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Ice fishing with plastics definitely has a time and place in any angler’s approach to catching fish through the ice. My favorite time of the day to use plastics is in the early morning at the first bite of the day. Fish can be overly aggressive during the dawn’s first light and they will gobble up what normally would be considered an oversized bait for panfish.
Copyright, 2013
Recently I had an old fishing buddy send me a link for a device that would automatically count perch as fast as I could catch them, the CatchCounter. I checked out the link on Craigslist and then I did what I always do, I “googled” and found the direct website: http://www.catchcounter.com/index.html . After browsing through the site, I wanted to learn a little more info and decided to fill out the form and send an email.
Last Friday I got a response, and it was followed up with a phone call Saturday morning. I was talking with Tony Sebastiano, the owner and innovator who designed the CatchCounter. I asked him how he came up with the idea for building the contraption, and as he started to explain, his story was something I could really relate to from my own experiences. How many times have you used one of those fish “clicker” counters and the perch are coming up so quick, you have to stop and think, did I get that last one? It is even worse when you have multiple people fishing and they start second guessing themselves too. Lets face it, the DNR will not care if it was an honest mistake or not, if you are over the limit, you will get a ticket!
The CatchCounter can be mounted on multiple platforms that have a flat surface like coolers, livewells and bucket lids. During the discussion it really hit me that this makes the unit something I can use throughout the year, for all four seasons. Spring, summer and fall while on the boat I can have it mounted on a cooler for crappie, perch and bluegill. I checked out a previous device that fit on a bucket, but it really wasn’t too practical. Whether I am fishing in Ohio waters where the limit is 30 perch, or on the Michigan side with being able to keep 50, you start to run out of room in a bucket and don’t even think about trying to squeeze any ice in there too. You really had to take the lid off every once in a while and dump them into a cooler with ice in it. The CatchCounter eliminates this step and because you are not constantly opening and shutting a cooler, your ice lasts longer!
During the winter when I am ice fishing, I can take it off the cooler and mount it to a bucket lid to keep track of the fish being caught. This makes its versatility a space saver, because realistically who carries a cooler onto the ice to put their fish in? The answer would be nobody does, but everyone carries a bucket! It can go into the sled when walking on the ice, or in the shack when I am pulling it with the quad.
Another thought just hit me and it could be the difference between a lot of money, or getting shut out in a tournament. After spending 11 years on the competitive ice fishing circuits, I have seen my fair share of counting miscues. Guys come to the station a fish short of their limit, after catching more than enough to fill their tourney bucket. Worse is when they come in one fish over the limit and get disqualified, or penalized to the point they fall out of the money! The CatchCounter is definitely going on the road with me this year.
I already have my cooler and bucket lid picked out for installation and cannot wait to use the CatchCounter this weekend out on Lake Erie. Later in the fall when the perch run slows down, will be using it out in Irish Hills for the fall bluegill bite. On the ice, it is definitely going with me to Ludington for the panfish tournament so I don’t mess up my count at the weigh-in!
Additional information, if you want to download the CatchCounter brochure in a pdf format here is the link for it:
http://catchcounter.com/images/CatchCounterBrochure.pdf
Copyright, 2012
By popular request, here is an additional piece on the modification for the Schooley reels that was discussed last week. Actually, they just wanted to see the pictures 
But, it also gives me the chance to go into a little more detail on how to make the reel a little more effective and at the same time, reliable.
Since all the reels have already had their reel seat section trimmed I cannot show you the before picture. In most cases I just took the plastic section, placed it into a vise and saw right behind the molded guide. Actually you can take some more of the seat off if you are planning on putting them on a rod with a smaller handle. These rods, or at least most of them in the pics are St. Croix Premier 24″ Ultra Lights, so there is plenty of handle. You can also see the 5 minute, 2 part epoxy that I use to secure the wrap. Pretty sure that is also available from Jann’s Netcraft, and online at their website.
In this picture below are the Fuji line guides that I picked up from Jann’s at their retail location. They are a size 16.
