ice fishing

[Mark Grahovac]

Hello everbody, I have a question on ice fishing with spikes. A friend said a guy he knows feeds the spikes something that makes them smell better to the fish. I have never heard of this and the guy won't tell what he gives them. Is this just BS or a fact. Please let me know, Thanks and safe fishing. slappy!

 

[NOSLEEP]

Re: ice fishing

I have a question slappy<br />whats ice fishing with spikes?

 

[Fishbusters]

Re: ice fishing

I have no idea what a spike is or even how to ice fish (Would someone please tell me how you set the hook on ice? I keep trying but my hooks won't penetrate it.) However I do know a little about bait. You can scent impregnate crawlers by using some wet paper towels on top of them with anise(liquorice) flavoring dripped on it (24hrs prior to fishing). You could (taking a guess here) mix cricket, meal-worm, wax-worm and other baits food or bedding up with some to scent them. I am sure many other flavorings could work. I know European anglers feed maggots died meats to get them to turn blue, green or red and I have seen fellows die minnows with food coloring in the bucket. I guess there could be a lot of variations on both color and scent if one were to look into it and experiment some (I just may have to this summer to see what i can come up with) One thing just make sure you use things that are meant to go into food and are edible because if you use something that is not you risk poisoning your bait and even your fish.

 

[Mark Grahovac]

Re: ice fishing

spikes are some type of a maggot larve. We also fish with mouseies and wax worms. That is what we call them around here.. They might be called something different elsewhere.

 

[NOSLEEP]

Re: ice fishing

If they smell better to the<br />fish, and the fish bite more often<br />sounds like he may have something.<br />When i fish for salmon on the west<br />coast some of my buddies spray wd40<br />on the herring they use for bait. I<br />am not so sure it really works.But it<br />makes them happy and they catch fish.

 

[Dman]

Re: ice fishing

A spike is a smaller version of a wax worm. i would guess an average waxie would be about 3/4-1 inch or so. A spike is probably no longer then 1/2 inch. I've had pretty good luck with both, when it's real cold in Feb or so, they work a bit better in my experience.<br />As for a scent? No clue. I've seen them in different colors but scent? That's a new one.<br />Dman

 

[mountainboy]

Re: ice fishing

PFB--I can't tell if you are joking or serious about your ice fishing questions, but...once the lake freezes safely over( 5" and up), most anglers use an auger (ice drill) to make a hole in the ice. It is in this hole that the angler drops the bait or jig into. The hook is set normally, sometimes the nibbles are smaller and slower, so it's important to pay close attention to your slip bobber or rod tip. Hope you are having a good 2nd semester with the kids

 

[NOSLEEP]

Re: ice fishing

Hello Mountianboy<br />Are you doing any ice fishing yourself<br />in the mountians there. You must have safe ice<br />by now?

 

[gonfishn]

Re: ice fishing

I don't know about the auger method but a chainsaw makes a nice square hole which enables one to look at what is coming to the hole. We attach a bell rig over the opening which alerts one when its time.<br /><br />Sometimes we use a decoy to bring in the curious when we are spear fishing. Some nice northern are caught in the winter up in the Northwoods. Heading that way next week to my SuperBowl digs where I'll fish and watch the game. Its been only 20 below average this past week. Its going to be Chill Dog time.

 

[DJ]

Re: ice fishing

I remember when I was young, my dad used to tell me that you had to keep the waxies (maggots) warm by keeping them in your mouth. By slight of hand, he would pretend to take them out of his mouth and then put them on the hook. <br /><br />I pulled the same trick on my sons. <br /><br />They thought that was the most disgusting thing (me too) until they caught me with the hand trick.

 

[Fishbusters]

Re: ice fishing

Mountianboy while I have never ice fished I have read about it, watched it on TV and even have friends in Wisconsin that have tried to get me to come up there and do it. I am surprised that with the comment about setting the hook into the ice (cube that is usually floating is sweet tea) you did not catch it. We actually had ice on the fish pond in the flowerbed right next to the house. It was about 1/2 frozen over with a thin sheet of it. I actually was thinking if it freezes all the way over I am gonna punch a hole and take pictures of the SC version of ice fishing LOL.

 

[mountainboy]

Re: ice fishing

Nosleep--yes, I've done a bit of ice fishing lately. Most of the lakes have about 12" of ice now and the fishing has been pretty good! Mostly am catching rainbow trout and kokanee salmon. The weather this past week has been pretty mild, but the ice is still looking good at least for another month or so. Good fishing...

 

[roscoe]

Re: ice fishing

The ice here is getting crazy thick. Way over 2 feet already. We've had very little snow and lots of cold here this year. Its -15 degrees now. Sure is nice to have a gas powered auger. Fishing slowed down a bit this week, but caught a few northern pike(22 to 29 inches) and some 11 and 12 inch crappies last week. Fun but cold.<br /><br />Fishbuster- your hook sets will be more effective if you heat the hook with a cig lighter before you thro it in.

 

[Scoop]

Re: ice fishing

Roscoe, the ice around us has been weak at best until the last week. It should be thick now. Yesterday 2 snowmobiles went through the ice on Delevan lake. One guy survived, the other they did not find.<br /><br />Two weeks ago, they were showing pictures of ice shanties that had gone through the ice in Minnesota.<br /><br />Weird Weather. Do you guys have any snow? We haven't had any more than a dusting or enough rain to even make the top fo the soil damp. All the swamps are dry. There are places that have never been dry before. Down south near Janesville, they have had a couple larger snows. We are 20" behind and were under drought conditions before that.

 

[Dman]

Re: ice fishing

There's plenty of ice on this side of the state too. 20-25" everywhere. It's sure nice to have the insulated shanty this time of year. 75 degrees inside and -15 outside. That's what I call fishing!<br />Dman

 

[roscoe]

Re: ice fishing

Scoop, no snow, grass showing thru everywhere. The snowmobiles are all packed away. Lots of cold since mid november. So the ice is getting thick. You have been much warmer than us. We have only had 3 days where it got above freezing, but then very cold at night. From what I here the ice is bad everywhere south of La Crosse. Its 2 pm now and the temp is only 5 degrees. Supposed to be very cold thru the weekend. Then warm up with highs around 18 next week. Brrrrr.

 

[Bobby D.]

Re: ice fishing

There has been some good ice here in New Jersey but not to many fish have been caught. I ues a gas powered 8" diameter auger. I use the chain saw for cutting fire wood. I a firm believer in WD-40 for all species of fish both salt and fresh water. Never heard of spikes. I use two kinds of tip-ups. Tip-ups are three pieces of 1/2" by 1/2" pine with a spool of ice fishing line. The spool trips a trigger that flips up a red flag attached to a flat spring when a fish tugs on the bait. The second type is for fun on the Raritan Bay or a lake. It is placed over the ice hole or floating in the bay. Be ready too chase it if a blue fish takes the bait. Don't forget the WD-40.