Whether you’re after fish in open water or through the ice, your lure presentation is one of the most important considerations for success. Since ice-fishing season is fast approaching in many areas, now is a good time to think about lure presentation as it applies to ice-fishing. Here we go. Open water fishing and ice-fishing are similar in some ways, but very different in other ways. As far as differences, think of this. In open water fishing, much of the time, we’re either casting or trolling. Either way, the bait will be going by the fish pretty quickly. They aren’t going to have much of a chance to look at it: They either hit the bait or it’s gone.
When ice-fishing, the bait is pretty stationary. We might jig it up and down a bit, but for the most part, the fish have a chance to take a good look at our bait. At times in the winter the fish seem to be pretty selective. This is when we really need to pay attention to lure detail and action.
The electronics used for ice-fishing today are remarkably sensitive. They’ll show a tiny splitshot on your line, and will easily show you when a fish is looking at your bait. If fish come in, look, and leave more often than they eat your bait, you need to change your presentation, either a little or a lot.
The first thing you should change is the action you’re putting on the bait. If you’re moving it slowly, try moving it a little faster. If you’re moving it fast, slow down a bit.
If changing the lure action doesn’t get them to bite, go to a smaller or larger bait. Often, when the fish are being finicky, a change to a smaller bait will get them to bite. Often, but not always.
If changing the action or size of the bait doesn’t work, we’ll mess with color next. Sometimes color doesn’t matter, but it does matter more than you might think much of the time. There are occasions when the fish want a purple bait with an orange belly or something else very specific. Start switching colors until the fish show you what they want.
And, there are times when that group of fish you’re on is just not that interested in eating. When that happens, it’s time to move to another group of fish. Keep moving and refining your bait presentation and eventually you’re going to discover the combination that the fish want on that particular day. Then, the next day, we’ll start all over again trying to figure out what the fish want on that day at that time on that lake. And that’s one of the aspects of fishing that so many of us enjoy about fishing.
PHOTO CAPTION: When the fish are being fussy about eating, try different lure colors, sizes, and actions to get them to bite.
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by Bob Jensen
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