Technology improving in fishing’s “4th season”//Ted Peck

Technology improving in fishing’s “4th season”//Ted Peck
The next couple weeks offer some of the toughest angling conditions you’ll likely encounter in all of 2004, with an active feeding window which can be only a few minutes in a 24 hour day.
Fortunately, finny critters are also wired to strike reflexively when predatory instincts are tweaked.
Herein lies the rub. Predatory instincts are profoundly subdued in cold-blooded creatures swimming in water just above 33 degrees Fahrenheit. Arctic high pressure systems which dominate January weather squeeze on the air bladder which lies underneath the spine on fish, further inhibiting activity.
With little or no snow cover on the ice, fish are warier than usual. Light penetration thru the ice has enabled some weed growth to remain in shallow water, attracting both predators and prey.
You can often see them swimming down there in less than five feet of water. But the fish can see you too. And with survival the strongest instinct of all, your big round face staring down the hole shrinks a piscator’s “strike window” considerably.
Fortunately, technology has come to the rescue. Nearly invisible fluorocarbon fishing lines, tiny naturally balanced lures, ultra sensitive rods—and most important new soft plastic tails—have made January angling more than a chilly waste of time.
Two pound test—or even lighter—Berkley Micro-Ice line is pricey but worth the money, with Dave Genz series Lightning Rods providing a profoundly sensitive link between you and the fish.
A natural horizontal presentation is a major key to success under tough ice fishing conditions. Lures like the Marmooska, Genz Worm and Fat Boy maintain a horizontal orientation in the water.
Other lures like the venerable Rat Finkee need to have the knot, which binds the lure to that wispy line re-oriented after the physics of catching a fish tugs it almost vertical. But the Rat Finkee is still all-time killer bait.
A hybrid lure called “Ratso” combines this tiny lure with a soft plastic tail in a very effective combination for tough fishing conditions.
Gold, black, purple and glow-in-the-dark are usually the best lure colors when fish are in shallow, clear water.
Lindy Little Joe’s new “Techni-glow Tails” are by far the most animated soft plastics now on the market, shimmering like prey species even when you set the rod down.
Techni-glow Tails come in several colors and styles with the paddle tail and split-tail versions both profoundly productive on pensive fish.
A pinkish-purple paddle tail version of the Techni-Glow coupled with a #10 purple/white Marmooska jig has been the “go-to” bait so far this hard water season on the Madison lakes, Delavan and over on the Mississippi.
Panfish like this combination presented with almost no animation. Bass jump all over it with an occasional short snap of the wrist to imitate fleeing prey.
Pool 9 over on the Mississippi proved to be the ideal laboratory to perfect technique last weekend on schools of largemouth bass cruising in less than three feet of water.
Dark clothes, a portable ice shanty with all the windows covered and peaking down the hole from an obtuse angle while remaining absolutely still were required to stay hooked up, with a chance to sight fish for bass up to three pounds a terrific angling thrill.
Although soft plastics and new balanced lures have made a difference in ice fishing success over the past couple years the technology is still not quite perfect.
What bucketeers need is a soft plastic with the animation of the Techni-Glow Tail coupled with the attractant capabilities of Berkley “Gulp”.
If this ever happens we’ll have something, which will likely out fish live bait on a consistent basis.