Traverse City Gills

[UltimateOutdoorsman]

A few years ago I moved to the SE side of TC. I'm planning to fish Spider and Arbutus this winter for Gills. Ive never targeted Gills on the ice, just walleye.

My question is can you give me any tips for these lakes or for Gill fishing in general? Whats the best way to find them on early ice? Best techniques?I've done quite a bit of searching of old threads and found a bit of info but any more would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot! :)

[UBDSLO1]

Have you fished either of the lakes on soft water? Most of the time the good soft water spots will be the good hard water spots. I like to start shallow then move out to deeper water. I always look for some type of bottom structer(sp). First ice is always the best IMO. Tear Drops tipped with waxies, spikes, etc work, Lil' Nippers and the like are good jigs to use.
What do you have for electronics??? Graph, Vexlar, flasher, etc?

[UltimateOutdoorsman]

No electronics yet. Im still getting my "feet wet" in icefishin in general before I dish it out for a good vex. Probably a stupid decision, I know. :D

[fish fanatic jr.]

check out some ficious jigs have worked well for alot of people on this site.

[wartfroggy]

Check w/ the boys at the Gander up there, they may be able to give you some starting points. Also, get a decent map book of the lakes. Will give you an idea of points, breaks, weedbeds, access points, and usually some common fishing spots to start out at. On an early trip, take a walk and talk to some locals, they probably won't want you setting up right on top of them, but are usually willing to help give you some pointers. I usually look for first ice gills in anywhere from 4-10 ft of water, alot of times on a flat, outside of a weedbed, or better yet is open pockets within a weedbed. Start near bottom and work your jig through the column, paying attention to depth of bites. Sometimes you get em good right in the mud, other times about halfway down. Depends on what they are feeding on, (ex. bloodworms on bottom, zooplankton suspended). If you aren't hitting fish in the first 10 minutes or so, keep moving. I would recommend once you get to an area you are interested in, punch a dozen holes and then start fishing them. This gives time to let the area cool down after making a bunch of noise. I usually will punch holes like a grid, some shallow, some deeper, along a weed edge, outside the edge, inside the weeds. A good indicator when punch the holes is to get down and look through the hole, look for weeds, soft bottom, snails, anything that might look "fishy" to you. Each lake will be different, so there is a bit of a learning curve when starting a new lake.

[Pork Chop]

Keep your rig simple and light. No larger than 2# test line, no sinkers, swivels or bobbers. Use a sensitive rod or a wire strike indicator.

[mikey]

sent you a p/m.....

[sticknstring]

when im up that way i only chase things that come in silver. its great sleep all day, fish all night :D

[UltimateOutdoorsman]

when im up that way i only chase things that come in silver. its great sleep all day, fish all night :D

Hahaha. Right on.

[Fishslayer5789]

Check w/ the boys at the Gander up there,

Careful though! Being from Traverse City, I can tell you that some of the guys that work in the fishing department there are CLUELESS! I hit Spider and Arbutis a few times every winter and nail the gills with tiny horizontal "zipper" jigs but tiny tear drops work great too. Use 2lb or 3lb Trilene Micro Ice line and you will get into them good. Tip the jigs with a wax worm and you are good to go. In Spider, I do well between 9 and 13 ft of water and on Arbutis, I take a lot of fish in 12 to 15 feet of water. First ice is the best on Spider. I was nailing the gills out there on the 12th of December last year. PM sent.

[TroutFishingBear]

use 2 lb test or less with a sensitive rod.

I like nuclear ants, or tiny ratsos and shrimpos tipped with waxworm. Ratfinkees in small sizes and tiny teardrop jigs are also very good. As for a jigging motion, don't jig with violent jerks. Rather, lift it maybe 3-6 inches at a time and let it drop back down, and hold the rod there for a little bit, maybe giving it a slight jiggle every once in a while.

shallow weedbeds are good for numbers (make sure the weeds aren't brown, if they are brown, LEAVE that spot), but I've noticed the bull bluegills hang out near deep (20 ft or so) rocks.