Success Percentage When Icing...?

[WalleyeWayne 137]

We had a great day of ice fishing today and although we took home some very decent walleye, we also failed to ice many of the hits and hook-ups we had. My youngest brother has just started coming out with us and asked why we missed probably 1/3 the action we had. My pride took precedence and I offered some calculated bullsh*t each time. What would you guesstimate your icing success rate to be...???

[Pro fisherman-Stud Muffin 420]

on hookups, if you average every day, over 60% for sure , some days 40% others %80.

i say using flasher will bring average down somewhat as you are enticing fish to bite that otherwise wouldn't have .

[McGinnis_Fishing 49]

I would say deffinatly less the Summer fishing but for ever 10 bites i get id say i land 6-8 of them. But ice fishing does take some getting used to if your new.

[Some Old Guy 968]

Depends what you mean WW.

Are you talking about hooking into the fish then losing it or on setting the hook?

Roger

[WalleyeWayne 137]

From initial hook-set to putting it on the ice.

[Lyle Reiner 174]

I'd say this year I'm at no more then 10-15 percent lol

[AB 98]

I think it has a lot to do with the equipment and the person wielding it.

If I get the hooks into a fish, I'd say they come thru the hole 80% of the time or better (most days).

This 19 1/2" walleye came thru after a few tense minutes on Sunday AM. Why tense? I was fishing perch with 3lb test using a Jason Mitchell panfish rod and a micro-jig.

Now if the only the dog could learn how to take pictures......

iceman

[Some Old Guy 968]

There are many factors that could lead to that WW.

First I make sure I have very sharp hooks. Just a little touch up with a file makes a huge difference.

If fish are barely taking the hook and you are hooking into thin skin spots on the fish and you are putting too much pressure you can break/rip the skin and lose the fish.

Setting too hard or too soft can make a difference too.

Roger

[Bear 77]

You are right on Roger, inferior hooks can cause the hook not to penetrate. When making jigs I always use a high quality hook. Some jigs are made with off shore hooks which are not sharp right out of the box, or loose their point very easily. It never hurts to touch up your hook to ensure hook-ups.

I use Gamkatsu for trout fishing and Matzou hooks for walleyes, they are both quality hooks and so sharp, when the fish bites them they sometimes hook themselves as the hook easily peneterates their snout.

I also find in the winter, walleyes especially, bite short and do not commit to the whole minnow. they sometimes just peel the skin off the tail section. I then use a short stinger hook, which sometimes seems to help.

Bear

[McGinnis_Fishing 49]

Also if your fishing tip ups or rod and reel makes a difference as well

[PRO V 26]

I also agree on equipment, a razor sharp hook is a must, like Bear said a lot of the time they will hook themselves. What usually happens is people throw there tackle bag in the sleigh or on the back of the machine with your hooks bouncing around it doesn't take long to dull them up it only takes a second to run a file over them. Presentation, if the bite is light, and they are just sucking on the bait I'll either run a small stinger or down size the hook & bait.

Nice looking dog iceman

Mike

[Some Old Guy 968]

I use the same hooks as Bear does. Matzou for walleyes and jigging lake trout and gammies for trebles.

A good quality hook makes a huge difference.

Also thickness of the hook matters. Some people think a thick hook is better than a thin hook as they seem to think it won't straighten out. This is true to a point. (didn't mean the pun there....) If you are fishing 12 pound test or lighter line you don't need a thick hook. It's easier to set the hook than a thinner one. Also easier to set one point as opposed to three (treble)

I also agree with PRO V. I will also down size when fish are striking short. I don't use stingers as I don't keep a lot of fish anymore and I find I always end up killing fish that I don't intend to with a stinger hook.

Also for short striking fish is to use a slip type of sinker and letting them swim off with the bait. They tend to drop it less than a fixed weight or a jig.

The other thing to look at is if the fish are picking up on jigs while you are jigging them and are still short striking, switch over to a a chubby darter or spoon that you can set right away on.

Roger

[PRO V 26]

The first thing i do when i unwrap my trolling spoons, is switch the trebles out, as you would say Roger to gammies. I will usually down size first ( which usually does the trick) before i go with the stinger.

Mike

[grimcity.kid 4]

Thanks for the picture of my truck, iceman. Nice catch and pooch. My roommate and I were looking for the walters but ran into those pesky 10 inch perch lol, good morning we had to say the least. Today was above average for my ratio. I bought the wire tip ups/rod holders at Rockwood with the giftcard from the derby and my god they make a difference. Every bite, but 2 or 3 were on the ice. Ate 6 tonight and 10 or so in the freeze plus 2 specks from a nearby lake in the afternoon (went 2/4 bites). Getting better at this thing...I think lol.

[WalleyeWayne 137]

When fishing sucker minnows for 'eyes you need a little more patience for the walleye to inhale the minnow, especially when hooked through the dorsal fin. We mouth-hook med-large minnows for jigging and dorsal-hook the sucker minnows on 3-prong and leave them as set presentations on dowel sticks. For walleye, the dowel sticks have worked better, but we miss more sets when setting by hand.

[McGinnis_Fishing 49]

Where abouts were you in that pic iceman? If you dont mind my asking.

[AB 98]

Where abouts were you in that pic iceman? If you dont mind my asking.

I'm the shadow on the lower right hand side of the picture......

Keta and I were out on Whitefish on Sunday, in the same general area that Ryan held the poker derby last weekend. I fished from about 9:45AM until 1PM.

I just wanted to get the dog out, have her do a few retrieves off the dummy launcher and get used to staying still in the tent.

It was a successful morning all around!

iceman

[McGinnis_Fishing 49]

Hahaha! But nice! Seems like you have your self a good fishing dog!

[SherpaJ 45]

When fishing sucker minnows for 'eyes you need a little more patience for the walleye to inhale the minnow, especially when hooked through the dorsal fin. We mouth-hook med-large minnows for jigging and dorsal-hook the sucker minnows on 3-prong and leave them as set presentations on dowel sticks. For walleye, the dowel sticks have worked better, but we miss more sets when setting by hand.

Funny that you say that because I have the complete opposite experience, but hook the suckers nearly the same way for both presentations.

My set lines are tied with a treble hook that I hook through the back of the sucker in between the head dorsal fin, didn't miss a single bite on my set lines in the last three days of fishing.

Jigging on the otherhand (with suckers), I missed almost 80% of bites. I hook them in the mouth, out the gills and back thru the stomach to put the hook back as far as possible but I would often either feel the hook rip out of the sucker right away or have the hook spit out half way to the hole, regardless of how long I would let the fish take it. I think, as 12many mentioned, using a flasher while jigging could have lots to do with this, by provoking walleyes that wouldn't usually bite to take a large presentation.

[McGinnis_Fishing 49]

On a jigging rod i use the smaller sucker minnows or a big medium large minnow and i hook it through the back between the head and dorsal fin like sherpaj said. When i jig my road its just fast little twitches and i find it has good action that way. Also if i set my rod down the minnow is still nice and lively like the tip up minnows.

[unbedable 16]

I'd say this year I'm incing around 65% of the fish I gets hits on while jigging, but when I have a set line, that %drops significantly! I am probably more of 1 out of every 10! I think one of the major factors of that is simply because somehow I have picked the coldest dates this year, and with the holes icing up in ten minutes the line/flag doesn't move and my minnow gets stripped! instead of jigheads I prefer the coloured Gamakatsu octopus hooks with a split shot to get it down, but not heavy enough that it deters the fishs. Seemed to have helped a little in regards to the fish taking it down!