Big fish but tough bite

[D and L]

Just wanted to post "my observations" while ice fishing yesterday (and last weekend too) in hopes that it might help some of you out :chillin: We got into some nice fish off of Gino's but it was tough to coerce them to bite !!!!
We had our Aqua View on our baits and man, if you jiggled the bait or jigged it.....they would split. A slow drop to the bottom and rest worked best> Used a slow rise up 6-7 inches to trigger a bite if they were staring at the spoon worked too, any sudden or jiggly movement and they were gone :dizzy:
Fish hit best on a Marks Spoon, white and red with a hammered crome back, tipped with a minnow head. Did just ok when tipped with 2 spikes. Rejected it with a red Jensen egg or whole minnow. Tear drops did poorly, could not get them to hit the Kens Spoon which is my goto spoon of choice. One hit ( and a miss on a PIG :bloos: ) on the firetiger jiggin rapala, Hali...nothing...etc. Threw a lot at them :chillin:
Our first stop in 6 fow revealed LOTS of cookie cutter perch 6-7 inches and they were aggressive, but we moved out to 8 fow to get the bigger fish, nice blue gills down there too.
Hope these tips help out, it was a strange bite.
Best regards,
Laura

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/529/medium/Gino_s_ice_perch_004.jpg

[icefishin nutz]

Nice looking fish Laura. Jay & I encountered the same thing with the bite when we were @ Cotton. I think wigglers would have worked , if you let them sit on bottom,but it was the only thing that we didnt have in our arsenal.:( O well we did good anyways. Again, Nice catch
Lisa

[Joeker51]

Thanks for the report and observations. Might want to force feed them with a spear.;) Mighty nice fish ya got there...............when's dinner.:D

Lisa... try a mudbugz ?

[Radar420]

Nice fish. I fished SANG yesterday and did alright but looks like you picked up a few more nice ones than I did. I too had to deal with the aggressive 7-8" males but fishing was pretty consistent.

And now that you mentioned it, I think I did have better action when I let the jig slow fall from just under the ice until the bottom.

Thanks for the report.

[Dialtone]

Congrats to my favorite Fanboaters. That is a big fish!

[Boardman Brookies]

Pig!!!

[icefishin nutz]

Thanks for the report and observations. Might want to force feed them with a spear.;) Mighty nice fish ya got there...............when's dinner.:D

Lisa... try a mudbugz ?

Yeah, unfortunatly, they werent hitting that either. Stunner was the ticket for me but you couldnt really jig too much, it freaked em out.:rolleyes:We need to visit Harry again soon,,, need a few replenishments;)

[Joeker51]

Firm believer in force feeding them some steel when they get to the point of eye balling the bait instead of hitting it.:evil: Alot of pigs come in for a look see.............. that is the moment.:D Still gonna get out early from work a few times this week and try my luck.

[GMONEY]

nice perch

[oneeyedclarence]

Just wanted to post "my observations" while ice fishing yesterday (and last weekend too) in hopes that it might help some of you out :chillin: We got into some nice fish off of Gino's but it was tough to coerce them to bite !!!!
We had our Aqua View on our baits and man, if you jiggled the bait or jigged it.....they would split. A slow drop to the bottom and rest worked best> Used a slow rise up 6-7 inches to trigger a bite if they were staring at the spoon worked too, any sudden or jiggly movement and they were gone :dizzy:
Fish hit best on a Marks Spoon, white and red with a hammered crome back, tipped with a minnow head. Did just ok when tipped with 2 spikes. Rejected it with a red Jensen egg or whole minnow. Tear drops did poorly, could not get them to hit the Kens Spoon which is my goto spoon of choice. One hit ( and a miss on a PIG :bloos: ) on the firetiger jiggin rapala, Hali...nothing...etc. Threw a lot at them :chillin:
Our first stop in 6 fow revealed LOTS of cookie cutter perch 6-7 inches and they were aggressive, but we moved out to 8 fow to get the bigger fish, nice blue gills down there too.
Hope these tips help out, it was a strange bite.
Best regards,
Laura

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/529/medium/Gino_s_ice_perch_004.jpg

WOW:yikes:Nice fish, and great report, will be out a Ginos tomorrow hopefully with a good report;)

[S.NIEMI]

VERY nice fish!!!!!:)

[johnnie-eye-catcher]

still talking about spearing when the bite is tight,a buddy at work told me today that spearing perch is now out of season?he told me to check my dnr fishing guide,if i can find it?any truth to this?

