rule is, if the fish are not bitting chang up, either your lure, the color, your presentation, your location.
If you know the location your in is a good productive spot, then you can circle back around to it.
Take an arsonal of live bait, wax worms, mousies, wigglers if you can find them, spikes, minnows.
the best thing to do is know the body of water your fishing, this means you may need to fish it from dawn to dusk and then some.
when the fish are not feeding you need to jig in an antaganistic manor but not frightning. For crappie when the bite is slow, I bow my rod to the lake, most people will lift thier rods and lower it back to the depth it was at, I lower it and hold it down for 5 - 10 seconds and raise it back up,, this helps to entice crappie to hit.
the other thing to know about crappie is to allow it to run, there is a couple good ways, Use a bobber and allow the crappie to pull the bobber all the way under the ice before setting the hook, the other way is to loosen the drag on your reel and allow the rod to bend fully twards the ice and allow the crappie to strip some line off the reel. "provided you have a limp rod and have a stationary mount for it"
there is on the market "crappie candy" I have not used it yet but would not hesitate if I had some and found my self in a situation where I was not getting any hits.
keeping your minnow health and swimming is a plus for catching crappie and perch, This means changing your water once a day with lake water, and oxigenating it with those blue oxigen tablets. "they work great"
to attract more crappie, it is good to have half dozen fishing buddies near by all using minnows. more minnows suspended in the water the more it is going to attract crappie.
There are days when nothing will work, we have dropped under water cameras down just to watch the crappie not bite, It is unreal some times, and hallarious when we bounce our jigs off of them and they just sit there like nothing happened.
I found at dusk in to the night that glow jigs with waxworms work better some times than minnows.
remember when the bite is off, that is the time to practice your presentations to perfection and learning new ones.
[signature]