First Time Ice Fishing In Years

Downrod,
The larger perch seem to prefer the minnows. I prefer to bring a variety of baits such as spikes,mousies and minnows.
Best of Luck, heres too you dulling your fellet knife.
Joe D

I've found that the minnows do a better job of bringing them into the hole, but since I didn't have any spikes, mousies, etc. I don't know if they would hit anything else better, but a lively minnow sure seems to bring them in. The last couple times I've been out I've seen fish constantly all day, the smaller ones seem to take the minnows better than the big ones! I just keep telling myself that those big fish are big for a reason!!!

Seems to me that the best thing going this year is wigglers... Minnows will bring em' in.... but a lively wiggler on a teardrop seems to be too much for the finicky ones to handle. Guess it all depends where your going and the mood of the fish on that day....Hope your bucket is heavier on the walk in!

Downrod, friends are telling me that they are doing best with minnows on a plain small red hook at the end of their line. Add a small splitshot about a foot above the hook to get it down. Fish it close to the bottom. The water is so clear that we feel that a lot of hardware down there with the minnow will spook them. Good luck,

Jim

Thanks for the info guys, I really appreciate it. What size hooks are you using for wigglers? Are you using the small minnows? I'm usually partial to large golden shiners but thats in the summer. I don't know if they would be that aggressive in the winter.

Can I ask a dumb question. I'm new to ice fishing this year. I use wax worms and mousies to catch them and a minnow to bring them to the hole but what the heck is a wiggler?

A Wiggler is fish fly larvae. They come in the same cup spikes & mousies come in but they are in water. They are nasy looking things that have about 100 legs but I know they catch fish. Pro Fishing & Archery on Jefferson south of metro has some good wigglers.

Good Luck,