Jorgy

Hey jjt, welcome to the wonderful world of ice fishing. For bows and cuts I normally use this little jig that I don't know the name of, is that any help. I have them in both 1/8 and 1/4 oz and it is just a hook with a big eye on the end (eye meaning a flattened out piece with paint in the shape of an eye) They come in yellow and red. I tip them with a meal worm, sometimes I bring leaf worms if they are in the sports shop. Normally I fish a few feet off of the bottom if the lake isn't too deep, if it is really deep (50-100 feet) I start at 25 and work my way down if I don't have my buddy with me that doesn't have a depth finder. I work every jigging pattern known to modern man., little twitches, big bobs and anything inbetween. Different days they bite on a different jigging pattern, but I would say that the most effective for me has been raising up around a foot and just dropping it and letting it sit for 5-6 seconds then repeating. Don't stay with the same jigging pattern the whole time your fishing though, sometimes you'll trigger a stubborn fish if you swithch up.

The lakes that I have fished on in Wyoming are pretty clear so take your coat off at some point and look down the hole with you coat over your head, you will be surprised how well you can see below you. Lots of times you can see the trout around your bait and you can see if they like what you are doing.