I have never been ice fishing. I would like to go this winter. I am looking for a guide in Indiana. Any help would be appreciated.
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I have never been ice fishing. I would like to go this winter. I am looking for a guide in Indiana. Any help would be appreciated.
Private farm ponds are the best locally. Would have to get way up north, probably to get a guide. Make sure at least 4in of good clear ice. This is a style of fishing that can KILL you if you do not take the time to be safe. Most small ponds freeze first and have the best bluegills. Good luck
check with RICO
indiana ice fishing guide? go to wisconsin or minnesota if you want that. i have never heard of one around here.
Bowler,
I know of no ice guides in my area. We have quite a few musky guides for open water. But anyway, I will help you out best I can. I take it you have no equipment? Do you have good outdoor clothes? What species are you looking to target?
I know it sounds like a lot of questions, but they are relevant.
hey i didnt start the thread but i think i may be in the same boat here. i love to fish but have never actually been ice fishing.... i dont have any ice fishing gear but i do have warm clothes....so if anyone could get me goin on what jigs/rod reel would be a good starter and some tactics and where and how to locate them......also how can you tell when it is safe to go on the ice?
probably mainly target panfish.....maybe some walleye
For the most part we use short rods. Usually in that 20"-30" range. Most guys use spinning reels, but more and more are switching to inline reels(basically a fly reel in layman's terms). Most will use 1-4lb. test line. As far as jigs there are a bunch of them out there, too many to talk about. I use what is called a bullfrog that is custom made by a rod maker up my way. With walleye I use jigginraps and buckshot spoons. I live in Kosciusko County, there are glacial lakes everywhere so I don't have to go far to find a place to fish. Most serious ice guys use electronics to locate fish....to see what I am talking about check out vexilar.com I usually look for 3"'s of ice, but have been on less. We use a spud bar to check the ice as we go out on it. I hope that helps.....and feel free to ask away.
yeah could you just rattle off a few good jigs for me to look into. and i have a lowrance hds5x that has capabilities to be used on ice just need to get transducer.and maybe a good starter rod/reel to look at
As far as the jigs....I normally use custom ones. But there are so many out there. I like the ratso and shrimp. You can never go wrong with a Moon-Glo jig and they come in like a zillion different color schemes. I imagine it will be hard for you to buy ice jigs down your way so here is a site that might give you some ideas.
Fishing and Ice fishing jigs for walleye, bass, panfish, crappie, perch, trout, panfish, bluegill, and sunfish
Check out Frabill.com for a good starter rods, I use custom ones myself. If you got an ultra lite spinning reel you can put that on the rod. Remember to get ice line, it takes the cold better.
You got an auger or creepers?
I spend a lot of time chasing these around.......
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/...pse86e1916.jpg
Southern Indiana may actually get some good ice at this rate. It's not too often we get these temps and it not be accompanied by snow. There is some clear, hard ice being made right now and the forecast says it's going to be making ice for at least the next 10 days.
No I don't have an auger and don't know what creepers are
Well the auger aint that big of a deal. Most ice heads will cut holes for a rookie. Creepers are what we put on our boots to keep from slipping on the ice. If you look at that photo I put up there you can tell I have something strapped to my boots.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jswails07
Ok another question this is about inline reels. I had a buddy drop a few of his reels off just so I could get an idea and I like the inline reel but I feel like it's twisted on the wrong side of the rod
I would have to see a pic, but me thinks it might be a schooley rod, where the reel sits flat on top of the rod?Quote:
Originally Posted by Jswails07
Yeah that's good for ice fishing but bad for us poor guys that work in it. (I'm an outside plant phone guy in Scott County)Quote:
Originally Posted by filletfetish
Ya thats it are all the inline reels like that
No, here is something that will give you exactly what I am talking about.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jswails07
Amazon.com : 13 FISHING BLACK BETTY ICE FISHING REEL STRAIGHT LINE JIGGING NOW POSSIBLE : Spinning Fishing Reels : Sports & Outdoors
How does the line drop from a reel like that. Sorry I have a lot of questions just want to make a good decision when I go to get one. What's your opinion against open face vrs inline
I exclusively use spinning reels.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jswails07
I live at Painted Hills lake, just east of Martinsville. Saw 3 guys ice fshing around 2 pm. I would not think the ice would be safe. But I don't ice fish myself. There is still open water in places.
Nice perch Rico jswails where are you located?
Guys ice fshing Painted Hills today. Sunday 1- 11-15. It's 36* out at 4 pm.