Unfortunately I do not have pictures to take you step by step through the process, but it really is fairly easy. Take your guide, and place on the handle of the rod, line it up with the first eye on the rod blank. For a thread, I recycle old braid like Power Pro and Fireline. After mixing a small amount (equal parts) of the epoxy, apply some to the rod handle and begin wrapping your “thread”. Once you have finished wrapping and have completely secured the guide’s foot to the handle, apply additional epoxy and spread evenly over your wrappings.. Let dry for five to ten minutes and you are ready to attach your reel seat.
The picture below really shows well just how close you want the reel to be to the guide that you just installed onto the handle.
It really is a fairly easy procedure, and well worth the little bit of time it takes to get it done. Once you do, they slide really easy into a bucket where I inserted some PVC rod holders.
This way I can have that one and another bucket full of setups, plus my Vexilar/Ice Hopper rig all secure in a three bucket holder that mounts on the back of the Polaris while roaming the ice.
Michigan’s own Schooley Reels are truly the choice for some of the best ice fisherman across the country, but this wasn’t always the case. While most folks were debating which 40 to $80 dollar reel was the best to tape on their panfish rods, anglers fishing the lakes and backwaters of mid-Michigan were jaw jerking up some of biggest bluegill and crappie caught in the state year after year. Their secret was the molded nylon reel commonly referred to by the company’s name, Schooley.
What possible advantage could a reel that costs less than five dollars actually give an angler chasing big panfish? Economics would be the easy answer, but not the one that is at the core of the reasons why. An anglers biggest enemy is line twist while targeting the biggest panfish in a lake, even the ones you want to take back for the dinner plate. Spinning reels can leave your jig spinning in circles, and if you were sight fishing and peering down the hole, you will need a clicker to count the number of rejections that will happen in one day.
That’s the original ”IceMan” Barry Williams in the above picture with a very, VERY nice crappie caught with a spoon while fishing with a Schooley reel. Barry is also the creator and owner of “Spooky Spiders”, a fine line of jigs and flies that can be used with deadly results through the ice. His website is: http://spookyspiders.bravehost.com/ and in the picture below is a collection of fish that I caught using his tungsten bead flies.
So after showing off what the Schooley can give you in terms of big fish and numbers, you can look at all the money you can take from using that expense spinning reel, and buy more jigs and bait! But, if you really want to fine tune the reel, and yes I know, it sounds pretty weird saying that, you can take a couple of extra steps to make your Schooley perform at a higher level.
To help keep your 4 lb or smaller line from burning on the nylon line guide coming off the reel, its time to break out the hacksaw. I know what you are thinking already, “How cool is it to say hacksaw and icefishing?”, or more likely, “What the heck is he thinking?” But, its true, one of the first things you will do is a little cutting! Take a look at the picture below and imagine cutting off about an inch and a half from each side white section of the reel seat after removing the reel, which would be the component below the red reel.
Now you might be thinking, Mason what are you thinking? You just cut off the line guide and the area where you screw the reel into the rod handle. First off, I don’t think I will ever find a day where I actually screw anything into a rod handle of mine. No worries folks, there is a back up plan. But, there is one more step before dealing with that issue. replacing the line guide.
To the right, Team USA gold medal winner, Myron Gilbert
Now this is a trick I learned recently from an ice guy I have the utmost respect for, Myron Gilbert of Brooklyn, Michigan. Myron let me bend his ear and he offered up this tidbit of information, which makes perfect sense in retrospect. The purpose of cutting off that line guide that comes standard with reel seat is to prevent your line from getting burned or scored from friction. His idea was to replace that with a single foot line guide where the hole of the guide lines up dead center with the spool of the reel. In doing some research, I found the perfect guide down in Ohio, at Jann’s Netcraft in a size 16: http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/fuji-single-foot-guides/230276.aspx . Now I have replaced that original nylon guide with a Fuji guide that costs less than a buck.
Now for the sake of ease, stay on Jann’s Netcraft website to get some epoxy to attach that guide to your rod handle: http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/rod-building-epoxy/029051600007.aspx . You can wrap it with thread if you like, but what I do is when I am done with a braid from my reels, like Power Pro or Fireline, it gets saved on an old empty spool. Use this old line like thread and you have a much stronger “thread”. Eyeball the guide to line up with the guides on the rod, apply a little epoxy to get started, and begin wrapping. Once you finish, apply a little more epoxy and spread it around the rod handle until yo have an even coat applied.
