Cold water Bite...part 2

[Tony Livingston]

 I had a little better luck today. It took me awhile to find the fish, and then more time was spent finding out what they would hit consistently. The air temp. was 45 degrees, it was partly cloudy and pretty breezy. The water temp. was 38 degrees on the surface, and there was skim ice extending out about 6' from shore in places.

I settled on a Fiskas brand,  horizontal jig made from tungsten. The hook size looked to be approx 14, and it was a ladybug pattern. I tipped it with beemoth, as I still don't have any spikes.

I fished at the mouth of a wide cove, right where it joins the main body of water. Depth to bottom was 12', and I fished the jig a foot and a half off bottom, suspended below a small slip float. The wind made it tough to register the light takes, as the float bobbed too much for my liking. I'm sure I could've done better with some solid ice  to fish from, and a flipover shelter to block the wind.

The fish were a mix of "pure" northern strain BG, and what appear to be Bluegill/Redear hybrids. It took two hours of fishing to find em', and figure em' out. Then only 30 minutes to catch a mess. All fishing was done casting from the bank, no boat.

 

[Tony Livingston]

Some pictures of the winning jig.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Nice work Tony....Pretty Winter Gills....it's nice to see your persistence and determination pay off!

[Dwayne Denison]

Nice fish Tony. I went fishing Fri and Sat, Same here with lite bite. It seemed as the just held bait in mouth.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Pretty gills! Great perseverance. Inspiring.

You may want to test out some waggler slip-floats, Tony. The body of these floats stay beneath the water, with only the "flag," or tip protruding above the surface. They are easy to use in open water and are somewhat less affected by wind and ripple.

[Tony Livingston]

David, I did switch floats today, to a slimmer design. Harder to cast but more sensitive.

As far as jigs, I threw a little of everything. Vertical teardrops, horizontals, a rainbow of colors and patterns, some with blades, some without, tipped with plastics and live bait. In the end, it was the ladybug which proved irrestible, and accounted for all but two of the fish.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

And the winning jig is....  a cute little thing. What others had you tried that didnt work?

[Dwayne Denison]

Tony, on the spot you were fishing. Was it where bottom was sloping to deeper water? Slopes to deeper water, have been working for me about 2 to 3 feet from deep water.

[Tony Livingston]

Yes it was Dwayne. Good call.

[Dwayne Denison]

Tony good looking float, what type is that?

[Tony Livingston]

Dwayne, that's a Gapen pencil float. They have a website, lots of cool floats, although this is the only style of theirs that I have used. It can be used as a slider or a fixed depth, and it doesn't require breaking the line to add or remove it.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

What Im thinking is those fat bodied floats near the surface could be affected by the ripple and wind disturbance. This translates to not only less sensitivity at the float, but also un-natural action on the bait. Obviously, you ended up with something that worked. But here's what I had in mind:

and these:

Here are a couple of discussions specific to the waggler....

http://www.fishingmagic.com/features/rigs/float_fishing_rigs/14455-...

http://www.anglingfeatures.com/iycfwaggler.htm

[Tony Livingston]

I think we're on the same page David. When the gapen is weighted properly, which in this case only requires the tungsten jig and one micro shot, the only part that protrudes above the surface is the red tip. The white band disappearing signals a take, the same as the yellow bands suddenly appearing above the surface signals an upward take. They are extremely sensitive.

The downside involves casting. These floats shine in a situation where you can swing them out on a long rod. But, because the line attaches to the end of the float instead of traveling through it lengthwise, as in a traditional slip float, there is excessive wind drag when you cast, which can hamper your ability to reach the target area.