Indiana Ice Fishing For Steelhead
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- Published on Tuesday, 08 November 2011 23:53
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Indiana Ice Fishing. Ice Fishing For Steelhead.
Ice Fishing For Steelhead
By Taro Murata
When the mid winter blues sets in for all of you anglers out there, don't worry there's still hope! Put away the prozac and cheer up! Some of the best steelhead fishing I've ever had has been through the ice. If you have a favorite stream or river where you always catch steelhead, there are still many to be caught through the ice. All those slow pools where you have previously caught them in the fall or remember catching in the spring is a pretty good place to start. By mid winter the ice in these places are frozen over and are safe to fish but you should still check the ice as you make your way out because currents can create soft spots. In the river you may have to drill many holes before you get a hole that is clear of slush passing by. If the slush is just passing near the surface it's still ok to fish because there's still room for the fish to travel through and to see your bait.
Rainbow's under the ice can behave very differently than in open rivers. These fish will smash big baits agressively jigged. Baits like Northlands Mimic Minnows, 4-5 inch Lunkercity Finesse Fish on 1/2 oz jig heads and bass style tube jigs rigged on minnow style jigheads all work great! Most days the classic presentations also work like floating roe bags rigged with an egg sinkers (egg sinkers bring the bait through the top layer of slush that at times is constantly flowing). Another great presentation is using a variety of different Flatfish rigged with an egg sinker. With this presentation its key to see that your rod is bouncing and vibrating, this means that your lure has caught the current and is working properly, if it stops moving it means there is debris on the bait or there is not enough current in that particular hole for the bait to run effectively. For this presentation I like using 6-8 pound flourocarbon with a six foot crappie style rod. The longer rod really helps because when these rods are left to bounce on their own the strikes can be so fierce and fast that your rod will get pulled under the ice (I've learned the hard way!) before you have even realized you had a strike. The benefit of long rod is that it will only get pulled half way through the hole if the fish decides to take off with your rod (so far, finger are crossed!). You may say why don't you just hold the rod?? Well the answer to that is that you have to adjust you line perfectly so that the bait wobbles just right so when you've found the perfect wobble zone, you have no choice but to keep the rod set stationary, it's a catch 22!
For the jigging technique and roe bags typical medium/medium heavy ice fishing rods will do. If you choose to leave your roe bag unattended, the bite is usually so soft it looks like minnows pecking at your bait and if you don't set the hook right away you'll miss every fish because this time of year the rainbow can really feel the temperature difference of the roe bag and because it feels unnatural, they will spit the bait out quickly! What I'm trying to say is, with roe they won't pull your rod down the hole if left alone (again, so far).
Don't let the blues set in and get out there and leave the rods unattended at own risk
Passion best describes Taro Murata. Introduced to fishing at the age of 3 by his grandmother, Taro's love of fishing remains unchallenged!
Growing up in downtown Toronto, Taro had limited access to rural fishing experiences. Taro then began exploring and fishing every body of water that was accessible in downtown Toronto. He challenged the myth that good fishing was only found in northern locations. Taro's experiment of fishing urban waters quickly proved to be an overwhelming success!
Taro created Fish City TV to introduce urban fishing to the masses. He wants to share his wealth of knowledge with the hope that they too will be inspired! Like Taro always says, "get fish or die trying!" Taro is also a top ten tournament angler, a full time sport fishing guide, http://www.fishcity.tv
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