How do you start: Live minnow, minnow head, bare hook, specialty hook?

So, when you are ice fishing, how do you start?

This is assuming you aren’t using a bare hook but a spoon, jigging rap, or other such lure.

1.) Live minnow

2.) Minnow Head

3.) Minnow Tail

4.) Bare Hook

5.) Bare Specialty Hook such as a hook with feathers, beads, dangler spoon

6.) Artificial Bait

Stable weather and barometric pressure, I start BIG and lively. Cold front, low pressure, big pressure swings, I start smaller and slower.

toddrun wrote:

Stable weather and barometric pressure, I start BIG and lively. Cold front, low pressure, big pressure swings, I start smaller and slower.

Smaller meaning minnow parts or just smaller minnow?

I would start with a smaller live minnow, and work down to minnow parts if needed.

Crappies? Walleyes? Cats? ‘Gills?. Best advice: read what I do and do the opposite!
I start with spikes and also have a live minnow on a deadstick-sometimes switch to a minnow head at sunset/sunrise or even a whole minnow on a light flutter spoon at that time, although I have not done that in a while. Used to lead off with a buckshot with a minnow head.

Start aggressive with loud, flashy Rattlin’ Flyers and a minnow head. If the fish say no, dead stick a tungsten and fathead. If the fish are still negative, complain about the bite while drinking beer.

Both! Small on a dead stick, and larger & active on the jig. I usually put something out there that is noisy and moves a lot, like a rippin’ or slab rap. It will attract most any fish in the area to come in and investigate. I usually land more fish on the dead stack AFTER they’ve come in to the rap. But there are still days when the rap is crushing them, so who cares about the dead stick.

I give up before I start

I start simple, jig with plastic or bare spoon.

When perch fishing, I start with a tungsten jig(chartreuse and pink) with a wax worm on one line and a full, live minnow on a bare red treble hook on the other line.

Don’t forget

To bring

Your Dynamite

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I always start with plastics. If I don’t have to use live bait then I won’t.

Perch Patrol wrote:

I always start with plastics. If I don’t have to use live bait then I won’t.

Like what lures and plastics?

All of you have missed the boat here regarding the proper starting procedure….

1- Beer
2- Beer
3- Beer

Then deal with the less important fishing issues.

usmarine0352 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Perch Patrol wrote:</div>
I always start with plastics. If I don’t have to use live bait then I won’t.

Like what lures and plastics?

Why not start with live bait first?

It’s much more friendly to the environment and sustainable then plastic???

Does China make all your plastic baits?

I always drop down minnow head on a spoon and live on dead stick. When I’m inserch mode like a pice of structure like a hump and put down a ripen rap and see if I can get any marks to come in and if it doesn’t hit live bait while I move to next the other side of hump and if no marks move on to next spot till I find active fish