[bone-a-fide]

Hit the ice for a couple hours this am in North East. Found 7"+ of clear ice, sweet! The action wasn't too exciting, but beats watching Sportcenter 4 times in a row. Total tally was 4 keeper perch and a few unders with one superstar at 13" and fat. 20 or so bluegills. No runs on my five tipups with shiner. The good ol' swedish pimple was the ticket (smallest size-1"). My all time favorite ice fishing jig for panfish, perch, crappie and the occasional bass. I may be the only guy around here hoping it stays cold. Tip it with a waxworm and you are all set:

 

[tiderunner3150]

The old pimple is the way to go. mealies woork good also

 

[bone-a-fide]

mealies are good, but they come off the hook too easy!

 

[Ele]

The Swedish Pimple is one of the best ice fishing lures. Another good one is the ice Rapala. Both of these are old time favorites, however, Mike & Herb have been doing great on small Crippled Herring.

The ice up here is the best it has been for many years. Mike & Herb also hope the ice stays around for awhile. They caught quite a few legals yesterday and are headed out again this morning.

Ele

 

[tiderunner3150]

Ele, what is legal there? Never ice fished MD. Is there crappie there? Do they get WP through the ice? How about striper, never heard of anyone getting them.

 

[Ele]

Tiderunner. Any fish is legal here right now except Stripers. Mostly they catch Yellow Perch. But occassionally they catch Largemouth and Catfish. It also depends where you are fishing. If you are fishing all the way up the Northeast River, they sometimes catch Crappie and Bluegills.

The main targeted fish is YP. Because of the ice this year, the commercials did not get their fyke nets in so the fishing for YP is pretty good right now. Starting today, you are allowed 10 fish and the size limit, I think, is 9 1/2".

Ele

 

[Fish Fish'n]

Tiderunner,

Back when tidal ice was more consistent(60's/70's) the occasional resident striper would be caught, particularly on the Magothy.

 

[bone-a-fide]

Size limit on the yellow perch is 9". And as Ele said you are allowed 10 per person. Used to be 5 per person I believe? I just looked at the 10 day forecast and looks like the ice will be around for at least a couple weeks.

Back in NW PA, I have caught almost everything thru the ice on that little swedish pimple-often times smaller lures are better thru the ice, the fish are a bit slower and are often feeding on smaller forage. Go with the smallest spoon you can find. You will definitely have better luck if you tip whatever lure you have with some bait- I prefer waxworms, but maggots and mealworms work fine.

I had a guy tell me yesterday that in the mid 80's they caugh stripers in Northeast thru the ice. But I would think nowadays, that would be very rare.

 

[tiderunner3150]

Thanks for the answers guys. I will do some jiggin within the next day or 2 depending on the weather. I will post the results.

 

[Ele]

Also, tying a small piece of red yarn to your hook used to be a sure thing for ice fishing.

I can remember one day, probably 30 years ago when Mike, Herb and many other icefishermen caught hundreds of Rockfish through the ice, in the area that is now the North East Town Park. At the time, there was no limit on them.

Ele

 

[Gerald]

The gulp maggots have been working for me instead of the little piece of rubber. Gold cast masters too in 1/8 oz. Plus the nils maters hali jigs.