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2/08/2002
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Article/Press
Release
Introduced to
Exotics
By Tommy Skarlis
These are the
fishes, which find their way onto the hooks of anglers favoring
other breeds. Walleye pedants catch them while jigging and toss
‘em aside. Panfish partisans bring them up, unintentionally, and
seem agitated by the encounter. Respect is modest. Despite their
status, “hardwater exotics”, like popular gamefish and panfish,
feed beneath glazed waters and will bend a pole. And the label of
“exotic” isn’t to represent something foreign and troublesome,
like Eurasian milfoil and zebra mussels, but instead a
tongue-in-cheek reference to wintertime fishes that warrant
greater regard. I like to think of hardwater exotics as winter’s
next frontier.
Largemouth Bass
No kind, other
than possibly catfish, is more associated with dark and warmed
water. They snatch surface buzzers in a toilet bowl flush and
inhale jigs & pigs from cypress roots, but along the Ice Fishing
Belt, black bass also forage below the ice. And sans the aerial
acrobatics, hardwater bass can be as thrilling.
As rudimentary
as it sounds, the chief criterion is finding a body of water with
considerable numbers of bass, and usually, those are destinations
with limited pike. Most of these waters are heavily weeded and
riddled with bays and backwaters. Weeded bays provide prime
habitat for hardwater bass, especially at first and last ice, and
those are your best periods for hooking fish anyway.
Historically, bass activity spikes at first ice, wanes as the
shallows lose greenery and oxygenation, and fires up again during
late ice – pay attention to season closures in your area.
Bass are
weed-loving critters, and at no time is this more evident than
first ice. Search right in the thick of things, giving added
mindfulness to pockets, lanes, and heavy weedlines. Submerged
timber and weed covered humps can also harbor bass. And there’s a
strong chance of finding bucketmouths anywhere masses of sunfish
reside.
Bass will hit
spoons, jigs, and free-swimming minnows, but nothing turns ‘em
like rattles. For spooning bass, I pump a silvery Lindy’s Rattl’r
Spoon ornamented with three Micro Power Grubs, rigged
chandelier-style. Chip, on the other hand, replaces the treble on
his Northland Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon with a single, long shank
hook and threads on a single two-inch Berkley Power Grub. Trust
me, soft plastics work all year long.
Stationary
tip-ups provide tremendous support to jigging. On Ice Tour
contributor, Brian “Bro” Brosdahl learned a technique from fellow
guide Dick “Griz” Gryzwinski. It’s simple. Put the jigging rods
down and put trust in a field of tip-ups. Bro rigs a squadron of
Finicky’s Fish Factories with single, wide-gapped hooks and a
lively shiner minnows. Shiners out-fish all other minnows 10 to
1, including suckers and chubs. With bass, Bro and Griz are firm
believers that you catch more fish by sitting tight; properly
placing tip-ups; moving a legal distance away, and not tromping
around. Rare are the moments when these guides aren’t carrying
jigging rods, but this is one.
Catfish
Our whiskered
friends find occasion to feast beneath the ice, and in some
regions, the action’s pretty hot. Catfish seek the least current
and most warmth Mother Nature affords, but impressively, catfish,
namely channel cats, go there to feed as well as slumber.
On rivers,
seek out the deepest holes. Sometimes that means slackwater
sections away from the main channel, and in other situations cats
nest in the heart of the channel, especially in widened stretches
with limited current.
Reservoirs
that feature old river channels can be catfish havens. Look for
bends and drops in the channel – slight three, four, and five-foot
depressions are sometimes all it takes. Deep holes positioned off
shoreline points also warrant exploration.
Many consider
catfish to be crows of the waterways, eating only expired
morsels. Although cats will take dead bait, I’ve personally had
better results with live minnows. Rig one tip-up with an active
minnow and fair sized hook, and situate it just inches from the
bottom. In hazardous timber, I tie on Lindy No-Snagg Hooks; Chip
likes the visual stimulation of Northland Super-Glo Attractor
Hooks. Fix dead bait on another line, maybe a cut sucker or
smashed shiner minnow, and squirt it with Berkley Catfish
Attractant – that’ll test their sniffers. Another trick is
pegging a Northland Firelight Glow Stick or Lindy Glow Stick Float
Night Light a couple of inches above the bait, adding visual
stimulation. After all, catfish are known night feeders, so give
them every opportunity to zero in on your bait.
On Ice Tour
contributor, Glen Schmitt partakes in a hardwater cat or two.
“One of the weirdest things I’ve noticed is that catfish suspend
when they’re active, sometimes mixing with crappies. I attack
suspended catfish with jigging spoons and minnow heads.”
Schmitt finds
his suspended kitties over deep holes, ones he describes as
“wintering holes”. And he notes that late winter seems to produce
best, and that’s good, because gamefish seasons are closed in many
regions, thus affording you another crack at big fish.
Eelpout
Sometimes the
Swan Song, the arrival of eelpout marks the end of a walleye
bite. True, it does happen, but that doesn’t mean the enjoyment
has to end. Love the “ling” and labor for “lawyers”! If you
consider eelpout to be part of the complete ice fishing
experience, their status improves, and you might quit building
picket fences with the frozen ones.
Suggestion
number one is to target big eelpout, not constrictor-like
specimens that cyclone around your arm, but mammoth 10, 12, and
14-pounders. And as history tells, most of the biggest ‘pout
dwell in large lakes, including gigantic waters such as the Great
Lakes, Lake of the Woods, and Leech Lake. In fact, Leech Lake
hosts and annual Eelpout Festival that attracts 10,000 plus
anglers from around the world.
