10/30/2000
- Article
Critical
Jigging for More Panfish
By Noel Vick with On Ice Tour
We’ve
all been out there when it didn’t seem to matter what you gave
them or how it was presented. The
very moment aggressive to nearly hostile crappies or sunfish see it
they thump it. Under
such conditions you can jig a lure with every conceivable
combination of motions and there will be dinner on the table.
These fish are ON, or as On Ice Tour labels them, Gulpers.
But what about when they’re OFF, behaving like Gawkers,
or somewhere in between? By
the way, naming rights for these “in-between-ers” is yet
undetermined and On Ice Tour is open to suggestions (go to
www.onicetour.com)… More
often than not, hardwater panfish anglers must work through a
variety of jigging motions, cadences, and lures to find something
that triggers strikes.
Let’s
presume that through rigorous searching you’ve located a swarm of
panfish. Lay down your
auger, plunk down the flasher’s transducer, and settle into your
portable shelter; it’s time to send a message.
The first contact is vital.
Tommy Skarlis and Chip Leer of On Ice Tour term it, The
Initial Offering. After
all, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
The
Initial Offering begins by rapidly dropping your lure to the halfway
point between the surface and a glob of unsuspecting panfish, while
of course watching the action on a portable flasher.
From the midway point, slowly lower the bait toward them
while maintaining a taunt line.
Keep it smooth and subtle…be patient, remembering that
naturally occurring forage doesn’t smoke through the water
screaming, “Eat me, eat me!”
Aggressors
are the first to go, and frequently, they’re positioned on top of
the school. But the
most gluttonous aren’t necessarily the plump ones you’re after;
they need to be worked out. It’s
quite possible that none of the panfish you’re camped over
demonstrate immediate interest. The basic lift and fall, lift and fall, lift and fall, and
pause regimen fails to motivate our finned friends.
Prepare to improvise.
Err
to the side of subtle over energetic in jigging sequences aimed at
crappies and sunfish. Ice
anglers oftentimes leap into exaggerated jigging motions in hopes of
provoking a response. In
the underwater world, panfish associate sharp, vertical movements
with danger, warning, escape, and the like.
That’s fine if hungry crappies are feasting on baitfish.
But inactive fish and ones feeding on microorganisms (the
majority) might flee from the commotion.
Most
panfish-chow consists of slow moving critters, again, with the
exception of minnows. Zooplankton
and freshwater shrimp, which are dietary staples during the
cold-water months, chug, pulse, and pump through the water in short
bursts. Some advance
vertically and others more laterally, but none swim fast enough to
outwit a crappie or sunfish, so keep your movements leisurely.
Over
the years, Chip and Tommy have developed a number of
panfish-specific jigging techniques, or dare they say, tricks.
Each one is designed to convince less than willing panfish to
strike. Here are the
boys’ favorites:
Teasing
the Cat
This
tactic is intended for panfish that chase but never commit.
As a kid, remember taunting the neighborhood tomcat with a
piece of yarn? If you
pulled it past him quickly, old whisker face paid a little
attention, but soon returned to watching birds at the feeder.
But when you slowed things down, dragged the yarn and
paused…more dragging, pause, pause…sooner or later, that feline
was compelled to pounce. Panfish
behave similarly. And
it makes sense, considering that they’re both predators.
So tease that cat!
Start
by hovering a panfish-treat in front of Gawkers. For this technique, Chip chooses a Northland “Bug-Eye”
Ghost Grub dressed with a Berkley Power Wiggler while Tommy prefers
System Tackle’s Fat Boy tipped with a couple of live maggots.
As the fish approaches your lure, as viewed on an electronic
flasher, pull the jig up and away in small one-inch stair step or
bouncing motions, halting the sequence after covering about a foot
or so. More than likely
the perpetrator will follow. But right before contact, take it away
again. Continue teasing the fish or fishes; teasing makes a school
of fish competitive and more aggressive.
Proceed drawing them higher into the water column because
history teaches that the higher they swim the more likely they are
to bite. Oftentimes,
you’ll establish a magic
depth, and every time panfish achieve that level, out come the
feedbags.
The
teasing is in the taking away.
Eventually, your quarry will become incensed and chase the
lure two to three times faster than previous follows and strike. If they continue to trail but never attack, it’s time to
revisit the playbook.
The
Takeaway
The
eyes on both sunfish and crappies are fixed toward the tops of their
heads. This affords a
distinct advantage for stalking prey from below, but it leaves
panfish at a disadvantage when prey is lost below their line of
sight. In fact, it
drives them a tad crazy. Take
advantage of this panfish pet peeve. Again, set your lure right in front of a Gawker.
Let ‘em get a good look and smell.
Then, without warning, drop the lure in a free fall below the
Gawker’s view (about a foot) and pause.
Sometimes fish will follow it down only to gawk again
(unintended response). Others
will lose contact, become something between confused and enraged,
and spin around searching for the lure (planned response).
Now that you’ve got their attention, launch into a little
Teasing the Cat and let the catching begin.
Tommy
and Chip have secret weapons for this instance. Tommy clips off the swirling tail of a Berkley Power Grub and
threads it, cut side forward, on a System Tackle Coped.
