Tips on jigs, bait and locations?

[MWScott72]

Just to clarify what Gabe said: Northland Buck-Shot is an excellent rattling lure. I've used a Kastmaster with rattles, too but that's about all I know.  I hope others will share specific lures they use.

Have you used PowerBait? Sometimes it saves the day when nothing else works. Garlic seems like a good choice. Saturday the fish at Fish Lake came arunning to it but wouldn't bite. Having other baits in the water at the same time is a good tactic. Cutbait also works well. Chub, sucker, etc. Where perch is legal for bait, cut small strips of belly meat, about the size of a waxworm or two. That strip will undulate enticingly with the smallest jigging action. Try Atomic Teasers, too. I like green and various combos of white and orange and pink. Be careful if you don't want to keep fish because they will swallow them. They are made of PowerBait stuff so fish tend to think they are getting the real thing. But they don't work without added bait. I like waxworms but anything might work.

Yes!!  The Northland Buck-Shot is what I was referring to in my previous post.  I have a glow version that is white with orange stripes, and it was one of the best yesterday at AF boat harbor.  The perch were very fond of it...in fact I got them to keep biting a full hour after dark which seems to be a rarity these days after dark.  It had to be charged and glowing though.  If it wasn't glowing, it wasn't working...and I was only fishing about 4.5 FOW off the docks.  Nothing big though.  Biggest was around 8" - most were 7".

Unfortunately, the WB were not in the harbor in any good numbers.  Only caught two that were eaters.  The rest were catfish-sized bait.  Only about 2-4" of lesser quality ice in the harbor right now.  The entrance and lake beyond are soft water.  Anyone else know if the WB swarm back into the iced harbors once the main lake loses its ice?

As a general rule, once the ice is gone, so are the fish...especially if water levels are low (less than about 6'). 
After the ice cap comes off you will find more fish around rocky shorelines or along structure like the bubbleup pipeline.  Howsomever, there will often be a few silly crappies still hanging out in the harbors, especially around docks.  They take some looking and finesse, but you can often get them if you find them.  There can also be some bluegills, but the roaming species like white bass and perch tend to head out into the open lake when the ice comes off.

One place I have done well at iceoff is in the little cove just south of the dikes at Lincoln Beach.  There are some warm springs that come in there...in the old Benjamin Slough channel.  If you can keep from snagging carp on every cast you can also catch some white bass.  Here's a pic taken in that spot right at ice out.

Thanks Pat!  Maybe I need to get in there with a bow-fishing rig for the carp.  Been a long time...