jjt

I recently got into ice fishing and am enjoying the he!! out of it

I have caught several lake trout and done some perch/walleye fishing

my question is how do you catch the rainbows,browns, and the cutthroats
i know they are in the lake cuz i see the guys leaving with them

i have asked a few of them for tips, explaining i am new to the sport but have ran into some people that were not so generous with info[:'(]

so i am asking you guys/gals here
i dont want your secret bait (unless you want to give it out)
but i would like to know

#1. how deep of water do you fish?
#2. do you use a jig or just bait a hook and drop it to the bottom?
#3. how far of the bottom is a good place to start jigging?
#4. what type of jigs are good?

thank you for any help you can give me

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.

jjt

thanks for the tip jorgy

1eyedfish

ice fishin trout[:'(] i cacth inough the rest of the yr , darn trout!- i need some varity.
Did catch a few nice 20inch rainbows with some worm

Havent ice fished in a long time tho either.

They had a local ice fishing event at pathfinder dam/ res in january every yr- this yr some body put there expensive hummer H2O [&:]into the drink thew the ice( not to deep where they broke thew & got it towed out- also a citation/ticket for spilling/ releasing hazardes waste( gas?)

skeeter 7MM

We usually fish them in 30 or under. If you can find structure like beaver damns, rock shelfs, valleys these can be a big help (of course that either requires a fish finder/camera, lake knowledge or some visual). I use little jigs (walleye flyers or teardrops) tipped with trout bait, egg sack, worm or minnow 2' or under from the bottom. A search lure also works for bows, just tie on a swedish pimple or similar -silver- then run a 24" snell to your small hook and bait. Basically jig it up and down to draw attention of the trout, they usually pick it up on the fall. Another way that has worked very well for trout here through the ice is floating power bait. What you do is put just enough split shot to sink it to the bottom! Thread a plastic straw on the line, place small piece of split shot on the opposite sides of the straw, tie on a very small trebble hook and bait it completely with the floating trout bait. You can make the snell however far you want the bait to rise off the bottom(ie 12" etc from the last split shot). The purpose of the straw is to hold the floating bait away and out from the line and it will not tangle this way when fishing through a hole. I then spring open my bail or set the drag at a very low setting, you can either watch the tip or use those small bells to indicate a strike(slip bobbers will work as well). When I fish hits it I will him take it for awhile and then set the hook slowly put with constant pressure, unlike lakers these trout have very fragile mouths and if you try to cross their eyeballs with a hook set you'll swipe her clean out. The ideal take is let the trout take it deep into the gullet then they don't get away!(Only bad part is you are eating that fish as he will not survive if released). I keep my drag very low when ice fishing in general, but especially with trout again b/c of there mouth structure(most can pull line with little effort). This little combo accounted for 16 bows last weekend ranging from 2-8lbs(our lake bows are bigger than most up here).

Best of luck and hopefully you connect.

Red Hawk

Believe it or not i actually caught an rainbow trout on a shad once. I didnt expect it but it was in a small pool in a creek. It was funny.