scottyhoover
01-19-2004, 11:04 PM
Some people think I'm exagerrating when I say I spend 20 hours on the ice in a weekend, I'm not. Many times I'm hitting the ice at 2am, only to fish until 8am and then making the switch to bluegill as the sun rises. Many other times I will hit the ice at 5pm and stay until I can't stand it anymore. This weekend I made more of an effort to try some different things, and also make note of other little things that happen involving fishing for pan fish.
For the first few days of this long weekend the crappie were in a major negative mood it seemed. Many lookers on the vex but only 1 ouf of 10 biting a minnow...if that. So I tried 2 different methods of tieing a dropper line with a dry fly tipped with a single spike. For you fly dunkers I believe I was using a white ephron or dusty miller...whatever you guys call em. Dry flies tied on a dropper are great when the fish are not very aggressive, as they kind of just 'drift' in the water, even when tipped with a spike.
First method for a dropper. Mainline to tiny tiny barrel swivel...tied on and left an 8 inch tag line to which I attached my fly. Then I ran a heavier crappie jig off the bottom with a minnow. This presents the fly in a great way....letting it free fall as you raise and lower the rig. I caught a few fish this way.
Second method for a dropper line I tried: Mainline to heavy crappie jig, then I tied a 1ft length of 3lb to the shank of the jig hook, like you would attach a stinger. So the dry fly was attached 1ft below the top jig. This method gives your fly a whole foot of free fall...which as crappie fisherman will tell ya...they love a falling bait. Down side....harder than method 1 for detecting strikes. But I still managed a few fish by this. On the days when it was slower than molasses using a dropper fly at least got me an extra fish or two.
A word of warning on using a vexilar and fishing dropper lines....using method 1 with a dropper above your jig. If you use the vexilar foam float and hook a fish on your bottom jig....the top dropper fly likes to hook into your vexilar float as you try to land a fish....beware!
Also for those tough bite days.....changing baits often.....can trigger a reaction bite. A few times I had a fish come look at a minnow but I was already knowing it wasn't going to bite it....so up comes the minnow and down goes a heavy jig like a genz worm (glowing of course), with 2 spikes on it....it triggered a random bite or 2 on the tough days.
I have not given the plain treble hook enough credit for crappies. It gets solid hook ups thats for sure. I even clipped the tails off my minnows on the days when fish were finicky, and it worked! But when it gets dark break out a glow jig so the fish can find you!
Slip bobbers and crappie, a marriage made in heaven. MSUiceman and I have talked about we both love to use thill ice n fly bobbers for crappie. If you really want to see how tricky a speck can be with a bait...try one of these tiny bobbers and you'll be amazed at how they pick up a bait. Unfortunately they don't work well when running and gunning on a cold windy day...but if you are tucked in a warm fish trap where things can't freeze, this is the way to go. A classic crappie bite happens when your bobber flops on its side like a beachball. I weight my rigs so the yellow half of the bobber is 1/4 inch submerged. Fish can pull this rig all thet way to the bottom of the ice and never feel the bobber. Fishing 2 holes with a vexilar I developed a new strategy tonight. I was getting frustrated when I had 2 slip bobbers fixed at certain depths and a crappie would mark up 4 or more feet above my baits. The bobber method was too good to abandon completely. So you set one rod with a slip bobber and fix it at a popular depth you are marking fish. Then on the other hole I fished a rod with no bobber and used this as the rod to 'seek and destroy' rogue fish that cruised in at random depths. Works well, very well.
Finally a note on bluegills. Nuke ants are working great...i especially like the white ones. Quick tip.....when big gill rips your waxie or spike off of the hook of a nuke ant....don't reel it up! From my observation they almost always come back thinking there is more of a free meal...only this time they feel the point.
For the first few days of this long weekend the crappie were in a major negative mood it seemed. Many lookers on the vex but only 1 ouf of 10 biting a minnow...if that. So I tried 2 different methods of tieing a dropper line with a dry fly tipped with a single spike. For you fly dunkers I believe I was using a white ephron or dusty miller...whatever you guys call em. Dry flies tied on a dropper are great when the fish are not very aggressive, as they kind of just 'drift' in the water, even when tipped with a spike.
First method for a dropper. Mainline to tiny tiny barrel swivel...tied on and left an 8 inch tag line to which I attached my fly. Then I ran a heavier crappie jig off the bottom with a minnow. This presents the fly in a great way....letting it free fall as you raise and lower the rig. I caught a few fish this way.
Second method for a dropper line I tried: Mainline to heavy crappie jig, then I tied a 1ft length of 3lb to the shank of the jig hook, like you would attach a stinger. So the dry fly was attached 1ft below the top jig. This method gives your fly a whole foot of free fall...which as crappie fisherman will tell ya...they love a falling bait. Down side....harder than method 1 for detecting strikes. But I still managed a few fish by this. On the days when it was slower than molasses using a dropper fly at least got me an extra fish or two.
A word of warning on using a vexilar and fishing dropper lines....using method 1 with a dropper above your jig. If you use the vexilar foam float and hook a fish on your bottom jig....the top dropper fly likes to hook into your vexilar float as you try to land a fish....beware!
Also for those tough bite days.....changing baits often.....can trigger a reaction bite. A few times I had a fish come look at a minnow but I was already knowing it wasn't going to bite it....so up comes the minnow and down goes a heavy jig like a genz worm (glowing of course), with 2 spikes on it....it triggered a random bite or 2 on the tough days.
I have not given the plain treble hook enough credit for crappies. It gets solid hook ups thats for sure. I even clipped the tails off my minnows on the days when fish were finicky, and it worked! But when it gets dark break out a glow jig so the fish can find you!
Slip bobbers and crappie, a marriage made in heaven. MSUiceman and I have talked about we both love to use thill ice n fly bobbers for crappie. If you really want to see how tricky a speck can be with a bait...try one of these tiny bobbers and you'll be amazed at how they pick up a bait. Unfortunately they don't work well when running and gunning on a cold windy day...but if you are tucked in a warm fish trap where things can't freeze, this is the way to go. A classic crappie bite happens when your bobber flops on its side like a beachball. I weight my rigs so the yellow half of the bobber is 1/4 inch submerged. Fish can pull this rig all thet way to the bottom of the ice and never feel the bobber. Fishing 2 holes with a vexilar I developed a new strategy tonight. I was getting frustrated when I had 2 slip bobbers fixed at certain depths and a crappie would mark up 4 or more feet above my baits. The bobber method was too good to abandon completely. So you set one rod with a slip bobber and fix it at a popular depth you are marking fish. Then on the other hole I fished a rod with no bobber and used this as the rod to 'seek and destroy' rogue fish that cruised in at random depths. Works well, very well.
Finally a note on bluegills. Nuke ants are working great...i especially like the white ones. Quick tip.....when big gill rips your waxie or spike off of the hook of a nuke ant....don't reel it up! From my observation they almost always come back thinking there is more of a free meal...only this time they feel the point.