I'm just a few miles west of brownsburg. Little town called lizton
A little far I would be happy to take u but I live in Peru in
Peru is a little far but where is it that you ice fish
I fish lakes close by missisinawa salami I and the like
well im not fully equipped right now to hit the ice quite yet. still trying to figure out what kinda rod/reel to purchase. but once i get that i wouldnt mind coming up that way one day during the weekend.
and i still need a ice transducer for my fish finder. its a lowrance hds5x
An ultra light spinning reel works just fine from one of your summer rods.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jswails07
Have you tried calling Lowrance? Their customer service # is 800-720-5529.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jswails07
heck get a couple of those tiny foam bobbers set your depth get a couple little little ice jigs say something in white and chartreuse blue pink black and silver orange put a spike or Bemoth on see what happens
Been following this along. Heading up to angola area this weekend with 2 fishing buds and will give a run down of how it went. Bought $40 auger, rigged up some UL spinning with some old broken rods and 4# test, crappie jigs, small blade baits and other items in the arsenal, clip on depth finders, bought two tip ups, going to put handle on and sharpen a t-bar fence post for spud bar, kids sled, some extra rope, lots of hot hand warmers, extra gloves and clothes, insulated minner bucket/seat, license, small heater n snacks n drinks, couple chats with the man upstairs and warm er cold er good fishing thoughts! John. PM if in the area and want to share cell phone numbers/compare notes as it plays out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by notime2fish
Best of luck........and some more info, remember that area has northerns!
Rico you are correct to the different varables on ice, nothing is etched in stone when it comes to ice. Just a ruff guide for leaving the house.
Something that might help some of you. When I used to ice fish I used a rubber bobber stop on my line. You just have to use some caution when reeling it back in so the rod guides wont move it.. But it is great for getting back to that exact depth of the last fish caught. Also many days the fish wouldnt budge a spring bobber. The crappie or gill would just stay at that depth and suck on the bee moth never moving the spring. The bobber stop would just hardly move. You thought your eyes were playing tricks on you. Ive had many 11" gill and crappie do this. As the ice season moves forward the fish bites will usually be a tougher bite. This new ice is the best bite
That "light bite" can be quite frustrating, even to us seasoned ice anglers. That is when we find ourselves using different presentations, different colors, and different baits. A few years back a buddy and me were gonna hook up and fish a small lake down the road from my house. He called and said he was running late, I told him to meet me on the ice. All I had for bait was waxies until he arrived. I cut around 5 holes in the area where the fish had been on fire the week before. My flasher was showing fish all over the place but I couldn't buy a bite. I tried everything.....horizontal jigs, vertical jigs, ice flies, going with out bait....nothing worked. My buddy arrived and dropped down into one of my holes and instantly caught a nice bluegill. I asked him what he used and he replied a orange and chartreuse moon-glo. Of which I had already tried to no avail. I then asked what he had tipped it with. He said 3 spikes. That was the secret that day. Waxworms couldn't get a bite, the spikes did.
Thanks all for the help. We had a good time exploring the james lake chain and "boated" (or the equivalent of) a enough bluegill for a meal or two. Re-reading the above two posts perfectly describe the finicky and light bite, but I didn't read that good enough before seeing it first hand. "Invest" the couple dollars in a good spring bobber to help see what's going on. The Schooley's worked fine, although I liked winding fish up with open face spinning reel. The spooler type reel sure looked appealing but most just had UL spinning. My closed face spincast didn't behave so well in the cold with the tighter wound 4# line, but never had ice up issues. We we're sitting over 16-20' of water catching them 1-2' off the bottom. Yup spikes out-performed the waxies, and what I thought was plenty small 1/16 oz jig maybe size 8 hook was WAY too big, ended up with small split shot and smallest ice jig in the box, probably size 12 hook or something. Nearly everyone was happy to offer tips and show their rigs once they saw how un-threatening we were!!! Most had vexilar's or other flashers and the bait store owner salesman put it best....kinda is like a video game getting your jig to line up with the fish and "nibble-nibble" - time to set the hook. Peace to all, stay safe. John
Great post John. A flasher is not a necessity but it sure as heck gives an angler an advantage. Especially on strange water.
John - Glad to hear you had a good time. Couple of other tips I would point out is I typically use no bigger then 2 lb line, and just recently i switched to 1 lb line as the bite gets tougher. with 1lb line you can't just swing the fish out of the hole and show off to all of your buddy's, you have to slide them out onto the ice so you don't stress the line. Fishing 1 lb line you will lose some fish, but I think sometimes it helps catch more also. I even re-tie my jigs every so often as it seems after about 20 fish the knot will break. I also have a box full of jigs, but very few of them are larger then #12 hooks, some are as small as #18.