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Slip Bobbers At Slush Time
by JP Bushey
Inside the shack, waves of heat unfurled from our
iron stove's belly full of hardwood. I looked like a half-peeled
banana, sitting in my sweatshirt after shucking off the top half of
my one-piece survival suit. Outside, the lake's skin heaved, buckled
and popped under the New Year's first major cold snap. Dead center
in a ten-inch hole below my feet, the light balsa float had suddenly
shaken to life. There was a momentary pause before the whole works
was drawn swiftly out of sight, taking heaping coils from the reel
along with it. After a five count, I closed the bail and let the
fish tighten the tip of the rod down into a good arc before sweeping
the light wire hook home.
It took a few minutes, but the little reel's guts slowly began
taking over and the fish's maneuvers became fewer and further
between. I was sure we'd be seeing the gold and black of another
nice walleye below the hole, but instead was greeted by the rolling
flash of a fat whitefish. When you set up to fish slip-bobbers
through the ice, you'll find out pretty quickly that most fish are
suckers for them.
Rigging and fishing slip-bobbers in the winter has it's own special
set of requirements and subtleties that set it apart from fishing
them in open water. At the end of the day, you're still hanging
something at a predetermined depth, and fish will still show
themselves by moving the float. But, the winter slip-bobber
fisherman has other wrinkles to add and challenges to adapt to. Not
the least of which are air temperatures well below the freezing
mark.
You can use slip-bobbers anywhere. Inside an ice shack /enclosure or
in the open air. Like other above-water systems, they're at their
best when the holes aren't icing up too quickly. Bound by a skim of
ice, their ability to transmit activity from above and below is
basically lost. You can still fish them outside on a cold day, but
keeping your holes open and clean takes more work. Obviously inside
a shack, this is less of an issue.
What makes slip-bobbers so effective through the ice is their
versatility when it comes to depth and rigging options, not to
mention their overall sensitivity. Fishing from a vertical,
stationary position makes adding two or more offerings to your line
very low-maintenance. A simple and effective set-up usually involves
an 'anchor bait' on the end of the line, with one or more baited
hooks at intervals above it. The anchor bait basically does what the
name implies, it holds the float upright and sits closest to the
bottom. A leadhead jig of some sort is most common. Jigs with a 90
degree line tie are usually best when tied with a loop knot to keep
them hanging perfectly horizontal. A larger minnow on the anchor jig
can be used to add a lot of action to the entire line. Dropshot rigs
have become really popular with bass fishermen, and this rig really
isn't all that different.
Up from the anchor, you can splice in barrel swivels leaving short,
one to six inch lines with baited hooks off one of the eyelets.
Tying off extra hooks with a short length of slightly heavier line
helps it stand at a greater angle to the mainline and will reduce
fouling. Twelve-pound abraision-resistant monofilament works well.
You can also add small, brightly coloured floater beads. Sometimes
fish will take the anchor bait, other times they'll pick off baits
suspended higher off the bottom. With panfish, it's not uncommon to
have multiple fish come up through the hole at once. Check local
Regulations to see how many hook points per line are legal where
you're fishing.
Baiting up with this type of rig depends on what you're fishing for.
You can tailor the size and weight for anything from panfish to lake
trout. Small shiners or maggots on the upper hook(s) work well for
perch, crappie, cisco or whitefish, anchored with a 1/32 to ¼ ounce
plastic or hair/feather jig below. A good rig for lake trout or ling
is a ¼ ounce ball head jig with a dead smelt hanging below a pair of
#4 baitholder hooks spread ten to thirty feet apart with live,
emerald shiners. Don't discount scented plastics for this
application, either. Fish still eat them in the winter. No matter
what you're fishing for, spreading multiple presentations below a
slip-bobber is a great way to pattern fish and cover water.
You can also refine your rigging to its bare essentials with just a
single hook baited and set at one specific depth below the float.
Weight placed closer to the bait restricts movement, more distance
between weight and bait can give a lot more freedom. The beauty of a
bobber rig is how well this all gets communicated back to the guy
sitting on the ice, watching the float. And of course, slip-bobbers
are fully adjustable, making precision depth changes very easy. When
the fishing is tough, being off the right depth by as little as
eighteen inches can make or break a day. Slip-bobbers allow you to
set and re-set hot depths to stay on fish better than most
techniques. And unlike hand-lining a fish hooked on a tip-up, slip
bobbers give you the added sport and control of using a rod and
reel. A five-pound fish on a seven foot rod is fun. On a three-foot
rod, it can have your laughing out loud. It's that much fun.
Watching your float and then playing the fish on ice gear is simply
awesome. Every bit as thrilling as that four-foot muskie smashing
your lure on hundred pound line back in August, or fighting a big
Great Lakes chinook.
