Ice fishing rookie help?

[yungbuck616]

Planning to hit the ice for the first time tomorrow. I am a northern fisher but have been confined to open water fishing. I finally got enough courage to walk out onto the ice. From what I hear ice thickness should be atleast 5 inches thick for human travel. Any help with reports of ice thickness in Calhoun county would be appreciated. Also any help on locating northerns during this time of year, lures/or kind of baitfish etc... would also be appreciated? Thanks in advance to those who share their knowledge with me.

[Mister ED]

If the ice is good, 3" will do. Not that I would, but with a good 5" I'm betting you will see some wing-nuts out on sleds or quads. That being said, nothing wrong with staying on the safe side ... especially if you don't know the body of water/ice!

As far as pike fishing ... I presume you are going to be using tip-ups? Fish the edges of drop offs, just outside of the old weed beds, etc. I run minnows, or dead smelt (if you can get them) on a small treble hooked under the dorsal. I typically run about 5 or 6 foot off bottom (course depends on the water depth).

[fur and feathers jr.]

Yea 5in were hitting it with quads :D no but for gills or perch we use teardrop jigs with waxies or minnows and just do some jiggin. short twiches every once and a while and tip-ups we either use shiners or sucker minnows. Lots of youtube videos also

[chuckwagon157]

I look for ridges on deep drop-offs for spots to put tip-ups. A good hydro-topo map will always come in handy. shiners/perch minnows are always a good choice of bait. I am fond of using the blood-red trebble hooks. also, if you are running two tip-ups at first try running two different depths. try one about 4-7ft off of the bottom and try one 5ft or so below the ice.

[GOTONE]

For gills I use a tear drop and a waxworm pike set on the edge of the drop off 8-13 foot of water with golden shiners half way down

[Lordofallthatswims]

My advice is to watch a few ice fishing safety videos on youtube. And I don't recommend going by yourself. More people = more hooks in the water = more fish. Creek chubs work best for me when using a hook. Otherwise, get a spear and cut a bigger hole.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPd2h9nv_U4