I always thought there could be another way to ice fish then jigging spoons and live bait. After a few hours of fishing on a pressured lake for brooke trout and not catching anything, I decided to try something new. I had drilled a hole 10 - 15 feet away from shore away from all the other lines, and realized there was only 4 feet of water. I set up a dropshot like I would use for bass, a 1/8 ounce dropshot weight, but with a very small hook and a 1" orange and white crappie tube. I started agressively jigging it up and down off the bottom, as I stuck my head in the hole and watched it. I then noticed something I never thought I would have seen down there; a crayfish walking along the bottom towards the shallower water. Only moments later, a big male brooke trout swam from the deeper water and grabbed the tiny tube. I stood up and set the hook on the fish, and fought it in the shallow water it was in. The fish was over 17" long, and easily over 2 pounds.
After looking in my tackle box for a new tube, I had found my 4" green pumpkin tube I use for bass in the summer time. It was a little bigger than the crayfish I had seen, but I put it on any ways knowing that the fish I just caught could easily have tooken it. I set it up with a 3/0 Lazer Trokar hook, using it weightless and went back to the same hole, and let it slowly sink down to the bottom. I would look down the hole and jig up the tube to let it glide and slowly sink back down. Within the first minute, another big brooke trout came in from the deep water and hit the big tube. I stood up and set the hook, as the trokar hook easily went right through the trouts hard jaw. It was a 15" female brooke trout,around 1 3/4 pounds.
I drilled another hole 20 feet away from the old hole but still close to shore, in around 5 feet of water. I imediatly started gliding the 4" tube again. after 5 minutes of jigging the tube, another brooke trout had came in but wasnt big enough to grab the whole tube. I then grabbed my other rod with the small crappie tube on a dropshot and droped it down to the fish. The fish grabbed it and it was another 13 1/2" brooke trout. I did this again and attracted another 13" trout with the big tube and caught him on the crappie tube. I find pressured brooke trout in mid febuary are almost impossible to catch. Soft plastics and bass tecniques are a new option for me ice fishing.