Once that is wrapped and dry, now you can attach your reels to the rod handle. Sometimes the easiest and oldest method is truly the best way to go. Electrical tape in my book works extremely well, and most everyone has some around the house already, if not it is an easy buy at your local hardware. If the guide seems a little high, you can bend it slightly by applying equal pressure to it, and pushing/bending it forward to get it to line up.
Where can you buy Schooley reels, by themselves and not in a combo? Check out these two links for availablity:
and
http://www.fishusa.com/Schooleys-DeMaReel_p.html
Copyright, 2012
The Michigan Ice Open is on! The communities of Ludington and Scottville are bringing a revamped event to Hamlin Lake in Ludington, Michigan. Lower costs, better payouts, longer fishing time, and more prizes are waiting for those who sign-up.
“The Michigan Ice Open on Hamlin Lake is scheduled for January 13 – 15 and will replace the previously held North American Ice Fishing Circuit Ludington Open Qualifier.
The Michigan Ice Open on Hamlin guarantees $6,000.00 in cash and prizes. The tournament participation fee is $120.00 for a team of two. Participation is limited to the first 100 teams to register. Mail in registration is available at http://icefishludington.com/registration/. Online registration will be made available on December 9th. Teams can register until January 9th, 2012.
The new tournament will hold registration and a mandatory rules meeting on Friday evening, a one day tournament on Saturday followed by weigh-in, and finally a youth Learn to Fish session on Sunday afternoon.
For more information, contact megan@icefishludington.com or call the Ludington & Scottville Area Chamber of Commerce at 231.845.0324.”
Source: Michigan Ice Open on Facebook
If you have any questions, Megan is great to work with, so bring on the emails with all inquiries. There will be in addition to guaranteed payouts and prizes provided by some of the largest names in the ice fishing tackle world, Big Fish cash prizes for the largest bluegill and crappie. Going home with a few extra greenbacks never hurts!
After fishing the former NAIFC event on Hamlin the last two seasons I can tell you this, the whole town is dedicated! Dedicated in bringing people in, providing whatever the anglers need, and making sure they have a great weekend while staying in what most folks think of only as a summer vacation destination. Peel back the great salmon fishing, walks on the beach, pictures of the pier and you have a superb panfish fishery on Hamlin Lake, the Hamlin Grocery which goes all out to make sure they have the best jigs in stock, lodging deals at the hotels, and a pretty mean pizza at the Sportsmen’s Irish Pub. And, a certain family in Petersburg who would flog me if I didn’t mention the Blue Moon ice cream at the House of Flavors, and I have to admit, the Independent Dairy in Monroe would be jealous!
For additional information, you can follow the tournament news on Facebook…Michigan Ice Open and on their website….IcefishLudington.com
Copyright, 2011
The fishing was mixed on Bolles Harbour this weekend, with Friday being the best of the two days, while Saturday still produced some nice fish. Even though the wind was kicking on Friday and the fishing was on and off, it was much better overall than Saturday with the colder temps.
Friday produced a lot of fish caught on plastics baits. It wasn’t until the end of the day that the winds finally stirred the waters to the point that it became super cloudy/murky did the fishing really slow down. Saturday picked up where the bite left off for us Friday night.
Water was still cloudy in the morning, but the current coming through had slowed down quite a bit. Still well over 12 inches of ice where we fished. The fishing was quite a bit slower, with a lot more rejections. The morning was a bit better than the afternoon for overall bite, but the few fish we kept including a nice 12 inch perch came after 3 pm during a small flurry of action that only last 10 minutes or so.
They ended up in the drum today, the Tumble Drumm scaler from Bass Pro works really great. I put all of them in for a half hour and did not find a scale on them when I poured them out.
Well the NAIFC event has come and gone, but what a great experience had by all who came to fish Hamlin Lake this past weekend.
