Schools of Fish at Strawberry

[Fishin_dad]

Took two of my boys to Strawberry on Saturday. We were having fun and my youngest son pulled up two nice slot cutts. After a while the fishing died down so we moved to a place I had seen tons of fish at during the summer on a Kayak. For the rest of the day the hole was filled with schools of fish. Most of them were smaller rainbows, but a few of them were 17 inch bows. We caught a few more slot cutts and released them. After a while I took out my ipad and taped a little. Attached is the video. Check it out and remember that I was trying to set the hook without dropping the ipad down the hole. I guess I need a GoPro.

I would also love some pointers as you can see the fish come in hard to the lure as it is falling and most of them pull away right at the last minute. Is this normal or am I just missing something. This is my first year ice fishing so if the jigging seems novice....I am and would appreciate the help.

I tried to post the video put it is not working right, unless I just don't know how to do it. Anyways, here is the link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZWrff66...afe=active
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[S.W.W.L]

Pretty cool, are you using three jigs?
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[utahgolf]

[quote Fishin_dad]

I would also love some pointers as you can see the fish come in hard to the lure as it is falling and most of them pull away right at the last minute. Is this normal or am I just missing something. This is my first year ice fishing so if the jigging seems novice....I am and would appreciate the help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZWrff66...afe=active[/quote]


when the fish come in hard like that, keep up the jigging nice and fast. under normal circumstances you jig and then pause and they usually hit it. or when they're finicky sometimes setting it right on the bottom and not touching it will have them come over and take it. But I have noticed when they are in that stage of chasing a falling lure or they come in fast but don't take it, than keep jigging really aggressively and don't pause it and they will hit it on the fall. a lot like smallmouth fishing, when they are curious but lose interest when the bait slows down or pauses.
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[MasterDaad]

I don't have any useful ice fishing tips but that video was really fun to watch.
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[FishSlayerJT]

Awesome video!.. Smaller tube. Put the middle lure on a dead stick rod nearby. let them take it before you set with your rod. Might help to not look.
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[cdbrc]

i have learned that if I have sun screen on my hands or gas or doritos or any thing of the like, the fish will do just what the video showed. SUN SCREEN is a fish deterrent.
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[Charina]

That's just how those newly planted hatchery bows act. Different offerings can get more hookups. Find a jig that looks like a hatchery pellet and you wouldn't be able to keep them off.
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[OCF]

I have seen this in years past - try a smaller jig with just enough meat/bait to cover the hook. I would also try a set up with a single (smaller) jig.

Were these rainbows? I ran into a similar situation & tried various jigs for an hour. After I finally put a flourescent pink jig on, I started catching them. Come to find out they were kokanee.
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[Fishin_dad]

I am only using two jigs. The bottom jig is a white tube jig, the top jig is a red curly tail jig with a white head on it.

I just rewatched the video and the third looking jig thing is the swivel where I attached the second jig. I noticed that a few fish tried to eat it during the day.
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[Fishin_dad]

Thanks for the tip utah golf. I'll give it another shot next Saturday and also try a smaller jig too.
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[FishSlayerJT]

ooohh, now i see.. Ice fly or a jig head with a wax worm. Small lures will catch big fish too.
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[whit210]

This is how we spent the day Friday. What we found was to go small ice fly with a piece of sucker meat no bigger than a match head. This was ok for the bows but we couldn't get the cutts to take it.
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[PIKEMAN99]

too words GIZZY BUGS
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[Gemcityslayer]

Try deadsticking it instead of jigging it they seem to be turned off by the jigging.

Smaller lures with less bait work better when they are just nipping at it like that too.

Cool video!
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[jamesc88]

Great video. I saw the same behavior you were seeing in an underwater camera. They would come up to the lure, but not take it.

Well we didn't catch any fish. We were seeing several slot cuts on the camera. We also saw schools of rainbows about every 20 minutes, but could not get them to bite. They would come right up to my jig, but then quickly turn away. I tried 13 different jibs of all colors. They seemed attracted to white the most, but still no bites. I tried tipping with worms, meal worms, shrimp, and power bait.

Perhaps my jigs were too big, most were in the 1.5 inches in lenth. I also tried some small rat finky jigs with no success.

I have heard others say that sunscreen repels them, but I was not using any.

I am going look for some smaller baits at sporting goods store.

All in all a day on the lake is far better than anything else we could have been doing. Seeing that many fish on camera was a fun time for all.
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[buckhunterhart]

Great video. I like to go with a smaller jig and dead stick it or put it on a jaw jacker. I also smear a bit of pro-cure jelly on the jig to offset any foreign smells I may have added when tying it on- gasoline, mtn dew, nacho cheese are not appetizing to fish.
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[Fishin_dad]

I had put on some pro-cure type stuff that I got at cabelas to try and mask any small. But as you can see, it attracted them and then it didn't. Any suggestions on flavor. I couldn't decide between garlic and crawdad. I went with crawdad in the end.
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