Success through ice! And what I learned from it

Last night I finally had success through ice. Caught 10 bluegills, threw back 3 that were small. Pressure was falling, there was occasional light rain, and temps have been warm enough lately for freshly melted water to be running into the lake, while still having 8+ inches of ice.

But the biggest factor in my success? The water where I fished was clear and shallow enough for me to see the fish. I got to see exactly how they reacted to my bait. And what I found out was that the way I had previously jigged my bait was completely wrong. I would let it sit still for a ten count or more, and then bounce it six inches. Turns out that doesn’t do much to attract the fish. What actually worked was bouncing the bait maybe a half inch every few seconds, with an occasional larger bounce of up to six inches and an occasional pause for a 5-10 count. It got a lot harder after dark when I could no longer see the fish taking the bait (and they wouldn’t bite if I shined my headlamp down the hole) but I still got 3 more after dark.

Regarding the video; I’m using circular hooks so no hook set is required.