Do you love big bluegill?

East coast Ice fisherman

Information

A place to share tecniques ,past successes /failures and future prospects for fishing Gills and other fish through the ice.

Location: Ringwood New Jersey
Members: 21
Latest Activity: Mar 7

Finally...On the Ice!

We'll, the Carp Whisperer Bob and I got out for a little ice fishing today at a local pond that had 4 inches of good clear ice, We rigged up for bluegills with jigging rods and 1/10 oz Kastmaster spoons meal worms as a tipping bait. We didn't get a single bluegill, but we got some of these...

Ended up with 4 bass for myself in about 2 hours of jigging. Bob had two good strikes, including a bigger fish that ran his drag some. Bass went fro 14 to 17 inches. I lost about a 20 inch bass right at the hole...the fish just hovered slowly in the water just below the ice...giving me a great view of what I was losing! Would have been my largest ice bass had I got a hand on her. I got all my fish on 2 pound mono. Fish were 5-6 feet deep.

At least I got to feel a few fish today and get a slight 'fix' for my ice fishing habit! We have done good on gills here, but not today.

High today was 30 F with light winds. Might go tomorrow, but they are calling for sleet and freezing rain...sheeeesh!

The window for ice fishing here is very narrow...maybe only a few days this year. Calling for 65 on Wednesday! Crazy!

Carp guru Bob had to put me in my place..'.a 4 or 5 pound fish isn't a big fish to me" but I think he still had a good time. Glad to be out and glad to catch a couple fish!

Discussion Forum

Top Ten Ice Fishing Lures 4 Replies

TOP TEN ICE FISHING LURESNot sure I've ever caught a Fish through the ice on a lure un-tipped.1/4 oz. and 1/3 oz.Swedish Pimple,Nickle or Gold /Green Prism Tape/Shiner Head-Pickerel, Crappie Red…Continue

Started by John Sheehan. Last reply by John Sheehan Jan 10.

Plastics for Ice Fishing 3 Replies

I hope to get some safe Ice this Year 2024. Last Year I did no Ice Fishing at all. If I get the chance this Year, I'd like to get into using a variety of Plastics for Panfish and Predators. Any…Continue

Started by John Sheehan. Last reply by John Sheehan Jan 9.

Tipping with Perch eyes 2 Replies

Continue

Started by John Sheehan. Last reply by John Sheehan Jan 22, 2022.

Ice Fishing Chronicles 2009-? 7 Replies

In NJ we are allowed 5 rigs .I generally set 3 tip ups ,Jig a rod and have a dead stick rod hanging off a bucket. I switch on and off with the jigging rods .I have two set up for Gills and pan…Continue

Started by John Sheehan. Last reply by John Sheehan Feb 13, 2018.

View All

Comment Wall

Comment

You need to be a member of East coast Ice fisherman to add comments!

Comment by Jim Gronaw on February 11, 2014 at 9:58pm: Still can't seem to cash in on any amount of panfish, although I am trying my best to target them. My totals for 6 trips on the ice are as follows...

Bluegills...6 total, biggest at 10.5 inches, all over nine.

Yellow Perch...9 total, five from 11 to 12 inches.

Bass...25 total, biggest at 22 inches, 15 between 17 and 22 inches.

The bass tally is a huge surprise to me, especially the bigger fish with many 18 inch plus fish. I am catching most of them from one of my best bluegill ponds. With 10 inches of ice right now, I am pretty sure I'll be on the ice safely til almost March. Perch and crappie are picking up at some southern PA lakes.

Almost everything I caught was on the 1/12 or 1/8 oz gold Kastmaster spoons tipped with maggots. Caught a few fish on the smaller perch patterned Rapala Jigging Rap with maggots on the center trebles. Bass and gills 3 to 5 feet deep, 1 foot off bottom and perch in 6 to 10 ft, one foot off bottom.

Comment by John Sheehan on January 31, 2014 at 8:38am: In the past my favorite ice bait, for Perch and Gills has been the mealie but this year so far , it's the waxie . http://voices.yahoo.com/ice-fishing-wax-worms-10715439.html Minnow heads and Tails on a spoon for Crappie and Larger Perch and a Perch eye on a spoon can't be beat at times however .

Comment by John Sheehan on January 29, 2014 at 4:35pm: Personal best ice Crappie today 13.5" Hope to break that real soon . Dink Perch and Gills on staright line combo till the Crappie showed up .Four Crappie in Nungesser spoon tipped with shiner heads and tails.8fow .