My tourney partner, John Bacarella and I got up there late Thursday night in order to get in two days of prefishing Hamlin. The house we rented with three other teams was perfect, lots of room with everything we could possibly need right there for our use. Coming back after a long day on the ice, cooking our meals and talking ice fishing …. priceless. Really wish I had taken some pics of the place and all the gear spread though out the place.
Friday night John and I gave the seminar over at the Ramada Inn and we focused on the mindset needed to compete. Probably more than any other point made was to be flexible in your philosophy while carving up a lake and tackling the strategy needed to be successful. Basically, do not get too set in your ways and be ready to adapt when you need to on the fly.
Saturday we had the best intentions to spend the day finding fish, but the clipper came in, pretty much as expected and we called it a day trying to find fish. We headed over to the kid’s clinic (held at every event) to help out with teaching the local children about ice fishing and letting them see what it is like to be out on the frozen water. There were over 130 kids attending, plus their parents!
One of the Muskegon schools had a club attend, here is a picture of the Orchard View Sportsmen’s Club with some us who helped them enjoy their experience.
On what we commonly refer to as game day, we waited in the lineup to be released.
We hit a weed bed along with half the field, not much happened on the edge we were on so we moved to a spot outside the group and went to work catching some nice gills. Although gills we weighed were pretty good, not catching a crappie in the soup was our downfall. We did move down to the other side of the lake and try to pick up some good ones, but that trip through the slush was for naught. Stopped at one more spot with no luck and decided the best line of attack was to go back and slug it out with the other teams in our original spot. Picked up a few more fish that we could use to cull out a few smaller ones from the eight that would be turned in.
I did mention it was slushy out there, this is what the quad looked like after actually cleaning a lot off the underneath of the Polaris I fish with.
Quick shot of the field that was used as our parking lot.
During the weigh-in back at the Ramada, for a brief time we were in 5th place. When the scales settled, we ended up in 16th place out of 50+ teams that signed up.
First off, Happy New Year everyone, hope it was a great night, and you all have a better new year.
Caught this batch and a few more 7 inch fish that were in the bucket back on the 30th of December down in Bolles Harbour. The fish came up few and far between bites, but if you got one, if you got back down again fairly quickly, you got another bite. After that it was a move and drill fest trying to keep on top of them as they moved through the channel.
The day started slow with only a small 5 inch perch coming up the hole on a #12 Northland Mudbug. With several rejections that followed, it became obvious that big was not going to be the ticket for these finicky perch. And yes, I know a #12 is not a huge jig, but in this case it was much, too much. dropped down to a 4 mm tungsten jig and had better results.
The current in the harbour was changing constantly, in and out most of the day. Even with using tungsten, the jig would be blown out of the hole. The 20′ degree cone on the FL-22′s new tri-beam ice ducer did the trick. But if you had a smaller cone on your Vex, you can make it work by drilling a hole on the backside of the current, put your ducer down that hole and fish your first hole. Actually, not a bad idea because you wouldn’t have to worry about getting tangled your ducer cord.
Calling in the perch was not the problem, a lot of action at the end of the line would do it. They came off the bottom and took the bait when they were in the biting mood, but more often in not, they came up, sniffed and went slowly back down again. The best method was to pound the bottom, then bring up the jig slowly with a light twitching motion. Start off subtle, and keeping it subtle was the trick it seemed. They were definitely in a neutral mode most of the day.
Staying on top of the fish was the other big key to the day, drill baby drill! Using the Ice Gator electric auger made short work out of the 40 or so holes that I drilled Thursday. Staying put in one or two holes just doesn’t make sense, but like some of the guys that were out there, using a hand drill makes it understandable. Eight inches is a lot of ice to cut multiple times by hand.
Got a few more places to check this week, then off to the Hills to start pre fishing Clark Lake for the Knutson tournament!
Copyright, 2011
How bad do you have it? Come on, really how bad are you addicted to the sport of ice fishing? Well if you have half the sickness that consumes me, here are some helpful hints for keeping your ice fishing panfish jigs organized and protected.