Chip takes the same hunk of Power Grub and slips it on a
Northland “Bug Eye” Creep Worm.
In both cases, the tantalizing tail flicks and flutters
driving panfish to the point of no return.
The
Pendulum and Swimming the Hole
The
act of jigging is stereotyped as a series of up and down motions.
The Pendulum does away with the established by offering only
side-to-side movements, as well, Swimming the Hole employs strictly
circular actions.
The
Pendulum is initiated by first holding your rod tip in a fixed
position at either side of the hole.
Next, slowly swim the lure from left to right, back and
forth, while varying speeds but not pumping vertically.
Make four to six swings and pause.
Each time your line pushes off the side of the hole it
produces a miniature pendulum swing, like a clock.
And the hands on my clock say that it’s time to eat!
To
Swim the Hole, casually swim your lure, via the rod tip, around the
hole. After two or
three revolutions, hit the breaks, pause, and reverse directions
while intermittently dragging your line against the side of the
hole. In both The
Pendulum and Swimming the Hole, vibration is created when your line
touches the ice, enhancing the presentation.
Panfish react favorably to subtle stimulation. As expected, attacks usually come to pass during the pause.
Lure
selection is important for performing these two techniques.
You need something that swims horizontally and will spin a
one-eighty at The Pendulum’s apex and stall phase while Swimming
the Hole. Two fantastic
choices are System Tackle’s Genz Worm and Northland Tackle’s
Micro Minnow. As a
dressing, both Chip and Tommy hook a single wax worm through the
tail and pinch off its head. The
leaking waxy leaves an irresistible scent trail.
If
The Pendulum and Swimming the Hole draw fish in but don’t spur
strikes, Chip and Tommy continue thumbing through their mental
archive.
Wagging
the Tail
Hold
the rod tip above the center of the hole and violently shake your
wrist back and forth in one to two inch increments.
This causes the rod tip to wag from side-to-side in roughly
eight-inch strides, and below the ice, your lure hovers and quivers
erratically. Work in a
few pauses. Still no
response? Continue wagging while raising the rod tip ever so slightly.
Nothing? Let’s
reach further into Tommy and Chip’s bag of tricks.
The
Jitters
It
took Tommy’s eight-year old niece from Florida to come up with
this one.
“Uncle
Tommy, I thought you were supposed to be a professional
fisherman”, she asked in utter disappointment at the day’s
results.
Likely
bored from the slow bite and frozen from head to toe, she rested her
arm on her leg while Uncle Tommy searched for ways to impress his
visiting relatives. Unknowingly,
an involuntary shaking of her knee caused the rod tip to Jitter,
sending panfish into frenzy. The
sort of frenzy which members of the ice fishing party couldn’t
duplicate by hand jigging. Guess what? Before
long, everyone was Jittering and catching panfish, and Uncle Tommy
salvaged his professional status.
Best
lure to use? According
to Lindsey, “A pretty one.”
The
Psycho
This
is the last resort. You’ve
thrown everything in the Fish Trap at them.
Nothing. Set
your lure on the bottom and brutally rip it off the lake floor five
or six times (one to two-foot high strokes).
Bring her to rest a half-foot above the bottom.
Yes, Chip and Tommy have been pounding “subtle” into your
head since the get go, and although this tactic seldom works, it’s
a great stress reliever. In
fact, it might drive those tight-lipped buggers right out of the
flasher’s screen and possibly to another lake.
At this juncture, it’s time to look for Gulpers anyway…
Method
and Equipment Refinements
When
panfish get ultra-finicky they might be “line shy”. If that’s the case, it’s wise to spool-up one of the new
and nearly invisible flourocarbon lines.
Tommy and Chip have experimented with several flourocarbon
lines and they believe that Berkley Vanish performs the best, mainly
because if remains limber in icy water.
The
use of electronics has been surfacing throughout this article.
Chip and Tommy never hit the ice without one.
A quality flasher shows them depth, structure, bottom
content, fish, and even their lure.
Most importantly for jigging, a flasher reveals fish moods
and behavior by how they respond to lures.
A
good piece of sonar must meet three basic requirements: 1.) It needs
to display in real time.
Meaning, the screen’s images of your lure and the fish and
the actual lure and fish have to parallel one another, without
delay. 2.) It must be
portable. 3.)
Simplicity. It has to be easy to use.
Both Chip and Tommy agree, and they rarely do, that
Zercom’s LCF-40 is the cat’s meow.
The Zercom LCF-40 is also one of the most reasonably priced
flashers on the shelf. Fishing
without sonar is like driving a car without an instrument panel.
Cold
water panfish aren’t always waiting with mouths agape for any
clumsily offered morsel. Having
an arsenal of jigging techniques at ready for the tougher times can
make or break an outing.
On
Ice Tour is an intensive effort directed at expanding the sport of
ice fishing. Cofounders
Chip Leer and Tommy Skarlis offer public seminars and kid’s
clinics; appear at in-store events; exhibit at sport shows and ice
fishing competitions; broadcast a weekly radio show and conduct
hands-on product demonstrations.
On Ice Tour produces an annual ice fishing publication (On
Ice), and they can be found on the Internet at www.onicetour.com
- COMING SOON!
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