Rod length depends on whether you'll be doing most of your fishing
in a shack or outside. Inside a shack, a shorter rod is the way to
go, from eighteen to thirty inches in overall length. When you're
outside, rods of thirty six to forty eight inches can be better,
with some fishermen even opting for standard five-foot ultra-lite
style rods. Rod action and line type come down to personal
preference and what size or species of fish you're after. No-stretch
lines and long, medium action rods are great for deep water or fish
like pike that can peel out a lot of line after hitting. A pike can
be a city block away but with no-stretch line, keeping tabs on him
is easy. You're always in direct contact. In shallow or clear water
for brookies, rainbows or panfish, you might opt for four pound mono
and a light, twig of a rod. Just like slip-bobber fishing in
open-water, the rod needs to help quickly remove the bow from the
line and sweep the hook home. Many ice rod manufacturers are now
marketing actions specifically for bobber fishing. The line of
St.Croix products that hit shelves for last season is outstanding,
as are G Loomis rods. Shimano, Mitchell, Berkley, Quantum, Browning
and HT-Polar also make very good ice rods at lower price points.
Spinning reels with a smooth drag and solid anti-reverse gear are
the norm for fishing these rigs and like rods, many companies offer
products geared specifically for icefishing. For panfish or smaller
gamefish, the reel's basic function is nothing more than storing and
managing line. Smooth drags and line capacity become more important
with heavier, hard-running fish like pike or lake trout.
Micro-series reels are more than enough for smaller fish. You may
want to step up to a 2000or 4000-size model for larger targets.
There are even specially formulated, cold-weather lubricants for
winter use that resist thickening and stiff operation.
As a rule, foam floats will support a lot more weight and are harder
to submerge than balsa wood floats, making them a good choice for
larger baits, heavier rigging and larger fish. A thumb-sized foam
float with a few splitshot will normally suspend and control live
baitfish from five to seven inches pretty handily. For lighter baits
and smaller fish, small, steelhead floats work great. They're easy
to submerge, and can be precision weighted so that even the lightest
takes will register. Both types will gather ice when it's cold
outside, with foam being slightly more susceptible. A blast of
oil-based cooking spray or fish scent slows down water absorption
and icing. Thill and Blackbird make excellent balsa floats, and
there's many companies that sell foam versions.
Add a few packs of neoprene or Dacron bobber-stops, and you're in
business. It's common for stops to slip during the fight. Carry a
black magic marker to mark your line to re-set the stop. A small
plastic bead threaded between the stop and where your line enters
the float keeps the stop from jamming.
Like on any live bait rig, your hooks need to be unobtrusive and
super sharp. Egg, 'octopus' or baitholder models along with longer
shanked Aberdeen-styles will cover just about any bait or species.
Leadhead jigs are excellent under a float fished alone or as part of
a multi-hook rig. Phosphorescent paint finishes on hooks and jigs
can be magical at times. Pike rigging with a legal wire quick-strike
or plain treble on a twelve to eighteen inch wire leader also works
well. The best terminal rigging is always whatever you're most
comfortable using, from lines, to hook sizes or styles. A season's
worth of multi-species rigging can be stocked in an 8"x8" plastic
tackle case. Add your baits of choice and start the experiment.
Anytime you're allowed more than one line, working a slip-bobber
while you jig is a deadly option. And unlike tip-ups, moving your
live bait rig from hole to hole is dead easy. Reel up, walk over to
the new hole and bomb it back down. It's no different than
hole-hopping with your jigging rod. It's portable live bait fishing
at it's finest. Working around a piece of structure with tandem
holes is a great technique for all species. Cut holes in clusters of
two or three and work your way around showing fish a live or dead
bait set while you jig nearby. Jigging rod in one hand and a bucket
of bait and your float rod in the other.
The drag's tinny belch when you set the hook on a short rod with a
slip-bobber is a beautiful thing when the boat's in storage and the
lake's frozen over. It might be a bucket of perch you're after, your
first ten-pound walleye or a forty-inch pike. You can use
slip-bobbers to catch anything, and the enjoyment found in the
pursuit and fight is tough to beat. If you haven't tried this system
through the ice, you should. You probably already have all the
rigging needed to get started. Tailor your gear to the species
you're after and give the technique a solid trial this winter. It's
unbeatable for getting kids into icefishing (how many of us started
fishing with a bobber and bait as kids?) and best of all, it
flat-out produces. Perch and crappies are my first target once the
ice is safe, and slip-bobbers are in a league of their own at this
time. From mid-winter through March, many a fifteen pound-plus pike
has fallen for live and dead baits under bobbers for me. Here's
hoping you get on a hot bite using slip-bobbers in the cold months
ahead!
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