Specifically,
where do these bullish slobs roam? Eelpout favor steep breaks,
predominately off large points, bars, and offshore humps. Eelpout
also inhabit deepwater flats surrounding such formations.
The finest
‘pouting I’ve experienced occurred on top of a fairly small rock
hump – less than an acre – that rose to around 40-feet from
surrounding depths of over a hundred. At dusk, sizable walleyes
assaulted the crest, and we pegged a few, but not long after
twilight vanished, the third shift punched in. Burly, blue collar
eelpout arrived with empty lunch pails, which they intended to
fill with rainbow chubs. That night we caught and released over a
dozen fish in excess of 10-pounds, with the largest pressing just
over 17… Who wouldn’t draw pleasure from combating fish like
that? And yes, ‘pout do fight.
Catching
wintertime ‘pout, like cats, is more about spots than baits, but I
do have some favorite presentations. First off, eelpout are drawn
to luminescence. Creatures of the night, eelpout love freshly
glowed phosphorescent jigs, so long as a minnow’s included, like a
rainbow or large fathead. Leer likes glowing Northland Fire-Ball
Jigs, and he’s sure that blindingly bright Glo-Ball Jigs will
beckon ‘pout this winter. For me, it’s tough to beat a Lindy
Techni-Glo Fat Boy XL. Add some rattle to your glow, like the
spoons I just mentioned, and friends will call you ‘Pout Master.
Tactically
speaking, jigging eelpout isn’t science. Just reverse hook a
minnow, so it faces away from the head, running the hook point
through the belly and out the back behind the dorsal. Don’t snap
it, pump the jig methodically, never raising it more than a foot
off the bottom unless your flasher or Aqua-Vu tell you otherwise.
Recharge frequently, but the newer glows do phosphoresce longer,
especially green and blue. Hitting it with Lindy’s new Tazer or
Northland’s Glo-Buster – handheld light sources – will provide
longer lived luster.
Arm yourself
with the stuff of gladiators, including steadfast line, rod, and
reel. Berkley’s Fireline Ice provides strength and sensitivity
for big fish in deepwater. The same company’s Dave Genz Signature
Lightning Rod (36-inch, medium-heavy) flexes and feels like a
six-footer, and you can’t beat the smoothness and reliability of
Abu Garcia baitcast reels.
Whitefish & Tullibee
Tullibee are
actually ciscoes, and ciscoes are whitefish, but whitefish aren’t
tullibee or ciscoes. Got it? Whitefish are a family, which
includes lake whitefish, specifically, as well as ciscoes, and in
some regions, anglers call tullibee, ciscoes. Whitefish grow
large, commonly reaching into the sixes and sevens, but their
range is limited to some degree. Whitefish inhabit numerous
Canadian lakes, border waters, and various large and deep lakes on
the stateside. Ciscoes coexist in many of the same lakes, but
also range further south and are more widely distributed.
Prioritized,
whitefish and ciscoes are food before fight, meaning their
luscious and high calorie bodies provide nourishment to other
fishes. Walleyes, pike, and lake trout grow large on diets of
whitefish. Their second attribute is fight, because inch for
inch, whitefish and tullibee pack tons of punch. Numero three on
the list of attributes is willingness to bite – they feed
frenzy-style. Volume goes hand in hand with willingness, because
whitefish of all shapes and sizes forage in packs, sometimes
gigantic schools. Lastly comes taste, ciscoes are tremendous when
smoked, in fact I’ve actually snacked on smoke-cooked ciscoes
while simultaneously jigging for them, which is sort of sadistic.
Lake whitefish even make good on the grill, fryer, and in the
oven.
Tullibee are
one of nature’s easiest fish to find, and make strike. On Ice
Tour’s Chip Leer first checks deep pockets, particularly during
mid and late winter, when tullibee really hole up. His best spots
lie near structure, like points and reefs.
Schmitt also
favors deep water, to which he adds flats, and the fact that
ciscoes commonly suspend midway through the water column, but will
yo-yo high and low to attack – whitefish species have exceptional
vision. Due to their suspending nature, whitefish and tullibee
are easily tracked on a flasher, and electronics are essential to
the search.
And that
Superman-like eyesight makes them prime candidates for precision
tackle by Lindy and Northland. Schmitt jerks ciscoes and
whitefish with a #8 or #10 Genz Worm and maggots – bigger panfish
sizes. Leer prefers a Creep Worm or Forage Minnow Fry, and he
also attaches live maggots or Power Wigglers. In essence, an
effective panfish system is applicable to whitefish and tullibee.
Lure, line, rod, and reel selection are transferable, as well as
jigging methods. Go light and enjoy the fight!
We’re not
trying to convert you into a freakish, alternative angler who
won’t be satisfied until icing a paddlefish, gar, and lamprey
eel. No, instead, On Ice Tour just hopes you’ll appreciate so
called hardwater exotics, sometimes fish for them, but never again
treat them like junk fish.
Editor’s note:
ON ICE TOUR – cofounded by Chip Leer and Tommy Skarlis – is an
intensive effort aimed at expanding the sport of ice fishing
through instructional articles, seminars, in-store and ice fishing
contest appearances, and one on one exchanges with the public.
Learn more about ON ICE TOUR and the greatest of winter sports at
www.onicetour.com |
