Hotspotoutdoors

what rods and reels do folks use to pull those piggies through the ice????

thanks,

mike

I prefer longer rods, with a sensitive tip, and some good backbone...and a very progressive moderate to slow action.

Lengths I like are 34", 36" and up to 38". Frabill has a great new 38" ice rod combo in the "Bro Line" that will be a winner....considered a lake trout rod..but not many folks fish sumo eyes with barb-less hooks..and a longer rod is key to keeping them hooked up and no slop when turning them into the hole.

Gary Roach has the Ice Pro Mr. Walleye line with some very nice longer rods that I like.

Last year Dave Genz had 2 longer rods out that fit the need preaty well...one spinning and the other a bait-casting rod.

Jason Mitchell has several good choices as well, think Med/Heavy action...30" or better range. Great Chubby Darter rods.

Reels...personal preference deal...buy the GM Tournament 25's are very nice reels or the Phlueger smaller spinning reels.

Tip on ice reels..... Clean the old lube out on your ice reels with some WD-40...wipe dry and/or blow dry...replace the lube in them with Quantum HOT SAUCE OIL...great stuff..-40...smooth as silk..no freezing up. HOT SAUCE works good on guns you use in the winter too.

Ed hit it on the head, you'll need a MH rod with some extra length. Braided line can work well if you have a moderate action on the rod. Hook sets need to be hard and more than once since they have very hard mouths. We've come to find when using lures like the chubby darter, the greenbacks clamp down so hard on it when they hit, you really have to set the hook hard to get the lure out of their lock jaws to move the lure and set the hook. If you are running a stiffer rod with fast action, mono in the 8lb class would be a good choice. I will be bringing a bait casting set up with me this year and am contemplating setting up a fly reel on a longer spinning rod to try. It will allow me to use heavier mono without the annoying coils you get from a small diameter ice fishing spool.

7 weeks and counting til we're up at Stu's chasing them on the river and hopefully the lake. I can't wait.

Ed, very good point on the reel lube.

The Fergie or Chubby darter works good as well as the flasher jigs talked about in another post on open water fishing for up there.

I like a bigger ice hole personally so a 9 or 10" auger. If you go late ice-an extension or two.

Mike, nice avatar. I see no anchor with the walleye though.:)

WG

WG,

i didnt think the anchor was worthy of a pic.

I agree on the hole size too, I like the 9.25", the 10.25" is not out of the question..they can get tough to turn into the hole at times. They sit there and shake there head and bash the bait against the side of the hole.....I call this "Ringing the BEll"....it's a very nervous time..I hate it...OK...I love it...just a bit...but it still is the most critical time and things go wrong at that point.

I do two hole sets..side by side..on the river and out on the lake too. One has the ducer in it, the other up-current (on the river) has the jig presentation in it.

I do not run more than one fishing line at a time in my portable....gets way too complicated and every time I do..I regret it.

Fish 1 line well...and your farther ahead and loose less big fish. I seen two over 9# on at one time 3 feet apart on the River...man..what @%@#%^ mess.

Have multiple rod systems handy, pre-rigged with "Attraction baits..AKA Hog Callers" and "fallow-up smaller baits (#4 Chubbys or light Reel Baits Flasher jigs)" if they are moody..one does not draw a bite and they look bored on the Vexilar...swap it out fast with the other before they move on. This trick is often the key!

I like the short 28" or 30" rod so you can get down that too see the fish and guide it up. That water is cloudy, but I can usually see down there if I really look hard. Can't wait!

Darters and buckshots works great. If one isnt working try the other. Noise is good too.

Last ice season I played around quite a bit with a fly reel on a ice rod and really enjoyed it. Used it for panfish on a 28 inch rod and it fealt real nice and also balanced in the hand. The reel size was 5/6 wt which gave me a spool diameter of a tad over 3 inches. The thing really took up line well. Not quite as fast as cranking on a spinning reel but as fast as you'd ever need. How deep of water are you going to be useing it in? Pulling the line out to drop your bait in deep water could be annoying.
And a good drag fly reel is super smooth...

great advice everyone. gotta love this forum!

Darkcloud, I have a 5/6 as well but with a large arbor and a super smooth drag. The inch per rotation on it will rival any spinning reel used for ice fishing. We fish in about 24 fow but fish come in suspended so it wouldn't be too bad pulling line out. I'd like to give it a try to see if I like it.

so flasher jigs...in glow and bright colors...3/8-1/2oz?

chubby darters...what size? colors?

any other go to baits?

jigs in the 3/8 to 1/2 range like you mentioned, chubby's in size 6 on the river. We put some lead tape on the spine of the darter to make it a little heavier so it doesn't drift out of the flasher's cone range.

same bright colors on the chubby's?

My favorite colors:

Yellow Dace
Yellow Metallic Dace
Red Tail Shiner
Gold Metallic Orange
Hot perch
Luminescent Orange or Grey Dace
If you can find glow red in size 6 or get away with a #5. Red glow is one of my favorite colors.

Propeller jigs along with rattle jigs are good choices as well. They add some noise and vibration to the presentation, to date, I've probably caught more fish on propeller jigs than anything. The real bait flasher jigs are taking over though, and seem to produce a bit better.

#6's are best if you ask me, gives a nice large profile with some weight. If you're on the lake, you can go smaller if you'd like. I try to change out the hooks to something bigger and stronger. Some of the trebles that come on the chubby's are the low end bronze eagle claw hooks that bend open easily. I also sometimes put a couple brass or glass beads on the line where I tie onto the chubby to give it some noise which helps attract fish my way. Good luck if you head up there.

what kind of line do folks use?

just got a couple Mr. Walleye 36" MH combo rods/reels. will be a great laker set-up as well. also found some chubby's for cheap at a local ely store and have some reelbait flasher jigs on the way. all i need now is ice!!

thanks for all the help!

I usually run 10/2 Powerpro or 8lb Gamma ESP Ice Copoly. If I'm outside I run the Gamma since the braid freezes up terribly on the spool. You really need to set into these fish hard to get a good hookset, I've dropped more fish than I care to admit that were all near the 10lb or better mark. How can I tell, well, when you set the hook and your rod is almost folded in half and you're running MH or H rods, you know it's big

folks are using power pro ice?.....correct?

I can't speak for others, but I use it. I'm sure some use Fireline Ice or other braids. I'd like to try the new Sufix Ice braid myself, I've heard good things about their open water braid.

is a atv or snowmobile a must when ice fishing on the red. i am sure it is not a must... but it is nice?

I've been up 6 years and brought sleds last year for the first time in hopes of fishing the lake. If you fish the river, everything is accessible by foot.

thanks fisher! river fishing for me.. will be keeping the load light then!

when fishing with braided line, do you use a mono leader? if so how long?

Not usually, but sometimes I will use a swivel and a flourocarbon leader of 10-12 lb test if the water is clearer.

when cleaning your reels and using hot sauce:

are there certain places for oil vs. grease.

thanks,

mike

Not sure what you mean????