Fishing Michigan

I mentioned before when the order from Little Atom came in I would do a lil’ something on using plastics for catching panfish through the ice.  Now I realize that there is a good chance I will be razzed by a certain woman, who actually thinks I have everything made for fishing already, I think it might have something to do with me saying,  “After this, this is it,  I’ll never have to buy anything for fishing again.”  I should have said, nothing major ever again,  it just might be vague enough to get a few more goodies.

So here is a big pic of all the goodies I picked up in my latest order.  Some of the plastics I had already,  after learning more last season, I just wanted more of them.  Others were a line up available in a color I didn’t have last year and wanted to try this year.  For $1.19 a pack if you know it works in one color, its easily affordable to give another color a workout.  Even the new Atomic Glows are only slightly more at $1.39.  I was really happy when I gave these a shot of light.  The red is nice and bright, the blue is med strength and the purple was really subtle.  It really gives you the full range that you want for under the ice, red for down deep, blue for mid-depths and the purple will work out in the shallower water.

I had a lot of success last year with the Nuggee’s.  I had never done this before, but during an entire tournament for the first time I used nothing but plastics.  That was in Minnesota during the last qualifier, where we finished 13th and qualified for the championships held in a few weeks in December.  Even during the days we prefished I used primarily live bait,  but come Sunday morning, we made the decision to start off with plastics, to entice the big fish (aggressive morning bite) before they felt pounded by the pressure.  This year Rick, the owner of LA, went back to the drawing board and came up with the Micro Nuggie.  So I ordered all the colors that worked so well for me last year in the new size.  This should even help in getting those hook shy fish to bite,  and might even work better on bluegill.

I have tried several other brands of plastics.  Some even made it into the water on a jig.  I used to have the mentality that I will give them a shot when I run out of live bait.  That whole back-up plan that never came to be because I usually carry a couple of hundred spikes with me whenever I hit the ice.  The difference I found here is that these baits actually move in the water with little effort on my part.  If I jig aggressively they dance all over the place,  if I want to slow it down the action reflects this change of pace.  Ie, they can match the mood of the fish and that’s the most important difference in other brands.  In most cases if you slow down the presentation, the movement stops and you just have a chunk attached to your jig.

Besides the Nuggies and Micro’s; Wedgees, Duppies and Skimpies have worked really well.  The Wedgeesare a snake like bait that imitates blood worms and other larvae that fish feed on near the bottom of a lake.  Duppies are a small split tail bait that match up to your smallest jigs.  Skimpies look like a worm with tear or spade shaped tail, which slows down the movement at the rear of the tail.  Spidgies were designed to work on an ant like body, but I have used them to dress up trebles on the bottom of spoons for walleye, crappie and perch. It slows down the spoon and gives the treble a lifelike body. With both sizes of the Noodles,I rig them across the body of the jig, like a bass fisherman uses the whacky rig technique with a bass worm. I just use the different sizes with bigger or smaller jigs.

It got to the point where I now use two Plano #3600 sized trays to hold all the LA plastics that I have.  I ordered mine directly from Little Atom at the store site ( www.just-fish.com ), the shipping was VERY RESONABLE!!!.  You can also go online and order from www.yourbobbersdown.com.  If you want to take a ride out to Brooklyn, go to Knutson’s and see all the jigs and plastics they have available in their LARGE ice section.  Its worth the trip and the folks that they have working there are top notch.  If you driving near a metro area, go into your local Michigan Gander Mountain,  Taylor is one of the closest and they have a good selection of LA plastics on the shelves/pegs.

Got to get busy cooking Thanksgiving dinner, its our turn with my brother’s family today.  Might surprise my sister in law with some Newfoundland moose roast, or some Erie eyes.  Either way, I better have the chicken strips for a back up plan.  Everyone enjoy what is left of the Thanksgiving weekend.