Smallies through the ice.

Whats the trick. I fish all over the lake and I may have caught a handful through the ice. No rhyme or reason.
Is there a way to target them. What a riot it is pulling up a 4 or 5 pounder on a 32 inch rod. Those fish are tanks on the big pond, compared to a walleye that feels like dead weight

I’ve wondered about this for a while, you just don’t see many caught in the winter for how many are in there.

I remember years and years ago the Infisherman had an article about this. It had something about a certain position on a piece of structure, and once you found them , you could hurt them big time. Someplace to search. DK.

Science says they are more or less dormant in cold water since they are a warm water species of fish. They probably go into a state of “hibernation” for most of the winter and only eat/swim enough just to stay alive. You might stumble into one now or then but specifically trying to target them in the dead of winter is foolish.

I definitely wouldn’t call it foolish……….
They can be caught, it’s finding them that is hard. They group up together in very small areas and don’t move much. If you drop in on their head they’ll eat, but they won’t move to a bait more than a couple feet. They are very inactive in winter, so their strike zone is very very small. That’s the biggest challenge. Getting a hole over that very small strike zone is challenging. Look up Uncut Angling and Superior Angling on YouTube. Both channels have episodes explaining how it’s done.

grubson wrote:

I definitely wouldn’t call it foolish……….
They can be caught, it’s finding them that is hard. They group up together in very small areas and don’t move much. If you drop in on their head they’ll eat, but they won’t move to a bait more than a couple feet. They are very inactive in winter, so their strike zone is very very small. That’s the biggest challenge. Getting a hole over that very small strike zone is challenging. Look up Uncut Angling and Superior Angling on YouTube. Both channels have episodes explaining how it’s done.

X2

It happens…

First rule of fight club!

Just saying

sliderfishn wrote:

It happens…

First rule of fight club!

Just saying

Was asking if there is a technique not gps locations

Thanks guys ill be watching those videos tonight

On mille lacs about 10 ish years ago my dad and we’re ice trolling for perch in March and one hole as soon as you dropped your line near the bottom it wasn’t 5 seconds and u had a nice smallie on. It was a BLAST! Only one hole though. All the other holes some only 10 feet away or so nothing. So I will second what everyone else said about them grouping up tight and not biting unless u drop it right on them. But if u do the will bite. We coulda caught them all day I believe bug got tired of it after awhile.