[MarineBuckHunter]

Great Catch!

[y2ba]

still talking about spearing when the bite is tight,a buddy at work told me today that spearing perch is now out of season?he told me to check my dnr fishing guide,if i can find it?any truth to this?

You can MAKE them bite through February:fish:

[rdubu]

Hows the Ice getting at Gino's???

[USMarine1171]

still talking about spearing when the bite is tight,a buddy at work told me today that spearing perch is now out of season?he told me to check my dnr fishing guide,if i can find it?any truth to this?


It will be the truth starting March 1st. Until then he's a liar!:D:fish:

Spearing for perch on LSC is legal Jan-Feb.

That's only for LSC, I don't know how it works for inland lakes.

[Joeker51]

LSC is the only place you can spear perch.

[D and L]

Lisa posted: I think wigglers would have worked , if you let them sit on bottom,but it was the only thing that we didnt have in our arsenal.
Lisa, I failed to mention in the original post that we tried wigglers too and even they would not trigger them yesterday...:dizzy: That was weird !!! Pretty much just the Mark's spoon....just a finicky bite....
BTW: The perch were a little more "on the feed" late this afternoon. There were lots of fish on the camera, but the big ones were still finicky....could not have done what we did tonight without watching them on the camera and playing keep away with the dinks. :sad:

Joeker51: Firm believer in force feeding them some steel when they get to the point of eye balling the bait instead of hitting it. Alot of pigs come in for a look see......
Oh boy, that would have been interesting :D We have not tried spearing ....YET :chillin: Yes, there was a LOT of eyeballing going on and quite a few of those perch put the one in my posted picture to shame :SHOCKED: Would love to get a lesson on spearing ;)


Dialtone : Congrats to my favorite Fanboaters...
We will (hopefully) be out tomorrow afternoon with our friend doing some scouting off shore from Brandenburg. We would like to see if it is safe to take a quad from SANG to Cotton, and on up to the Salt River and Brandenburg. Will post if it is do-able....
Meanwhile, hope to run into you !!! Err...meet you out on the ice, especially if you have your dad with you !! Sounds like he has some neat stories to tell !!!
Best regards,
Laura

[Joeker51]

Made my own spear out of some rod and steel bar. Not hard to do. Wasn't about to drop a $60 bill on a store bought one. If Dan is handy at fabrication he can do it or you could get that handy dandy ACME fella to help out. Man, still can't get that image of the Roadrunner out of my mind when I think of Acme. :lol: Hmmmmmm........ an Acme Spear.:lol: Good job on the fish.;)

[BOEDY]

Nice fish! Its reports like yours that keep me going back,,,one of these days,,,one of these days... Ive got a picture of 50 fish like that filling two buckets in my head every time I walk out on that lake. Has not even come close yet but Ill keep dreamin and keep draining my bank account till it happens!

[fubar07]

Nice fish! Its reports like yours that keep me going back,,,one of these days,,,one of these days... Ive got a picture of 50 fish like that filling two buckets in my head every time I walk out on that lake. Has not even come close yet but Ill keep dreamin and keep draining my bank account till it happens!

Trust me you are not the only one with that vision.

[Dialtone]

Laura I will be out in Ira Twp (a couple miles west of Fair Haven) for the long weekend I have starting Friday. I was actually going to bring a flag for my shanty this time because I have other folks looking for me too. If you are out Friday, Monday, or Tuesday I wouldn't mind the visit. There aren't any other shanties near me so don't be afraid to drive the boat close if you are on it. I'll PM you a picture of the flag if I actually do that.

[D and L]

Made my own spear out of some rod and steel bar. Not hard to do. Wasn't about to drop a $60 bill on a store bought one. If Dan is handy at fabrication he can do it or you could get that handy dandy ACME fella to help out. Man, still can't get that image of the Roadrunner out of my mind when I think of Acme. :lol: Hmmmmmm........ an Acme Spear.:lol: Good job on the fish.;)

:lol::lol: I'll have to run that by him tonight. I can see it now, 6 foot spear, twin rocket launcher on the handle :yikes: no fish too deep.....:lol:


Dialtone, great idea, send me a picture and we'll look for you !!!! Hope to meet your dad, too !!!!

Boedy: :lol: sorry for draining your bank account....Maybe this will help? "Fish ? What fish ? There ain't no fish. Let's go skiing...." :one_eye: