I wrote this article for an ice fishing piece a friend of mine is producing. I still have some work to do on it, but here she is:
Plastics Under the Ice
I am now a believer in plastics for ice fishing. Over the last few years I have been spending numerous hours out on the ice. I have become confident with using my GPS, camera, and flasher to locate and catch fish. Most of my trips are to West Rush Lake and St. Cloud area lakes. West Rush Lake has an incredible panfish population, but most of the crappies, bluegills, and perch run small. With that said, on a regular basis I can go out and catch 50+ fish in a half day and return home with some fish for the frying pan. My presentation usually consists of a horizontal jig tipped with a wax worm or the occasional euro larva or minnow head. A tear drop jig, small jigging spoon, and dead sticking also have their days. Most of my jigging is done with a very light spring bobber set up to detect the slightest nibble. Over the years I have experimented with Berkley Gulp, ratsos, and other artificial lures. The conclusion has always been that the wax worms produce more that triple the amount of fish. This year I asked the guys at the ice fishing superstore Thorne Bros. to set me up for another attempt at using plastics. After exploring my options I went with the Little Atom wedgees in a few different colors. I have tested them twice this year, and they have worked great. I have been feeding them on the hook of a #12 Marmooska jig, and the motion is truly unbelievable. A tap on the rod sends a wave of action through the entire plastic. The crappies, perch, and bluegills have been pounding this set up. I was worried about the fish spitting the lure, but it has been the complete opposite. I had bluegills and crappies actually swallowing the plastic and jig. On my last trip out I decided to take a scientific approach to the plastic vs. wax worm experiment. I fished for 4 hours switching between plastic and wax worm every 8 half hour segments. I used a white wedgee for the first segment, then wax worm, then red wedgee, back to the wax worm, and repeated this for the last 4 segments. My buddy was kind enough to run the clicker, so I could accurately count. When all was said and done, the wedgees outperformed the wax worm by a score of 52 to 18. The breakdown of white vs. red ended up with white on top with 35/52. I did not monitor the size of the fish, but the white wedgees produced our largest crappie and bluegill of the day. I will continue to have wax worms with me when I go ice fishing, but they have now become my second choice. The plastics require virtually no adjusting between fish making it very nice for quickly getting the bait back down to the fish. I plan on experimenting more with these plastics and others a lot more this season.
but they just LOOK like they would work!
