Ice Fishing with Nymphs,etc.

[Natesbuddy]

Has anyone on the forum ever fished through the ice with nymphs or anything similar. I fly fish all summer and tie my own so I was curious if anyone had tried this and if so what worked best.

[so haaad]

Not for trout, but for sunfish. Anything weighted works best.

[so haaad]

The other thing you can do is start out with small, weighted jigheads and tie in rubber legs, hackle, tinsel, etc.

[onemore]

I've used pink scuds with great success. They have a little bit of copper wire for weight, but I usually use a small split shot above to get it down quickly.

I've had the best success with pink.

If the crappies and sunnies are biting on wax worms the pink scud will out fish gentz ants, glow lures,tiny jigheads, etc.

Depending onthe size used,they can inhale it - especially if the bite isn't very aggressiv and they are "sucking" it in. For this reason I would recommend crimping down the barb and having a hemostat for easy unhooking without recking the fly or fish.

[DEADhead]

I bet if you fished grey or white scuds, you could do quite well also. I've seen on the camera quite a few copepods and other shrimp like organisms swimming along.

I don't know how to prevent the "sucking" of the hook, but it is a good point. I would plan on fishing these nymphs on fish you plan on harvesting.

[sodajerk]

I made some size 10 and 12 bead-head nymphs with a body of tiny glass beads that I got at a hobby/craft store. A couple red, a couple smoke and a couple kind of a pearly purple color.

The panfish seem to like them. When tipped with spikes I've caught sunnies, gills, perch, crappie and even a 19" sucker on them. Red seems to be the best. It looks similar to a bloodworm nymph except for the brass head.

The idea someone posted about using colored jig heads and dressing the hooks is a good one. I may have to borrow that idea and try some stuff out.

[Quickstrike]

A superior X legs under the ice is deadly, the pattern is under last years fly swap thread.

[WxGuy]

A friend of mine has been having great luck fishing a copper john with a red body.

[sodajerk]

I love the look of Copper Johns and I have a bunch of 'em in different colors and sizes. I think if I was a fish, I'd be fooled by one and end up on the hook. Caught a few brookies on one one day last summer. Never thought of using one under the ice though.

That's what I love about this site! The ideas just keep on coming!

[Natesbuddy]

Thanks all for some awesome ideas. Tying on barbless hooks sounds like the way to go. You guys gave me some really good ideas. Much Thanks.