Ice fishing for Northerns. The waiting game.

 After my hip surgery in October i wasn't sure i would be able to ice fish at all this winter and thankfully I've had a very smooth and speedy recovery and have been able to spend my weekends on the ice chasing the sometimes illusive Northern Pike here in CT. I went into this season on a mission. I have done more research these past few months than i probably have for any other type of fishing. Open water Pike are one of my favorite fish to target and probably my highest confidence fishing but through the ice it is much more of a struggle and absolutely a waiting game that will test your patience unlike anything else. First ice can be the greatest action with people having some 4-8 pike days but i wont mess with ice less than 4 inches so i miss out on most of this great action. First ice using live bait seems to have the greatest amount of action and success but as winter gets going i have found almost all my flags and other friends flags come on large dead baits. In December i got some information on catching atlantic herring and i had to go get some. Within two trips i was able to get 70 from shore with some help. I bagged, salted and froze them and decided this would be the only bait i was going to use all season. Wanted to save some money not buying shiners and trying to keep them alive and after lots of reading and some fish landed last year on sardines i knew this was the bait i wanted to use. I just thaw out a bag the night before and these baits look too perfect not to work.

  I wanted to be sure my tip ups where ready to tango with some big gators so i re spooled all of my tilts and tried a new idea for leaders/clips. I went with black main line because i feel its the least visible under the ice and i started the season with wire leaders but i have since changed them over to 50 lb floro. I am using quick change clips at the end of my main line then i clip on my leader swivel first which goes down to a double hook rig.  1 octo hook into the bait and 1 circle hook on the other side. Leaving the bait as level as possible about 6 inches to a foot off bottom. I made myself a nice peg board to keep my leaders nice and straight and i put them on right at the hole. My first time out this year was only a few weeks ago. I got a late start and ended up driving around to a bunch of spots and either found too big of a crowd or ice that i wasn't willing to fish alone. By the time i was set up it was almost 3 pm and i knew i only had 2 hours to fish. Ten minutes after setting up i had my first flag of the season. Ran about 20 yards of line and dropped it as i got to the hole. About twenty minutes later the same flag goes up again and fish on! Was a small fish but it gave me confidence fishing large baits. Fish was 28 inches and ate a 12 inch herring.  That was it for day one but i was a great start to the season.

 I went back to the same area the following weekend and had about as bad of a day as you can possibly have. 8 hours not one flag and not a single hit jigging and it was freezing. Kind of day that makes ya wonder why we like ice fishing. The next day the rains stopped me from fishing which meant i wouldn't be fishing for another 6 days! Of course the whole week while i worked it was 30-38 degrees and sunny everyday! Drove me nuts!  This past weekend finally arrived and i went out both days. Saturday i was on the ice for 6 in the morning and i had a painfully slow day with 1 flag and that didnt come until almost 4 pm. As i walked over to the flag i could see the spool was flying. I grabbed the line, stopped it and leaned into it and let the fish hook herself. Was a 31.5 inch very fat healthy northern. It felt great to end the day with a fish. I stayed at my brothers house Saturday night and was back out for Sunday. I only had until about 12 to fish so i got out nice and early and was set up for sunrise. Around 7:30 i got my first flag. Was a screamer and i got there and gave a little set and pulled the bait right out of her mouth. The bite mark on my bait was pretty big and i was pretty bummed to miss the fish. Put the bait back down and went back to my chair and did some jigging. I ended up catching 8 blue gill which wasn't great action but i was better than what i have been getting. Odd where there are pike swimming around there is a lack of pan fish ( go figure )  Half hour before i had to leave my farthest away flag went up right after a heavy heavy gust of wind. I was 100 % positive it was a wind flag and calmly walked over but when i got to the hole to see the line pinned against the bottom of the ice and running my mood and heart beat changed quickly. Fish on!  It felt like a solid fish and after a few tries at the hole she came right up! My biggest pike through the ice since i was a kid. I did not weigh the fish as i wanted to get her back in the hole unharmed ASAP. I knew it wasn't the goal of twenty that i am after so no need to add more stress and possibly damage a really nice healthy fish. She swam away so fast that she splashed my face on the way down. With next weeks temperatures it looks like i will have plenty of chances to get out there and get my giant. Every time out i am getting more and more confident on what i'm doing out there. Just need to put in the time. All my action has came in 6 feet or less with a few flags in as shallow as 2 feet. I have been fishing primarily solo this season as i don't feel the need to compete for the same fish in small areas. I realize that is a little selfish but i thoroughly enjoy being out there alone. So friends please don't take offense to it! The self timer on a tripod has worked out great for pictures. ;)  I know that 3 pike in 4 trips isn't very good numbers but hopefully it only gets better from here. Last year i had 4 consecutive skunks before i had a fish. So ill take it! Hope your all having a good winter!

By: Joe Jacobowitz