I DON’T MIND placing effort and time into ice fishing when the payout is massive. I’m not speaking coolers brimming with crappies and yellow perch, both. I’m speaking about fish that make you query how the hell you’re going to get them by way of the outlet, assuming you survive the struggle. I skilled this a yr in the past on Colorado’s Lake Granby. There I used to be, kneeling with my nerves shot, watching my little reel’s spool spin at such excessive RPMs that I used to be anticipating it to fly off. For 2 days I labored for that chunk, jigging smooth plastics sufficiently big to catch tuna in 50 holes a day. By some means, I didn’t screw up and put a 43-inch lake trout on the ice. It was the best expertise I’ve ever had on laborious water.
However that was a particular case. Most of us aren’t fortunate sufficient to stay near lakes that provide the chance to battle true drag screamers in winter, myself included. So after I hit the weekend ice for the frequent native gamers, like bass and pickerel, simply give me some good buddies, a propane grill, some energetic shiners, and some buckets of tip-ups.
Run For It
To many within the “hardcore” ice crowd, tip-up fishing is a joke. It’s for meat fishermen solely. It’s for lazy individuals. Nicely, I say that seeing a flag pop up is the hard-water equal of watching a bobber go down, which ought to by no means get outdated. If you happen to’ve misplaced the flexibility to get the nice and cozy fuzzies over such issues, possibly you’ve overpassed why you fell in love with fishing within the first place.
I’m not ashamed to confess that the older I get, the extra my drive to fish in bitter-cold climate wanes. If I’m going to strap on cleats for predominantly 2-pound bass and a 20-inch pickerel (if I’m fortunate), I want these heat fuzzies, and sitting on a bucket jigging a waxworm for hours doesn’t give them to me. However, very like garden darts and Slip ’N Slides, tip-ups rework a subpar social gathering into an occasion to recollect, even when not all the time for the suitable causes.
Coaching a digital camera on one in all your shiners provides an entire new factor of enjoyable to tip-up fishing. Nothing captivates grown males in ice-fishing garb like two pickerel locked in on a bait.
I as soon as supported a buddy of mine as he hobbled on one leg all the way in which throughout a North Jersey lake. His sprained ankle was swollen and turning purple. He’d be laid up for days. However that’s the value you pay for racing to a popped flag on recent ice to beat everybody else to a different dinky bass. We nonetheless chortle about it each time we see one another. Then there’s the buddy who all the time insists on setting at the least one tip-up a mile from the remainder. Within the morning, you’ll all race to that one when the flag goes up; after lunch, and maybe a couple of cans of suds, you’ll argue over who has to go after the outlier this time. If you happen to’ve received youngsters on the ice, that’s once you set a half-dozen a mile away, as a result of it’s a assure they’ll be so knocked out by the tip of the day, you’ll even have them in mattress earlier than The Simpsons.
Tech Ideas
Talking of display time, in case you’ve received a type of snazzy underwater ice-fishing cameras, carry it. Coaching a digital camera on one in all your shiners provides an entire new factor of enjoyable to tip-up fishing. It’s like flicking on an MMA struggle throughout a frat social gathering. Nothing captivates grown males in ice-fishing garb like two pickerel locked in on a bait. The suspense is killer. Will they assault? In that case, when? Which fish will make the primary transfer? Bets have been positioned throughout this type of programming.
Helpful fishing intel has been gained too. It’s straightforward to imagine that once you set tip-ups, flags fly when a fish occurs upon the bait and assaults. However combining at present’s know-how with conventional tip-up fishing has taught me that this isn’t all the time the case. I’ve seen bass, pickerel, walleyes, and crappies research stay baits for as much as 20 minutes earlier than lastly committing. They may eat when a shiner adjustments path, or lastly tires and stops transferring, or bolts in a fast burst of pace after swimming in a slower, steadier rhythm. Watching these fish has given me invaluable perception into easy methods to work lures and flies to set off a chunk in different conditions, significantly proper after ice-out when the water remains to be chilly.
Like your grade college trainer all the time mentioned, studying may be enjoyable. On the laborious water, although, that begins with utilizing tip-ups. Additionally, it’s a good suggestion to ask your slowest buddy, so that you get to tug on extra fish—and one who’ll take the time to get selfmade kielbasa from the great Polish deli, and never simply seize a pack of Hillshires from the Cease-and-Save. They might be the identical individual.
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