And when you travel lite, moving is easy
Ice Fishing Megathread
- Thread starter Fryowa
- Start date
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
ATV's are everywhere now. People use them on weekends to go dive bar hopping. There starting to follow in the footsteps of benefit Harley hog rides that sprung up 15-20 years ago as baby boomers became empty nesters and approached retirement age and needed a new way to spend their weekends besides watching their kids' club and AAU teams.
Around here everyone is trading their snowmobiles in for ATV's because rhey can't sell their snowmobiles. Winter got off to a good start with a foot over Thanksgiving weekend. Unfortunately they wouldn't let people mark the trails until gun deer season ended at dusk on that Sunday. Sufficient snowpack was obliterated at least a week before Christmas and hasn't returned.
AreWeThereYet
Well-Known Member
Hasn't anyone figured out a way to let the fish presort themselves. Maybe bigger bait, to intimidate the small fish.
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Fryowa
Administrator
The problem is really small yellows will go after really big baits. By the time you upsize enough to make a difference you’ve probably eliminated the bluegills and crappies of any size.
Fryowa
Administrator
Yeah when I was a kid snowmobiles were everywhere and we always had a ton of snow. I’m not looking for a climate change discussion but it’s been enough years of very, very little snow now that it’s not deniable something is different.
I remember as a kid there was always a snow here if at least 12” in one shot and usually more than one of those. We have had a foot of snow in one storm in probably close to 20 years now.
Our local power sports store used to be a pretty big snowmobile dealer and they’ve completely gotten rid of that product line. They say they couldn’t hardly give them away if they tried. We had 3 big snowmobile clubs around here that always had tons of group rides, poker runs, etc. and two of the three had their own groomers for ditches. All three clubs are long gone and the groomers sold off. Now all we get is a ton of wind which we always had, but it’s worse than it used to be for some reason. The ice fishing has gotten better in my opinion because there’s lots of people who are too lazy to do it unless you can drive a vehicle on. I’m not, so it’s WAY less pressure where I fish.
AreWeThereYet
Well-Known Member
I kind of figured intimidating the fish with bigger bait wouldn't work. But the Internet is a great place for really dumb ideas.
AreWeThereYet
Well-Known Member
I always thought the crypto-currency markets would self-sort themselves out too, but it turns out that currency market speculators are quite a bit dumber than fish.
The really big bottom feeders don't disappear though, because many of them have other uses for the crypto-currency markets than short term profits or losses on currency margins.
If their primary interest is money laundering, the transaction itself might be worth quite a bit more to them than gains or losses on market itself. Big money launderers sell their positions to other big money launderers and any other bottom feeders that are along for the ride.
The bottom of the market never really goes away because the food chain for the big bottom feeders is both different and persistent.
The really big bottom feeders don't disappear though, because many of them have other uses for the crypto-currency markets than short term profits or losses on currency margins.
If their primary interest is money laundering, the transaction itself might be worth quite a bit more to them than gains or losses on market itself. Big money launderers sell their positions to other big money launderers and any other bottom feeders that are along for the ride.
The bottom of the market never really goes away because the food chain for the big bottom feeders is both different and persistent.
Yes for sure folks are lazy and want to bring a sled full of crap now to fish on ice. Good for us folks that don't need all that stuff, less people on the ice. On a positive note ice is here but not enough to safely get out here but maybe tomorrow or later in week. Drilled a hole yesterday was 1.5 - 2". Too fat for that now but out of high school would have been fine! Hooky day likely in my future this week.
Fryowa
Administrator
It's actually a really great approach in certain circumstances though...
I use it all the time bluegill fishing on the ice. With ice fishing (IMO) bait size is the most important thing. They slow their eating way down in the winter and that's part of why you need to use such small jigs...they're just more finicky in general.
If I'm targeting bluegills on the ice and I get into a ton of dinks, I'll upsize the jig to like a 5-6mm tungsten until I stop getting those fish. The little ones are stupid and a lot of times they'll bullrush your jig right away before you can get the bigger ones to bite. Nothing hurt by doing it because if you stay small on the bait you're just going to fight dinks the whole time anyway.
Fryowa
Administrator
We have 14-16" here where I'm at, but it's crazy how sharp the dividing line is. My son live 60-ish miles south of me in Sioux City and they barely have 4-5".
I have the next 5 Fridays off at 10AM for fishing. Going out for the afternoon/evening bite.
Fryowa
Administrator
Used my kid's camera a couple times and it's crazy how tight the yellows school. It's almost like perch where a million of 'em just cruise around in a tight little herd. Tough to find them sometimes without a Livescope but once you do hang on to your hat. Bluegills and crappies will cruise around in little groups of 10-12 fish so they're easier to find but the waves aren't as wild.
AreWeThereYet
Well-Known Member
By the way. I apologize for going off-topic on the off-topic discussion. It was late and I was in one of those moods.
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
..... and sometimes depending on the time of year, big fish prefer smaller baits. It's weird. Yea, you could put a piece of tin foil on your hook at times and those yellows will hit it.
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
Pretty much those that own snowmobiles down here now travel north to Wisky or Minny, but sometimes they don't even have enough snow to handle all the pressure. Sometimes the seasons get delayed waiting for snow. That would suck getting all amped up to ride and ya get a new snowmobile and waiting on the weather.
So, the snow machines don't just cost a lot but now ya have to spend money to travel and stay where there is snow. Kind of like buying football tickets I guess. Ya got to spend $$$$ to watch a game if live across the state.
Fryowa
Administrator
Yeah if I wanted to get into snowmobiling it'd cost me $100k the first year. I'd have to buy a snowmobile, helmet, clothing, a trailer, a pickup to pull it, fuel to haul it 8 hours one way, lodging, fuel, and a week of PTO if you wanted to make it worth it and do more than one trip. Hard no for me but everyone has their vice.
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
Well, then you have to buy another snow machine for the g-friend.
Fryowa
Administrator
I've met tens of thousands of people in my lifetime but I've never met a single person who hates cold weather as much as she does. Not even close.
What's even funnier is she has no desire to move anywhere else. She was born, raised, and likes living in northern Iowa, but finds different things to do in the winter that don't require being outside.
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
I grew up in northern Iowa and can attest that there is always a 15-20 degrees difference it seems than in south central or southern Iowa. It is different, along with the snow amounts, in the past anyway.
HuckFinn
Well-Known Member
“different things to do inside in the winter”. Care to elaborate?
