One Bait Only

[Boss Hogg]

If you could only take one bait on LOTW, what would it be?? Mine would be a hammered gold spoon.

[only ice]

Gold! Gold1 or Gold!!!

[boener]

umm..shiners?

[Tripleplay]

Bait---fatheads usually do the deed but there are usually some shiners in the bucket as well.

Lure---gold jigs, multiple styles. Gold spoons next.

[icefishingdude]

shiners and gold always do well for me, however...the key is where to buy the shiners....some places are not so cheap going to LOW, some are a little cheaper...also, shiners tend to die if there are too many in the bag, ive always had best luck transfering them right after purchase to a 5 gallon bucket thats cold and has some ice or snow in it, anyone with some tips on how to keep shiners alive?

[fiskyknut]

Temperature shock kills them quicker that anything. Pour cold lake water in a hut temp bucket and they go belly up. They also don't like being in a bucket with any other minnow types.

fiskyknut

P.s.....My 1 lure would be the AEjr.

[hanson]

icefishingdude-

I think the key to keeping them darn shiners alive is to buy them from the right place (Steve @ Log Cabin Bait). We picked some shiners up from him and they stayed alive for 2 darn days in the minnow bucket without babysitting them or having an aerator running.

In the past, I have bought them from multiple places coming from the west on the way to LOW. Denny's in Roseau, the Holiday station in Warroad, the "old" Riverside Bait in Warroad (haven't been in since they reopened) and I have always had half the bucket die on me before making it to the lake. A good day was when they were all gulping for air at the top of the minnow bucket.

I now carry a Frabill Aerator to give help out and make frequent water changes. That still doesn't help out too much though.

I was really surprised last weekend with how long the shiners stayed alive.

Fisky- How's it going? You didn't miss much last weekend. Very slow day on the pond.

[widetrack]

West river sutton spoon... brass. All I carry.

A dead shinner with the entrails hanging out will out fish a live one anyday... Save the tails for when you run out...(think of it as 1/2 price bait...) they still catch about as well...

Fresh dead works for me... don't have all the minnow bucket worries. The fish seem to like when I pour Dr pepper on the bait too.

[Green&Gold]

Bubble Gum Buck Shot Rattle Spoon!!!!!!

[NorthernLite]

Mine would have to be an orange(glow) 1/8 oz Northland buckshot rattle spoon, with a slightly larger red or gold treble hook. I usualy tie a swivel about 36 inches above the jig. As far as bait it just depends, I like fat heads and shiners about the same. Depending on how agressive the fish are determins on if i use a whole or half of minnow.

[fiskyknut]

Chris, I am sorry I missed you guys. I had looked foreward to it for sometime too. Plans a, b, and c, and any/all combinations thereof all fell thru last minute and I am quite bummed! Should've just had mrs. fisky drop me off eh.

I will sometime soon be dropping email your way in re. to url in a couple of weeks. Hopefully that'll fly!

I gots to get a mass ammount of fishing in now thru about mid/late january as I promised the wife I am gonna stay home more days midwinter this season and work on a few procrastinated projects for her.

Think Crappies and BIG pike!

fiskyknut

[Royal Dutchman]

Fisky,

What am I doing wrong with the AEjr. Just a few twitches & the treble is hooked on the line. They might catch fish if they didn't foul hook so soon. Is it just me? Help!

For me it is the small Buckshot or the small Forage Minnow in red or green glow.

[SFBOY]

The orange glow is an excellent color up there. I have used the white glow rapalas jigging raps up there with some sucess as well. I find that it is important to continually recharge the baits. Most bites come as the lure is sent down with a fresh glow to it. Usually we bring up our own shiners as well. I have not found a place to find 3 to 4' shiners up there and they seem to work pretty well for the larger fish. Has anyone tried ignoring their poles, that seems to work fairly well too. Using this strategy a guy loses alot of fish/equipment though.

There was a good article on winter jigging walleyes in the In Fisherman Magazine, I believe in October. Dealt mainly with neutral or negative eyes. I will be trying some of the technique that they talked about in the article. Will post the results.

[fiskyknut]

They do have a kinda wild action and do tangle on occasion. Seems to happen on the way down for me when it does mostly. I usually can tell by feel when they're fouled, as I'm sure you can as well. Do you fish em on light line? Rods I fish'm on are spooled with 4 or 6. How are you attaching them? I attach em to a small swivel at the end of my mono direct to the slitring, maybe try that?

Have you been on the River at all this year?

fiskyknut

[ccmonsr]

pretty much only one hook in my box: gold rock-n-roll.

[fiskyknut]

Thats a fact eh! I know your brother likes em too, he still had the same ones from last year tied on when we were out last week!!! He also managed to get 1 out of my box rigged on another rod of his that we set up for your cousin which I never got back!

[Royal Dutchman]

Fisky,

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, mostly on the drop. Guess I could slow down but hard to do when you're marking fish! Rigging the same as you but no swivel. Will try that.

Have not drilled a hole in the river. Heard good reports from locals but our people want a lake report so when I declare a fishing day I feel like I need to head for the lake. Work, work, work.....!

Thanks!

[curt quesnell]

Hi Carson,

I have never been a big Rock Roll jig user. Last weekend

I put a 3/8s ounce gold one on and the fish hit it wayyyy

harder than other baits I had on the deadstick.

I actually took it off because every fish had the darn

thing completely inside of its mouth. To keep from killing

the littler fish I switched to a plain Jig.

[curt quesnell]

Royal Dutchman.

I haven't seen the jr hook the line more than once or twice

ever. What happens with me is the split ring will hook

over one of the tail fins, another thing that happens is

I will jig off the minnow head and I see it fall to the

bottom on the electronics.

I love the AE jr, it's one of my all time favorites.

The glow red Go Devil is my favorite all time " If I

Had Only One Lure" lure. I like it because it is fast,

trouble free and the fish seem to like it. I add about

two inches of Glup Red Earthworm to the minnow head.

Fish just seem to love the color red.

[hanson]

1 Lure Only?

Perch colored 1/8oz Go-Devil by Scenic Tackle.

That 1 lure has put more fish on the ice for me than any other I believe. Glow Red Go-Devil is my "go-to" for Red Lake but the Perch has really produced for me in most cases.

[DP]

Had good luck last couple years with a gold frostee that has one end dipped in glow paint, best of both worlds-gold & glow.

[SFBOY]

I love those glow devils. They are heavy, glow well but they dont have the huge profile of the buckshot spoons. That is what the eyes want 2-1 over anything else on the lake that I fish here at home. Other lakes are different. Mille Lacs I almost exclusively use glow jigging raps and have much success with those.

[Warbucks]

My one bait only, would be anything gold with a shinner on a dead stick.

[weekendjunkie]

Quote:

---

shiners and gold always do well for me, however...the key is where to buy the shiners....some places are not so cheap going to LOW, some are a little cheaper...also, shiners tend to die if there are too many in the bag, ive always had best luck transfering them right after purchase to a 5 gallon bucket thats cold and has some ice or snow in it, anyone with some tips on how to keep shiners alive?

---

try disolving a couple of bayer asprins in your bucket. use them in the summer, 80 degree water in the minnow bucket and the shiners are jumping out the bucket. moral of the story "drugged minnows cath more than a drugged fisherman"

the junkie

[wallydiver]

If I'm gonna sit still all day, I'll drill a hole, but not all the way through. Then fill it with water and shiners and they're good to go for the day.

I gotta agree with widetrack, dead shiners are the way to go. And fresh dead ones seem to make a difference. That was pretty evident last weekend.