(02-02-2021, 05:52 PM)Miles Fitzrobert Wrote: Wow, definitely tons of information to go through here. Thanks! At work right now, but have a few minutes.Look for a "Boating Navionics" app on Google Play. White on blue background with the word "Navionics" above a white circle with 3 jagged blue lines running diagonal thru it. It will give you bottom contours for lakes. I used it for the first time at PV last week, and while it wasn't as accurate as I'd hoped (said we should be in 39 FOW and we were actually 46 FOW), it does give you the general idea of bottom layout/depth which would be very helpful to know if you're in the general vicinity at least. First 2 weeks is free and then I think it's $15 for a year subscription.
For now, the short rods I'm using are cheap ones from Walmart, 3 Dock Runners/Dock Demons, something to that effect. We just decided to try the ice so we've been keeping it cheap. I can feel the bites, but it's definitely very light. My wife and kid (he's 7 and isn't really into it yet) haven't caught anything, but not sure if it's them not noticing or the rods not being sensitive enough.
We usually being along our regular trout poles as well, I've used one to pound the bottom a bit in the hopes of making some noise that might bring fish near my jigging rod, but usually we'll put bobbers on those and let them hang some nightcrawler or powerbait about 2-5 feet below the ice. Gets some nibbles and one trout that way, but they're more to just have more bait in the water.
We have a cheap fish finder, seems to work (all the perch I've caught have shown up on it right before the bite) and a hand auger.
Most of the time when we're fishing, we're not in particularly deep water, partly because the water's just not that deep and partly because we probably haven't found the good spots yet. At Hyrum, Mantua and Willard, we're usually near the boat docks. Ventured out more at Newton, but the only fish we've caught there have been in 10-15 feet of water. We only did the one trip to Pineview, but in the area we were at, couldn't find anything deeper than 15 feet and not a single blip.
Will have to ask some specifics on the lures and jigs, but gotta run for the moment.
(02-02-2021, 07:59 PM)TubeDude Wrote: Even though the water is a couple of degrees warmer than nearby waters...the fish are still sluggish and don't move around enough to be very visible. But there are lots of carp...and enough to keep the water colored up a bit. You can't see the carp, even in the shallow water, but dragging a jig through there will get you "connected" if you just wanna have some tugs...and some carp meat for bait. I'm planning to try some fligs on short droppers this year to reduce the number of snagged carp and increase the bites from white bass.
I might just have to get my 12 year old down there for a few of those tugs. Nothing like fighting carp to help you understand the whole concept of "drag". And since they're not thought of as a "good" fish (except by other cultures), if you break off, no biggie...tie on and try again!