Tungsten Advantage

Tungsten has been a buzzword in the bass world for several years and in the ice fishing for the past few years; however, the last couple of days of Erie Ice Camp clearly showed me a real advantage of tungsten ice jigs.

The best bite we found for big bluegills, yellow perch and trout was in 40 feet of water. Most fish were suspended -- some quite high in the water column -- but others were at the bottom, and they were apt to show up almost anywhere so it was important to move up and down a lot. Anything light took a long time to fall through the water column, meaning a lot of wasted time, and at times the fish would be gone before the bait ever got within ambush range. They wanted a small profile, though, so a spoon or a big lead jig would draw lookers but not takers. A VMC Tungsten Tubby proved ideal for getting down to the fish efficiently but showing them something subtle.

We would have caught several fish with other offerings, but I'm confident that we caught far more with the little tungsten ice jigs that we could have with any jig made from lead. I wouldn't use them in all situations both because of the higher price and because I think a slower fall is sometimes better. It's definitely worth having a some tungsten jigs in your ice box, though.

Christmas Eve Pond Play

Late yesterday afternoon, Nathaniel decided the pond bluegills needed a Christmas Eve visit. I agreed, and we both figured that Asher would like to tag along. We scrounged up a few worms, which were shallow and easy to find on a strangely warm and rainy December day, grabbed ultralights and ice jigs, and hopped in Nathaniel's truck.

When Asher's along, it's always a competition, so we settled on an inches game. We would measure every fish and total the inches. For modesty sake, I won't say who won.

We only had an hour or so to fish before dark, but the fish were cooperative. We caught about 15 fish and even managed a couple of doubles. We caught them all on tipped ice jigs, either fished vertically at the deep end of the pond or cast to the bank, allowed to sink and dragged slowly across the bottom. The fish aren't stacked in the deep water yet, but they are on the bottom, and some have moved all the way out.

Last fish of the year? Maybe, but we still have a whole week, so maybe not!

Craws, Minnows & Bugs

Another Michael's visit to pick up art supplies for my daughter while my wife and I were out and about. Another walk down the fur and feather aisle and the yarn aisle, both resulting in new materials for me to play with at home.

Little by little I'm building my bug-making supplies and figuring out the qualities of different materials. Little by little, feather, fur and foil wrappings are turning into imitations of shad, aquatic insect larvae and crawfish, plus a few gaudy attractors. Some have been water tested so I know how they move in the water. Others look sort of like I want them to when I hold them in my hand, but I've not yet seen how they swim or fall through the water column and how the characteristics of the materials change when they get wet.

I do know that trout will eat some of my Ugly Bugs. Next week, I'll get to test some little ones through the ice on Pennsylvania perch, crappie and bluegills. I have a few bugs in my head in mind that I want to make real for that trip. Better get to tying, I guess.

Day After Christmas Pond Visit

The day after Christmas, like the day after Thanksgiving, is a good day to not be at a store of any kind. However, I found it also was a tough day to sit at my computer and write fish stories. While I did get some work done early, I found my mind wandering to other places (mostly rivers and lakes) as the day progressed and finally resolved that if my mind was on the water, I probably should join it.

Nathaniel seemed to think similarly because he was sort of walking around in circles and he didn't object when I suggested that we should go gather a little pond junk. We decided to keep it short and simple, grabbing only stuff for the middle of the pond and a vertical approach.

Turns out the stuff we brought was all we needed to catch some fish during a short afternoon outing. The fish were close to the bottom, near the pond dam, right where we expected them to be, and we caught them on ice jigs tipped with earthworm pieces and fished straight below the boat. A few were fairly nice bream. All were fun, and I got a few nice photos, which was more productive than sitting at home, gazing at my computer screen and daydreaming about fishing.

Birthday Bluegills for Eli & Dad

A birthday celebration around here often includes a trip to the pond, and No. 5 for Eli was no different. He put in a request for such an outing weeks ago and had remained hopeful it could work. Eli's birthday actually isn't until tomorrow, but we decided that the bluegills didn't need to know that, and I'm happy to report that they did their part in adding to the big event. We ended up catching five fish, which seemed kind of fitting since Eli is turning 5, all by vertical fishing with ice jigs tipped with worms.

Cheetos and Powerade served double function as refreshments and face paint, with the Cheetos performing especially well in the latter category.

Eli also carried a camera and helped me with photos, along with taking over as captain for a while. I was impressed by his resolve to figure out how he needed to pull or push the paddle to make the johnboat go where he wanted it to go. The johnboat tends to spin a bit, even with an experienced paddler, but Eli got us all the way across to the pond to the place where we put in and take out once he decided that we had fished long enough.

It was a nice outing and a big success, I'd have to say. I'm thankful that we had such nice weather. His mid-November birthday is a little bit of a wild card for good fishing weather.