Northerns thru the ice

What is the best way to catch northerns thru the ice? We have a trailor along Shore Slough in Lansing and catch northerns during the summer but wanted to try them through the ice. What setups are common and easy along with baits of choice. Thanks

The easiest way it to get yourself some tip ups. They don’t have to be expensive ones either. The ones I use are plastic and cost around $5. Then spool them with the braided tip up line. You can then go with a leader and use a decent sized treble hook, or skip the leader and tie a treble hook directly to the line. Put a shiner on and put the shiner about a foot under the ice. Piece of cake

Mike, what kind of water depth are you talking ? I always fish em about 3 feet off the bottom, if I am in 10 ft or more. Have never fished em under 10 fow though .

big g

Good point big G Where I usually fish tip ups, it is in shallow water, under 10 ft. Most of the water is between 2-5 feet lately. In that situation, I always put them just under the ice and do pretty well for both bass and northerns. In deep water, I wouldn’t have a clue since our backwaters and sloughs are generally shallow

I had to ask, because I know you catch-em with your techniques !!! Thought maybe I had been fishin’ em all wrong, but really, I usually am in about 12-16 fow when I set tip-ups for slimes.

big g

Tip ups are my number one choice. I like hanging smelt myself. To mix things up, I like to drill a few holes and bounce around with a Jig N Rap while keeping an eye out for a flag. This can be a blast when they have the feed bag on.

Generally, if I’m fishing a weed bed, which most are 10′ or less…..I’ll try and set the bait about a foot above the weeds……..

Dodge and I are opposite on how we set up. He likes them lower and I like them higher. So between the 2 of us, we have them covered Like Gary, if we can see the weeds below, we will usually split the difference from the weeds and ice. Lately, it seems we are catching them in both situations, but there are days when it seems they hit one or the other ( higher or lower) more consistently.

Thanks guys, that helps alot.