Fishing through the ice...Advice please

An ederly friend of mine does a little ice fishing for steelhead in the local waters here in mid-western Ontario.

He usually uses a spawn bag drifted just off the bottom, but he called last night to ask about using stone fly imitations. He said he saw a number of them in the snow.

Anyways, I've never been ice fishing, so I need some advice.

Will a stonefly pattern work through the ice?

If so, how should it be rigged and fished?

Could it be fished tandem with his spawn bag?

Any advice would be appreciated. I'm sure he'd rather ask these questions himself, but I don't know if he has (or is comfortable using) the internet.

Thanks,
Andrew

Not that ive had a lot of time on the ice this year .. but in the past ive caught some fish on scud patterns and nymphs on a dropper rig with a minnow on the bottom as it swims around it makes the fly dart around .... ive caught browns and rainbows doing this .If he gives it a go let me know how it works for him

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The more time I spend around people the more I like my dog.

Mike

While I've not used flies through the ice (thank heavens I don't live in the ice belt any more!), rigging a fly should be easy. Use the bass fishing technique called a drop shot rig.

Tie whatever fly you wish on the leader with a Palomar knot but leave the tail as long as the distance you want to set the fly above the bottom. If the fly doesn't sit at right angles to the leader, try running the tail of the knot through the eye one more time in an up and through approach.

Next, tie a simple overhand knot close to the end of the tail. Clamp on a split shot, and you're ready to fish. You can use other weight options, too. This gives you the fly tied in mid-line wiith the weight on the bottom of the leader.

While any fly should work, those with a ringed or straight eye would probably work the best.

Tell your friend good luck and have him report back to us.

Keith

I gave up ice fishing with flies.

It's to hard to get the fly to land
in that little 8 inch hole!

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**MW**

Ive ice fly fished before. I can only offer one tip: dont let your fly rest on the ice. Depending on the temperature, it can freeze it right to it. Iv ruined flies like this.

I dont reaaly like fly fishing through the ice without a splitshot or two because the wind takes it right out of the water.

When you go Ice Fishing, bring a auger, to make a hole in the lake, to fish through! Also bring a strainer to keep the hole in the ice from freezing up, after you made the hole.

Also make sure that there is enough ice, to prevent you from being written about in tommorow's newspaper.

Only during the winter months, can you take a long walk off the end of a short dock, and not get wet (most of the time)!

Some of us have pretty fancy ice fishing houses. During the winter whole communities sprout up on the lake over night, with paved roads street signs, and mail delivery. Some Ice Fishing Houses have 3 bedrooms, a living room, dinning room, family room, and a fishing hole in every corner of each room.

One person I know refuses to ice fish, so he has a boathouse on the lake. The boathouse is 8 feet by 400 feet, so he can go trolling, dontcha know!

Then just as these towns appear on the lake surface, they magically disappear. Usually at the end of February when the DNR says they have to go, sometimes sooner if there is a winter thaw, and the water opens up.

When you are driving your car or truck on the lake ice, always stop when you see someone standing, waving their arms in the air, as you are driving by. My friend didn't, and came to regretted doing so. The man was standing on the roof of his car in water up to his ankles, trying to warn my friend about the thin ice. When the authorities got the two cars out of the lake they found a third car down there. The man, who had tried to wave my friend down, explained that was also his car. Seemed he broke thru the ice with that car earlier in the day. He had gone home and gotten the wife's car to try and pull his out, when the wife's car went thru the ice.

So if you are going ice fishing in Minnesota remember always drive with windows down if you car breaks thru the ice. And be sure to use the wife's car, when you are going to drive out on the lake, to go ice fishing. ~
~Parnelli http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/biggrin.gif

Make very short casts