Favorite Ice Fishing Rigs

[Anthonygreer]

With Huntington frozen over and the rest to follow shortly, I'm wondering what everyones favorite ice fishing rigs are. Flousrescent mini jigs, ratso's and shrimpo's tipped with a worm are kings in my book. They seem to do the job quite well just about anywhere. How 'bout everyone else?
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[Out4Trout]

[cool]For Trout, I'd have to say white or chartruese Whatta Crickets, and also chartruese Foxy Jigs have done best for me. I usually tip the jig with wax worms, and sometimes mealies. A little dab of anchovie smelly jelly usually helps too. Sometimes at Scofield or Strawberry (where the fish eat a lot of crawdads) I'll use a crawdad plastic like the Berkley Power Nymph in the smoke color with a little crawdad flavored smelly jelly fished about one crank off the bottom.

For perch I usually use a silver castmaster with a little rat finkie below that tipped with a waxie till I catch a perch. Then it's tipped with perch meat.
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[Anthonygreer]

Thanks for the input Out4trout. I've heard a lot of good things about whatta crickets. Where can I purchase some?
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[wiperhunter2]

A pink rat finky is my favorite but the chartruese Whatta Crickets works good for trout, I tip them with meal worms or a piece of crawler.
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[Topehaw]

Good ol'e boy James at Hooked in Kaysville usually carries them. Good luck!

[Out4Trout]

[cool]Whatta Crickets are AWESOME!! You can get them exclusively from James (HFT, on this board) at Hooked Fishing Tackle in Kaysville. If you live far away from there, send him a p.m. and he'll work out how to get them to ya. If you go to Sportsmens and ask them where there whatta crickets or boogers are, they'll look at you funny and say "huh?" or they'll get pissed at you 'cause your about the millionth person to ask them that, and they don't know what you are talking about.
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[Bigcat]

White paddle bugs and white foxey jigs will do it for me. If not white then chartruse. Usually tipped with mealys and add some attractant as well. Haven't ever tried boogers or watta cricket but hope to soon.
Bigcat
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[fish1on]

My whole tackle box!! LOL I will try anything until the fish hit. My biggest pleasure icefishing is being out in the fresh crisp air and if I hook into something then thats a bonus!!! O.K. I give, for pan fish I use a kastmaster ( Hammered gold) with a ratfinke and a meal worm. For trout I like to use either a foxy or a whattacricket in white. For larger species, I will lean towards tube jigs tipped with nightcrawlers.
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[doggonefishin]

My "default" set-up is to have a "tear drop" or tiny ice spoon with a silver flash on the top, and either a rat finkie or tiny tube jig on the bottom. Both have bait on them. I will vary the distance between the lures depending on results, water depth, and species. Perch pretty much hug the bottom and are almost exclusively caught on the bottom jig, but when fishing Utah's perch lakes, I will usually have good trout action at the same time on the top lure. When fishing for trout only, It also gives me a little better coverage of the water column. Color wise, I prefer "glow-in-the-dark" yellow and pink. I often notice differences in the effectiveness of the different baits one can use and will take out crawlers, mealworms, waxies, and power bait (for trout) and experiment with them first, then play around with different jigs.
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[fishin4fun]

I really like the jig attached for trout. I went to it a couple of years ago and it rocks. I've only found them at Cabelas and order them by the dozens. Red/White is by far the best color. They work well on Utah waters, Wyoming waters and the Gorge. I also use green foxies and watta crickets (thanks James at Hooked), on a few lakes in Utah, i.e. Currant Creek. Last year, we even dipped the heads in glow in the dark dip and fished with them at night at the Berry and they tore up the fish!! I tip everything with a mealie or wax worm if panfish.

On another note, I like these at the Gorge with sucker meat for big macks too. Also, lean on big tube jigs there too. Again, white.

Just my 5 cents.

F4F


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[fuzzyfisher]

i use so many diffrent rigs when ice fishing.. but the one thing i have found to be the most consistent here in utah is a white tube..any size and tiped with meat of some sort..

dude on fish?
Ron
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[tomegun]

[black][size 2]My Dodge Ram F250 with its duramax diesael engine that is solid as a rock.[blush][/size][/black]
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[Theekillerbee]

I can't say I have one specific favorite...but I do tend to favor Ratso's and paddle bugs. But I've had really good luck with other types of jigs as well. Everything gets sweetened with some meat/smelly jelly though.

Tomegun: I've got your DuraMax, right here in my pocket![]
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[Coldfooter]

At times I run a flasher on the bottom as weight with merely two bait jigs above the flasher and 10" apart. Other times I use merely a tube jig or two.
When bored and wanting to keep the rod moving I often use a small white and blue airplane jig tipped with sucker or crawler, etc.. This works very well or me a Scofield and other reservoirs for Bows, cutties, etc.... The trick is to learn the cirular flying patern of the jig and how fast to pump the rod tip to get it jig to operate correctly. I've been known to use larger flying jigs for Mack too (through the ice or otherwise). I sorta went brain dead this year and over looked the flying jigs while bobbing around FG on open water. I'll make up for that as soon as its frozen.
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[fairwayphilly]

I'm a big fan of a pink #8 ratfink below a kastmaster for perch, tipped with a meal worm of course. I like the genz worms for trout, they are a little bigger that ratfinks, sink a little better and have a larger glow silouette; tipped of course. For macs I use chub or bullhead cat minnows on my dead stick and either 3/8 oz or larger hair jigs (hand tied of course) or 5 - 6 inch tube jigs filled with smelly jelly (white, sometimes chartruese ) on my jigging rod. James (HFT) did however force a few packages of buggers and whatacrickets down my throat the other day. Didn't really think that I needed them, but since then I've read so much about them I can't wait to give them a try. Thanks James! I've also tied up a bunch of smaller hair and marabou jigs for perch and trout that I'm going to give a try.
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[HFT]

BOOGERS!
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[Fishry]

I really like the gentz worms since they have a small profile for their weight. They are heavy enough to sink fast and are easy to feel the bottom with. Chartuse, pink, luminescent, and orange (in glowing color) are my favorite colors. I almost always use a tandem jig setup. I will tie the top jig (usually a small rat fink) directly to the line about 3 to 5 feet above the end of the line. I will tie a heavier jig (usually a gentz worm) to the end of the line. The tandem setup works very well for me, especially when I lose the bait from one of the jigs, since I am usually still baited on the other. I have also caught doubles with this setup. I have watched (on the aquaview) when fish take the top jig and run with it, dragging the bottom jig, which is irresistible to other trout that chase it and grab the trailing jig! I have also caught fish that have swam upwards and gulped both jigs before I could set the hook. The tricky part to the tandem jigs is to not catch your top jig on the edge of the ice when you have a fish on the bottom jig. With a little practice, this is not a problem. I like to tip the 'jigs' with half of a meal worm, with the guts hanging out.

Luminescent colored tube jigs work well for the Macks, I prefer 2 to 4 inch tubes, tipped with sucker meat.
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[Out4Trout]

[cool]question. What are "gentz worms?" Never heard of them.[crazy]
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[tomegun]

[black][size 2]Actually, its a Dodge Ram 2500 with a Cumins turbo diesael.

Crickets, booger types, and all sorts of critter baits are now at Sportsman's.
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[fishin4fun]

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[black][size 2]Dodge Ram F250 with its duramax diesel[/size][/black] Wouldn't that be a Dogde, Ford, Chevy Hybrid?? [] Wouldn't mind combining the best of big 3 to make one super truck myself!! F4F [/reply]
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