I started out with the small fly fishing boxes to keep things organized, but quickly realized that after four boxes, it could lead to dilemmas down the road. When the opportunity arose to purchase these bass plastics bags (meaning when they were on sale) I jumped at this new way to organize my pannie collection of jigs and lures. I even labeled them by species; bluegill, crappie and perch.
Each bag came with seven pages with a clear plastic window, zippered pocket on the outside for additional storage, and two more zippered mesh compartments on the inside. I keep diamond files, extra leader material and spare hooks each in bag.
This is the bluegill bag, and if you have been buying lately, you know that even the smallest ice jigs can cost you more than a few bucks. The foam inserts help hold the jigs in place, and protects them from bouncing around. In other words, no more paint jigs at the bottom of your Plano boxes. Each “page” in the book is by first brand and then style if need be.
Next up is the crappie bag. The nice thing about this way to organize your jigs is that they actually overlap in their use. There are times when bluegill jigs will catch more crappie, and times when the crappie jigs will catch more perch. It becomes a very versatile way to keep things organized. In this case I do have a couple of fly boxes in the picture, but they are actually for true flies that I use for dropping down the holes. Weighted or dry, they have thier place under the ice while putting more fish on the right side of the hole.
Last of all are the perch jigs, this is an expanded organizational method. I have a small Plano tool box to go with the bag, that also stores the 3500 trays and four more small jig boxes. I just don’t use them for jigs, they are my perch and crappie spoons, Jigging Raps, Chubby Darters, Northland Airplanes and small Nils Jiggers.
That’s the panfish jig arsenal, safe and protected, as well, as organized!
Copyright, 2010
Christmas is over, and you got your kid all the gear necessary to get started in fly fishing, or did you?
What does it take to get started in a whole new way to land fish? First off, an idea of what the target fish will be is nice a way to start. Often you will not have that advantage, in most cases it can be a spur of a moment infatuation with the multi-faceted sport that grabs the attention of the child and holds it. But, if you do have an inkling of what species or group of fish the child wants to fish for, its the best place to get started.
You can start with a fly tying kit. Try and start with a kit that includes a “how to” book or instructional dvd. This is helpful specifically, if the parental units have no idea what the sport entails. Don’t feel bad, its a tricky sport with a lot of details to be discovered, and that can be half the fun, learning with your child.
Lets start with panfish as a jumping off point.
The books can help you get started with patterns for tying flies for all manner of approaches. Skipping all the patterns till you read the book or watch the dvd’s available, there are two types of flies to deal with. Flies can be either sinking or dry, to catch bluegills or sunfish in the depths, or near the surface. Some like the sinking Spooky Spiders made by “Iceman” Barry Williams, start at the surface and do a slow fall into the depths to entice the fish to bite.
Once you make up an assortment of flies, you have to deal with the rod and reel requirements. A master can make a 3 wt rod do the trick, but for the novice beginner, a 4 or 5 wt rod will work. The same can be said of the reel, but to get started you should choose between a floating and sinking fly line to go on the reel. That’s after you put backing on first, then the fly line, followed by more line, and then a tippit or leader. The first time out, have the shop set you up, but have your child there so they can share in the process. Its a learning experience that will come in handy down the road.
Later if you wish, you should be able to pick up a spare spool to fit the reel so you can rig up with the opposite type of line. Let say, you bought the reel and had it spooled up with floating line, get the spare spool rigged with sinking fly line. Do this a bit further down the line, if this was your first purchase or foray into “bug slinging” for your child, lets make sure they like the sport enough to continue.
Once you have he rod and reel figured out, its time to start practicing casting. You can get a dvd that will show the steps, or you can go online to get additional information. Can you say, “YouTube”?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3WRMrVcf-M&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=PL5B312991C2AE50B2
There are more resources available, but the above link is a good starting point for your young angler.
In addition, most of the big box stores will have fly tying classes and usually offer casting classes as well. Another resource available are the local fly fishing clubs, they want to help the sport grow, so many offer classes as well.
Its not an inexpensive way to fish, but can be very rewarding for the young angler who ties his own flies and takes the time to learn the technique.
Copyright, 2010
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