Fish The Bite… All Day Long

Fish The Bite… All Day Long

By Rod Woten

By now many ice anglers are well aware of what is often referred to as ‘the golden hours” of ice fishing; those couple of hours that separate dawn from daylight and daylight from dusk when the sun is at the top of the trees and the fishing can be hand over fist. The change in light levels at these times of the day triggers a swarm of micro-bugs to suddenly fill the water column and a feeding frenzy ensues. The fishing can be so good at these times that many ice anglers head home as soon the golden hour ends. There is good fishing to be had at other times of the day as well, but rarely do they rival the bites during the golden hours. That being said, by changing things up a bit, there are ways to stay on top of a good bite all day long. I can’t imagine a better way to spend your time between the morning bite and the dusk bite than catching MORE fish.

Change Locations
During these golden hours, the fish are actively moving so you usually don’t have to wait too long before fish will show up on your flasher. That means that these golden hours are a great time to set up on a spot and “camp out”…waiting for the fish to come to you. This tactic is much less productive during the day, however. Once the feeding frenzy is over, fish are not as willing to roam around chasing food. That means you will need to go to the fish rather than waiting for them to come to you. Grab your flasher, rod and an auger and start moving. Keep drilling holes over likely looking fish habitat and don’t spend too much time in any single hole until you find fish. Even when you do find fish, it probably won’t last nearly as long as the bite did during the golden hours. Sometimes you might only find one or two active fish in any given hole, so as soon as a hole seems to slow down, it’s time to get moving again.

Change Species
Some fish tend to bite better when it is dark and some prefer daylight. Crappies and walleye are a prime example of two species that will bite very well in the dark. In some lakes, especially clear ones, the only way to catch walleyes is after dark. While it is still possible to catch walleyes during the day in most lakes, the bite is rarely as good as it is after dark. Crappies are more likely than walleyes to bite during the day, but in lakes where there is an after dark crappie bite, there is rarely a good daytime crappie bite. In most lakes, bluegills and perch will only bite during the daylight. Knowing all of this allows us to easily switch species as dark become light and light becomes dark again. If you’re fishing walleyes and the bite dies off at dawn, crappies might be a good species to switch to. If not, bluegills and perch would definitely be worth a shot. Pike are also a good daytime species to target. As afternoon becomes evening and the golden hour comes and goes and the perch, bluegill and pike bite dies off, it’s the perfect time to start chasing walleyes. One really popular tactic as darkness sets in is to set up on a well known walleye travel route and camp out to await the walleyes that will soon be traveling through the area.

Change Depths
Some species are also known to move to deeper water as daylight takes hold. Walleyes may be the species most well known for this, but the same behavior is also noted in crappies, bluegill, perch and pike. Sometimes they go to deeper water to find lower light conditions, but sometimes it’s to escape predators that can see their prey better in the daylight than they do in low light conditions. Sometimes, especially with bluegills, it’s exactly the opposite; they move from deep to shallow weeds to hide from predators. Whatever the case, going from deep to shallow or shallow to deep is a good way to stay on the bite all day long.

Change presentations
I typically like to fish large flashy baits with lots of vibration for walleyes when it’s dark….jigging Rapalas, Chubby Darters and jigging spoons. When the walleyes are actively feeding they will attack these presentations. Once the sun is up, it’s much more difficult to catch walleyes with these baits. In fact, most of the daytime walleyes I catch come while I’m actually fishing for crappies or bluegills with small panfish jigs. The same can hold true for crappies. Switching from jigging spoons to small jigs or even a dead stick setup with a minnow may allow you to continue to catch crappies as dawn becomes daylight as will going back to a spoon as daylight becomes dusk. Even bluegills will attack a much larger profile jig during the golden hours than they will during the middle of the day. Sometimes it’s as simple as a switch from live bait to plastics or vice versa. Negative fish that are not actively feeding during the day may be more likely to eat something that actually smells and tastes like food, than they are a piece of plastic that may only smell slightly like food.

Change Techniques
The name of the game when the bite slows during the middle of the day it so cover water. One of the ways to do this is to become highly mobile as I mentioned previously. Another good way to cover lots of water is to set out tip-ups or tip-downs. Each one you set out is like another angler on the ice. Iowa regulations allow you to buy a license for a third line, so you can use 2 tipups while you actively jig with the third line. This means you are covering triple the amount of water you would if you were just jigging alone. If you do this while staying highly mobile with your jigging line, the amount of water covered goes up even more. Another option is to set out three tipups while you fix lunch. After all, if you’re going to chase the bite all day, you’re going to need to eat lunch to keep your energy up. Tip downs seem to work especially well with lighter biting crappies as it only take a slight tug for the rod to tip over and signal to you that you have a fish, but they can be employed in the same manner as tipups would be for pike, walleye or perch.

Can’t Catch Them From The Couch!
Just because the prime time bite of the day has passed is no reason to pack it in for the day. Sure, the action may not be as fast and furious as it was during the golden hours, but there are still plenty if fish to be caught throughout the day. Even during mid-day, the time of day most notorious for tough fishing and a slow bite, by simply mixing a few things up, you should be able to fish the bite all day long!