Today’s modern ice fishing equipment has made jigging a much more successful endeavor then in the past. With the advancement of sonar’s made specifically for ice fishing going out on the ice with just a sonar, some lures and a jigging rod is much more commonplace. However, one must be certain to be prepared with the right assortment of lures to catch fish through the ice. Here are the must have lures when heading out to do some jigging on the ice.
Remember since all fishing with lures on the ice is done with vertical jigging you need lures that have action when being dropped and what has better action then spoons. Spoons are a wide variety of lures that are elongated pieces of metal that flutter down through the water column. Some popular brands are Swedish Pimples or Krocodiles, but there are many different brands. The most obvious thing is you need to have a variety of sizes of spoons to match the size of fish you are targeting, smaller spoons for smaller fish and larger spoons for larger fish. A common thing with spoons is to tip them with bait, either grubs or minnows, just be sure not to tip the spoon with to heavy of a bait or it will ruin the fluttering action you are trying to achieve.
The next must have lure when going ice fishing is a jigging Rapala. These lures look like small to large baitfish that dart from side to side when jigged. These also come in various sizes, but you shouldn’t need to tip these with bait. These already do a very good job of imitating baitfish and often produce violent strikes, so you won’t need to finesse fish these like you would with other lures. Jigging Rapala’s are also much heavier for their size then most other ice fishing jigs so they can help you reach deeper waters.
Finally, for those finicky fish, there are tear drop jigs and jig heads. These are lures meant to be tipped with some type of bait. Tear drop jigs are just what they sound like, a small jig about the size and shape of a tear drop. These are often tipped with some type of grub and are used mostly for pan fish or when fish are being finicky. Larger jig heads come in a variety of sizes and are mostly tipped with some type of minnow. These jigs help you get to deeper depths and tend to target larger fish.
Ice fishing with lures is a very effective method of catching fish. It does not require the setup time you need to set up tip-ups and its helps to keep you mobile so you can find the fish. The most important thing to remember with all the above lures is to match the lure to the fish you are after. Once you locate the fish with your fish finder having a large selection of these lures will almost guarantee success.
