What gear do you bring on the ice?

Here 's the gear I choose to use on the ice.
Let's start with clothing:

Artic Armor suit,LaCross Extreme boots with HT ice cleats,leather choppers and a good double knit hat.

Fishing Gear:

Otter lodge portable,Mr.Heater and 20 lb. propane tank,Strike Master Lazer auger,ice scoop,Austin rod ,Guide Series 23"light with springs mounted and Pfluger&Wave Spin reels spooled with Trilene Micro Ice 3 test line,
Marcum LX3 & Vex FL8 flashers.

Tackle:

T.H.E. Jig,Loby's Plastics,Lil Atoms Plastics and an assortment of waxie mini jigs,slip bobbers and slip knots.
Salmo Darters,Swedishish Pimples and an assortment of #6 , #8 &#10 hooks.

I also have a few other items:
Sutchers,slime rag,pliars,electrical tape,small brite light,tiny slotted screw driver,razor blade,extra spool of line,plastic grocery bags,camera,H2Oc gps with Navionics chip and extra AA batteries.

Keith you must drive your truck onto the ice to carry all that gear.

Me i like to travel light.

Must have the VEXALR Fl-8, Fishtrap, 2 mantle coleman lantern, for heat and light, various panfish jigs, some spikes and a thermous of coffee.

Most times just fish daylight till 10 or 11 and then again from 2 till dark.

Keith you got any tips for catching clear water crappie.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Buckeye Mike

Keith you must drive your truck onto the ice to carry all that gear.

Me i like to travel light.

Must have the VEXALR Fl-8, Fishtrap, 2 mantle coleman lantern, for heat and light, various panfish jigs, some spikes and a thermous of coffee.

Most times just fish daylight till 10 or 11 and then again from 2 till dark.

Keith you got any tips for catching clear water crappie.

---

Use black and white hair jigs.At least that's what I'll use or blue/white in either 64th or 80 th oz.

I'll drag it out if I have too until ice gets thick enough.

Use black and white hair jigs

do you tip the hooks with any thing ? also do you have a picture of them or were i can buy them

you mentioned you use a Strike Master Lazer , i take it this would be the choice of all hand augers ?, i just picked up a used VEXALR F-8 flasher, sorry

Hey ...as long as your getting out and your rods are bent....woooohoooo!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ready2fish

Use black and white hair jigs

do you tip the hooks with any thing ? also do you have a picture of them or were i can buy them

you mentioned you use a Strike Master Lazer , i take it this would be the choice of all hand augers ?, i just picked up a used VEXALR F-8 flasher, sorry

---

Let me say that i first time that i got the idea for using hair jigs thru the ice, was last winter when Keith was showing all the fish that he was catching on THE JIG, he makes and sells them. And i tied some up like his, and THEY WORK. Look back at some of the old post by Keith, and you will learn alot.He also has a web site where you can buy THE JIG.

As far as tipping the jig, i do put 1 spike '' magot'' on mine some times, but not always, all depends on how the fish are bitting that day.

Also have a 6'' Lazer, and i think it is the best hand auger on the market. Also have the FL-8 Genz Box, it will make you a better fisherman.

GOOD LUCK this season.

Glad to see you gave hair jigs a shot for ice fishing Mike.
In-Fisherman just came out with a nice article finally promoting small plastics and hair jigs for ice pannies.

Thanks for the kind words.
Hitting the ice come morning.

thanks for the answerers

How'd you do? We're about a week away over this way.

See the post.....I just made it.

speaking of gear i been reading about this Arctic armor some of you been using and its probably time to move up to something newer.

Did a little search on winter clothing and here are a few that look pretty good, if any one has any experience with it say it

Arctic Armor, looks like only 2 color choices- red and blue
Ice Armor, by Clam
Strikemaster HardWater Ware
Vexilar Cold Snap II

It's great to be thinking icefishing again.

No specialized clothing for icefishing. Mostly my late season deer hunting gear. Mickey mouse boots are the one thing I always have on. Love those things on the ice but you need cleats if there is no snow.

I usually have 4 or 5 rods with. One with 1 lb, two with 2 lb, one with 3 and maybe one with 4 lb if the lake has many catfish, walleyes or pike in it. The 1 lb rod is a noodle rod and the others are graphite of varying light actions. One of the 2 lb rods will always have a spring bobber. I have a couple older quantum micro lite reels I like for icefishing, I have a couple new mitchell reels to try out the winter.

In my pockets I always have a lighter and/or some matches, spare mantels, spare pool or two, forceps, small flashlight, head lamp, mylanta, ibuprofen, tape measure and I think that is about it.

Last year I tried to use as little bait as possible for crappies and bluegills. I did use crappie nibbles, gulp maggots, powerbait and lindy mini plastics. So much easier to keep and I did very good with them.
For jigs I use a lot of moon glow jigs, 1/80-1/32 oz roundhead jigs, a few larger rocker jigs for perch, some pimples and the smallest jiggin raps for when the crappies are moving fast and biting good.
Last year I did tie some small hair jigs kind of like THE JIG and they did work but I need more confidence in them before I'll use them in the prime times. I'm going to try some hair jigs made with the smallest tube jig heads I can make, 1/32 I think. The long thin profile looks good, we will see.

Right now I'm shackless. I use to have a homemade flip over. Worked good but was a little too heavy to drag far. I need to correct this situation soon.

Got a 20 year old Magnum III auger. I need to put on a new blade but it runs fine after a carb kit.

For a flasher I have a Marcum VX-1 that worked great last winter and am looking forward to getting it back on the ice. I used a Hummingbird flasher for the decade before that, I don't know how anyone can fish for crappies through the ice without a good flasher.

Last but not least I use a red 5 gallon bucket to carry my rods and to sit on. Not sure how I got the first one but after a few years of using one red bucket it just felt right to always have one.

Tim

Hey Tim ....work a lift with your jigs.Get seperation and trigger that strike sence.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crappiekeith

Hey Tim ....work a lift with your jigs.Get seperation and trigger that strike sence.

---

Oh I know the lift well. :D
I think the biggest leap an icefisherman can make is to trust that making a crappie rise up makes it more likely to bite. I love it when bluegills turn on and rise faster then you can lift and only the slack in the line lets you know it has taken the bait.

Tim

That is fun Tim for sure.
Boy did we have a great 1st weekend on my favorite lake and just think this is just the start of our 5 month ice fishing season!

well i know what im brining on the ice this year, me wearing my new Arctic Armor , cant wait to try it :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ready2fish

well i know what im brining on the ice this year, me wearing my new Arctic Armor , cant wait to try it :)

---

since I'm a Pro Staffer for Artic Armor some may say I'm biased,however if we all go through....I'll be floating.

I've been out a few times and I have to say it is the lightest ,most comfortable set of jacket/bibs that I've ever worn.
I also stay very warm.
I know come spring that they will also keep me warm and dry since they are totally waterproof.

good choice ready2fish!