Here are the reports of the four trips on the ice so far this year : Finally got on the ice with my brother 1/9/14. My first fish (Crappie ) ,took a 1/4 oz. Hus spoon /Gulp Maggot .Greg did good on his chenille ties . I caught on 4 rods. The Tandem, Marmooska /Genz worm worked good .My marabou bloodworm caught a few . Jigging Rap/Perch eye ,Small jig with spinner bait rubber also caught .chartreuse Crappie nibbles turned the fish on .
Our tally, using various jigging rods and Lures tipped with Berkeley Crappie nibbles, Gulp maggots ,Perch Eye : 3 Crappie,2Pseeds,1 BG,1Bass,1 White Perch ,about 6 or 7 Yellow Perch The Crappie were only in 9-7 fow around fallen tree branches from a tree that hung high above the water. We only caught one fish in 20" all the others were 10-8fow. Early ice on my home lake I usually do best 8-12 feet and come mid ice a bit deeper, say 10-25fow.Light biters except for the Bass and the Larger Pseed.
2nd )went alone two perch cupsaw .fished two hrs. 3rd)Vernon Valley Lake .Lot of guys out catching Bass and Pickerel on tipups .The Gills about 20 between me and my brother loved the mealworms and waxies on the beaded nymphs we tied and used .Also got a Pseed and a Bass on the brown beaded nymph ,grey tail feather/ mealie. Also the micro jig tipped with waxies was my most productive lure .The straightline combo was happening toward the end for me .fished 12:30-4:00 .Wet snow!!
4th ) 1/29/14 Fished 1:30-5 pm Low 20 degrees .a few inches of snow on Cupsaw lake .Started out over 11fow and through about four holes caught plenty of dink Perch and Gills .The fish were hitting 9'-7' area.Moved into 8' and got a few small Perch and Gills but an inch or two bigger thatn what I was catching before .Straight line combo 3# test small feather jig ,and Marmooska tipped with waxies were the ticket ,same lure with mealies or spikes caught some too . The Crappie ,four from 11- 13.5 "s ,hit between 3:45-5pm when I banged it up .Dead shiner heads or tails on Nungesser spoon .Lost a spoon on a hook set on the 4lb leader .Stayed with 6# test and caught 4 on the Eagle claw rod . Pain fishin' the 2#test in the wind on the spring bobber rod ,I stopped using it .

Comment by Jim Gronaw on January 26, 2014 at 2:28pm: Thanks Bruce and John! I hope to get out somewhere this week as cold weather remains. Have a few PA lakes that yield numbers of eating sized panfish, but it's gonna' be hard to turn from those bass if they continue to bite. Might ride that horse a while longer yet.

Comment by John Sheehan on January 26, 2014 at 7:21am: You've been doing great Jim !! Unbelievably scores of Big Bass. Still looking for my first ice Pickerel ,maybe Shepherds lake this week I'll get one .

Decent score on Vernon Valley lake .Brother and I each got about a dozen Fish . I jigged up a small Bass and one Pseed ,the rest were Gills and mostly female. Brother Greg caught a few seeds and the rest Gills and again mostly females . Hand tied beaded nymphs tipped with mealies worked good for me . The bass hit a brown Beaded nymph tie in above a 16th ounce bell sinker "pounding weight ".The hot jig for me which produced all but three fish was a purple micro jig with waxworm .

Comment by Bruce Tomaselli on January 26, 2014 at 5:47am: What a day, Jim. Good for you. You don't get many of those. Enjoy!

Comment by Jim Gronaw on January 25, 2014 at 10:02pm: John...had a great day today despite being a little under dressed for the wind chill. Caught 13 bass thru the ice, a new personal best for quantity thru the ice, and 12 came out of one hole! That's crazy stuff! Again...gold 1/8 oz KastMaster tipped with maggots. Three to 4.5 feet of water, about 6 to 12 inches off the bottom. I kept 4 smaller bass and a nice gill for the pan. Had 10 fish between 16 and 20 inches...great fun on the micro ice fishing rods with 2 and 4 pound test!

Plus, the day before, I got a 22 incher, another 'ice' PR during a brief 30 minute effort while the grand kids were napping. Cold weather coming, I think we will have good ice for a few weeks yet. 6-7 inches now.

Here are a few highlights from the past 2 days...

I hope to get on the gills, as this is one of my best bluegill lakes, but the bass have stolen the show! Good luck and keep posting those ice catches!

Comment by John Sheehan on January 20, 2014 at 7:57am: Hoping for Thursday and Saturday Jim .Good luck if you go out!

Comment by Jim Gronaw on January 19, 2014 at 9:49pm: Cold snap this week in the Mason Dixon area John! I am hoping to get on the ice by the week end! How about you?