Changing of the seasons
There are just a couple of days left of game fish season. Northern Pike: I would keep tip-ups in the deep weeds suspended just above the weed tips with shiners or suckers for the bait of choice. Walleye: Tip-ups placed on deep weed edges or deep rock pile breaks, tipped with golden shiners or walleye suckers. Jigging with a spoon like a buckshot rattle spoon or a kastmaster tipped with a minnow head over mud flats will find some good results. Now, on to the fish of the next two months. Panfish: Ice fishing for panfish can be great or a bust. In many cases, the weather will be a big contributing factor. However, that doesn’t have to be the case. It’s a matter of being willing to change and try something new. The night before your fishing outing when you’re making plans hoping for a great day, the weatherman gives you the good news of a favorable day that gets you all pumped up, in the morning you load your combos, tackle, and bait and you’re on your way.
Now that you are all set up, holes all drilled, and your ice rod rigged with a spinning reel and a baited spoon you start hole hopping catching a few here and there. When you notice the bite starts to slow down and you see the sky start to clear up, all the clouds disappear, and the high pressure system gets over top of you before the weatherman predicted, don’t change your plans and quit fishing for the day instead reassess and change your tactics.
What I have been using the last couple of years is a straight line reel on my ice rod and a sensitive strike indicator along with tungsten jigs. These type of jigs are 3 times heavier than lead and, the benefit of that makes it possible to down size your presentation and still get your bait down to the fish. The straight line reel helps take the spin out of your bait when it’s down by the fish and, when they go neutral to negative you need all the help you can get. The other rig I like using at this time of year is a tip down; it is a wooden frame that holds your rod that causes a pendulum action when you get a bite, hence the name. Tip this with a live crappie minnow suspended above some good weeds and if there is a crappie around it will find you then game on.
Best Fishing Times
Mar 3 6:00-8:30am
Mar 6 8:45-11:15am
Mar 9 11:30am-2:15pm
Mar 12 2:15-5:00pm
Mar 15 6:30-9:00am
Mar 4 7:00-9:15am
Mar 7 9:30am-12:30pm
Mar 10 12:30-3:00pm
Mar 13 4:00-7:00pm
Mar 16 7:15-10:00am
Mar 5 7:45-10:15am
Mar 8 10:30am-1:30pm
Mar 11 1:15-4:00pm
Mar 14 5:30-8:00pm
Mar 17 8:15-11:00am
Happy fishing! Selective harvest is the way to go.
Colin Crawford’s Guide Service, I offer guiding & lodging, crawfordfishing@gmail.com (715) 891-2715.
You can also “Like” us on Facebook. Any questions or just want to talk “fishing” give me a call.
There are just a couple of days left of game fish season. Northern Pike: I would keep tip-ups in the deep weeds suspended just above the weed tips with shiners or suckers for the bait of choice. Walleye: Tip-ups placed on deep weed edges or deep rock pile breaks, tipped with golden shiners or walleye suckers. Jigging with a spoon like a buckshot rattle spoon or a kastmaster tipped with a minnow head over mud flats will find some good results. Now, on to the fish of the next two months. Panfish: Ice fishing for panfish can be great or a bust. In many cases, the weather will be a big contributing factor. However, that doesn’t have to be the case. It’s a matter of being willing to change and try something new. The night before your fishing outing when you’re making plans hoping for a great day, the weatherman gives you the good news of a favorable day that gets you all pumped up, in the morning you load your combos, tackle, and bait and you’re on your way.
Now that you are all set up, holes all drilled, and your ice rod rigged with a spinning reel and a baited spoon you start hole hopping catching a few here and there. When you notice the bite starts to slow down and you see the sky start to clear up, all the clouds disappear, and the high pressure system gets over top of you before the weatherman predicted, don’t change your plans and quit fishing for the day instead reassess and change your tactics.
What I have been using the last couple of years is a straight line reel on my ice rod and a sensitive strike indicator along with tungsten jigs. These type of jigs are 3 times heavier than lead and, the benefit of that makes it possible to down size your presentation and still get your bait down to the fish. The straight line reel helps take the spin out of your bait when it’s down by the fish and, when they go neutral to negative you need all the help you can get. The other rig I like using at this time of year is a tip down; it is a wooden frame that holds your rod that causes a pendulum action when you get a bite, hence the name. Tip this with a live crappie minnow suspended above some good weeds and if there is a crappie around it will find you then game on.
Best Fishing Times
Mar 3 6:00-8:30am
Mar 6 8:45-11:15am
Mar 9 11:30am-2:15pm
Mar 12 2:15-5:00pm
Mar 15 6:30-9:00am
Mar 4 7:00-9:15am
Mar 7 9:30am-12:30pm
Mar 10 12:30-3:00pm
Mar 13 4:00-7:00pm
Mar 16 7:15-10:00am
Mar 5 7:45-10:15am
Mar 8 10:30am-1:30pm
Mar 11 1:15-4:00pm
Mar 14 5:30-8:00pm
Mar 17 8:15-11:00am
Happy fishing! Selective harvest is the way to go.
Colin Crawford’s Guide Service, I offer guiding & lodging, crawfordfishing@gmail.com (715) 891-2715.
You can also “Like” us on Facebook. Any questions or just want to talk “fishing” give me a call.
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