Today I was joined on the hard water by the man behind the lures. The diamond jig, the gill pill, some of the best ice tackle in the industry- Bob Gillispie, owner of Custom Jigs and Spins. Bob and I had a “disagreement” on who could fish his jigs the best last year. This was the first chance we were able to get on the ice together this year. We decided to see who could fish the gill pill better…
Again, here in Iowa, safe ice is scarce. We decided to meet at the shop at 6:00 AM, because we knew finding safe ice might be difficult. I have yet to find safe ice on the wapsi river this year. Today would lead to more unsafe river ice. We checked the ice at three of my favorite ice fishing spots along the wapsi. All three spots were horrible, the ice broke within the first step. I don’t know what caused this, I was standing on it earlier in the week. I think with all the rain we received, the river must have rose, and lowered. The ice was 2-3″ thick, yet we thought there was an air pocket between the ice and the water. That is a dangerous situation. With that, we had wasted about 2 1/2 hours of fishing time. The snow has also hampered ice production. Different bodies of watered are affected differently with the amount of snow on top.
Plan B: Search local lakes in search of crappies. We checked two other areas, one had five inches of solid ice, and one only had two inches of ice. We hit the one with 2″ first. We began drilling a ton of holes, and after an hour, I only managed to mark and catch one crappie, and it was a dink. We were both about ready to head for plan c, when Bob caught on fire catching the crappies. We then found a tree, and caught quite a few more crappies, with none of them being over 11″. We were using glow brite/lime ratso’s. These are one of my favorite crappie lures. The tree that we were fishing over cluttered up the screen on our flashers, and we were fishing really close together. This is where the NBT button, and the SFL, and the IR rejection really come in handy. We were able to eliminate all of the clutter, and interference, and see our jigs down below the branches. These features really helped us put more fish on the ice.
Plan C: See who could get the biggest gill using the gill pill. Somehow, I missed the memo and started off fishing a diamond jig. Bob was catching them hand over fist, and I wasn’t catching anything. That is when I realized I had a diamond jig on. I switched to a #12 gill pill, and the first hole I dropped it in, I had a big bull absolutely crush it.
Bob was using the firetiger #12 and I was using the red glow brite #12- I don’t think color mattered that much, because we were both catching fish pretty consistently. This is going to sound stupid, but I have never witnessed switching to a different bait work that well before. But those gills today would only take a gill pill. That is the bait they wanted. I believe it had to do with the way the bait flutters/moves when it falls and rises. This bait is designed to put big gills on the ice.
Well, I hate to admit it, but Bob definitely won the competition today. He caught a gill that measured close to 9 5/8″, and my biggest was around 9 1/2″. Both are true trophy Iowa Blue Gills. Bob it was great fishing with you again, I always look forward to it!! Thanks for sharing the ice with me today!
Like I said, you bring the baits, and I’ll catch the fish- so I guess I stuck my foot in my mouth today! I’ll start practicing for next time…
Iowa Ice guys- be careful out there, the ice is very dangerous in some spots. There is good ice in areas, and there is really bad ice in areas.
Stay safe, good luck, and we’ll see you on the hard water.
Here is a couple more pics of the double we had, hopefully these ones show the size of these bruisers!! I am not a huge blue-gill fisherman, but when you get into them over the 9″ mark consistently, there is nothing better! I hope to get a true 11.5 this year!!
I at least think my fish was older than Bob’s it looked like it had some battle scars, and even a split tail!
Bob will probably catch it before me…
Ive caught gills that size before, but not that pretty! The blue eartags are just amazing on those fish.
Great report Luke and nice gills guys. I hope the ice conditions hang in there for you guys in the south
Anyone who does not have http://www.customjigs.com saved in there favorites is missing out on a great line up of ice fishing tackle without a doubt
Nice report. Tried several local bodies of water here in NW Iowa over the weekend and found nothing less than 6″ of good ice. I think we’re set for the winter now.
NWBuck
Another great report Luke
nice report Luke. I’m also a big fan of CJS’s jigs. I did pretty well on the perch on anglers bay with the glow gill pill earlier this month.
great report, luke
i have some gill pills i am waiting to try, but we still have open water on the mississippi down here and are still catching some walleyes and saugers.
anyway, just wondering what you tip your gill pills with or do you fish them plain?
IlliniWalli-
It all depends on what the fish want. Generally, I will start off with plastic- then go to powerbait or gulp, and then to wax worms/spikes if necessary.
I would much rather use plastics and the gulp/powerbait to tip with just because it saves a ton of wasted time by not re-baiting all the time.
I’ve seen those gills before I think. Nice fish Luke and Bob
Glad you didn’t walk out too far at spot #1.
John
monster gills!!