Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Making Biters Out of Lookers


Surface Tension

Recommended Posts

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Lots of Lookers but not many biters.

Thats the report I read on the Mille Lacs forum the day before I was to leave for our trip.

Me not knowing the lake but would be fishing with guys that do, I had one piece of the puzzle in place. In the back of my mind I guess I thought that maybe the weather would turn the fish on.

Out on the ice the reports of lookers was true.

Hopping from hole to hole helped but still, more lookers then biters.

Of coarse I changed up, down sizing, lure changes, bait, plastics, waxies, half a minnow, whole minnow, dead line, bobber.

DID NOT make a difference.

I wouldn't dream about going out without the flasher. I've been using sonar for a long time. I figure I have a pretty good

idea of whats going on down below. This trip I brought a camera too.

In the past I used the camera some and it seemed to be more entertainment then tool.

I hadn't a good way to hold the camera cable either but happened to have a very simple device to do that

this time out called a MarCum compass or something like that.

After all that hole hopping I figured I set up the Otter and put a camera down in hopes that maybe I can figure out "what they wanted"

I put the camera a foot off the bottom, then found my jig. The compass worked surprisingly well.

It held the the depth and when rotating the camera it was so simple but effective.

There were Perch there too. So I go about the jigging routine a foot off the bottom.

Perch would show up out of curiosity then pretty much ignored my efforts to get them to look much less bite.

In fact if they didn't ignore the lure they spooked from it.

I was over mud and figured the Perch were feeding on insects.

Still the waxie didn't make that difference.

Hmmm, What does an insect look like on the bottom?

I dropped a 1/16th oz Go Devil tipped with a minnow head right on the bottom.

I then lowed the camera just off the bottom, that gave me a bigger field of view on the bottom.

I short hopped that Go Devil on the bottom, It would send a little sediment up but not a cloud.

I could make it look like it was crawling on the bottom. To give my presentation a little more viability, even minute or so I'd lift a foot an let it go back to the bottom where I continued that crawl.

The Perch came in and instead of being indifferent or spooked they looked aggressive.

I was mimicking that bug life that crawls around on the bottom. As the Perch came head on to my crawling lure, I'd lift very slowly and inch with quizzer. That gave a little hint of fleeing and also gave the Perch a clean shot at the minnow head and hooks. Would have never been able to time this without a camera.

If the Perch didn't hit it after that lift I'd go back on the bottom and crawl. That more times then not got their interest back and I'd repeat this over.

About this time the winds started blowing pretty hard, hard enough that I couldn't leave my Otter.

I wanted to tell the rest of the crew what I was doing to make biters into lookers. An hour passes by and I'm starting to really get into using the camera.

More importantly I'm perfecting this presentation.

I started coming off the bottom only when the Perch showed interest. If the hit didn't come right away but the interest was there or if the Perch tilted up or down toward my lure I learned that it was more apt to pursue. At any time the Perch stopped showing interest it was back down to the bottom and crawl.

Next time you have lookers give it a try.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great info! I've found this out in years past also. Hard to bite perch, that would show interest with a dropper rig, and the smallest crappie minnows I had with at the time. Drop the spoon to the bottom and the little minnow would fight the weight of going to the bottom by swimming up, and all of a sudden the lethargic perch's fins would perk right up and inhale that little minnow but spit it right back out just as fast! If it wasn't for the camera, I would of never caught them. I would get around 10 perch or so a day when doing this, but none of them were under 11".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hadn't a good way to hold the camera cable either

Here's a cheap trick I did for my Aqua-Vu DT-100

Took a piece of excess decking (about 1 1/4" thick by 6" x 15" long)- drilled a hole in the center of it that is a little larger than the cord dia. - then cut a slot in the board offset about 1" from the hole that is a lot larger than the cord so it will slide in easily - then took a jig saw and cut over to the drilled hole. (You end up with a very short-legged "L").Then cut a wedge from pine that holds the cable in place at the depth you want. You than just rotate the board until the camera aims where you want it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Watching on the camera it was the same experience for us, had one small perch actually suck the minnow head off the bottom and get hooked. very frustrating to bang the bait onto the bottom for half an hour only to bang the bait off the hook and then have a perch come by a slurp the bait and run!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome report Surface Tension. I know I don't work the bottom enough, now I'll give it a lot more attention. \:\)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome report ST. I was on the big pond, with minimal experience, the same day as you. Yup, I had a bunch of lookers and a lot less takers.

This is the perfect example of a situation where a flasher and a camera are the 1-2 punch. Talk about frustration, I was marking fish all the time. I tried the normal jig it a bit, lift it up a bit, jig it a bit. I could get fish to follow the lure up, but then they were gone. I would have given just about anything to see what they were doing down there.

Great tip. Next time I'm in this situation I'll definately give it a try. Also, next time I have the chance to use a camera for the day I'm jumping on it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

figured out that havin an extra hole with a tip up hole cover and a pliers with a rubber band strapped to the cable works well. Holds the cable at the same depth and prevents it from turning

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I ended up takeing the swing out arm off of my marcum and mounted it to my camera casing so I can adjust it right over the hole. Then I went to a float for my transducer just like a vexelar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.