Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Show off your catch Ice Fishing my Pond

Hello all,

I haven't given an update on my pond in a little while so I thought I'd share some photos from ice fishing it yesterday. It took me a couple years to figure out how to get the trout to bite consistently through the ice but I found that fresh trout roe tied up in what we call a roe bag works by far the best. I think it could be because it's very dark under the ice with all the snow on top so something with a lot of scent is important.

I ended up catching a healthy rainbow and a skinner looking brown. I kept the brown and it's stomach was very full of isopods as they usually are in the winter. The ice has lots of slush on top because of how much snow is pressing down on it. Most of the lower layers of snow turn to slush even in well below freezing temperatures.

Hope everyone is having a good winter.

The rainbow is a beauty!

Glad to see you are finding a technique that works to catch them in your pond.

That's great! I've been fishing quite a lot here in ontario as well with some luck but not fantastic...it seems that the rainbows and specks just turn right off and wont bite for days. Ill try the fresh eggs and see how that works. My lake had over 2 feet of snow from the last 2 dumps we just got so I snowblowed about 2 acres off to help them out, and it's been cold so my aerator holes have been getting smaller and smaller. Thankfully warmer wx is starting on thursday and these deep freeze temps will be a thing of the past.

Great looking fish!

Thanks! There are some in there that are quite a bit bigger but I usually don't see them until spring.

There's been so much snow this year. I used to try and keep a big area clear but now I just run an aerator which seems to be good enough since the pond is only an acre.

If your trout seem to sit on bottom and eat bugs, I've also found a weighted fly bounced on the bottom can also work well. I get the roe from steelhead/rainbows I catch since I am near Georgian Bay. I've never tried roe from my own fish but I'm guessing it'd be the exact same. What do you usually use to catch them?

Isopods as I know them are bottom crawling critters about 10-13mm long. How do you suppose these good sized trout are capturing these relatively small 1/2" long critters from the bottom areas?? I have watched YP nose down suck up items with sediment off the bottom keeping the good parts and exhausting the sediment.
those YP are eating soft pellets that have settled onto the bottom. YP reportedly do the same feeding method capturing blood worms (midge larvae) and burrowing mayfly larvae.
Do you think the trout are feeding the same way or are they individually picking up the isopods one by one? It would be very interesting for me to see how the trout eat isopods.

Here is a picture of one from one of my trout's stomaches from a couple of years ago. Each trout I keep usually has a completely full stomach of dozens of these. I'm not sure how they are eating them. The bottom of the pond is all sediment from decomposing curly leaf pondweed that dies off in the summer. Maybe this video I took a few years ago of the trout also eating soft pellets on the bottom through the ice will help. They did not seem effective at eating those.

Ya it's lots of work helping these little shits out but Im not sure they need it, Im making a spring/trickle into the lake this spring so it should help the lake out a lot and hopefully I wont have to aerate and keep a hole open.

Up until 2 weeks ago they were right on bottom, like hugging the terrain and all depths, I caught them on worms and a white jig mainly. Many times they would just come up and look at the jig and turn away. We sight fish when we can so wee can see them. We did find that just a worm on the jig and no movement worked better than jigging for some reason.

No idea where to get roe around here, my rainbows are triploid so they have no eggs, the brookies ive caught havent had any eggs in them - all males. If you are ever up around ottawa hit me up if you want to fish for a day.

Cheers.

Have you ever tried Powerbait? I find roe works better, but just putting some powerbait on a hook with a small split shot has also worked for me in the past. I find there is so little light underneath all the snow so I try to use something with scent to attract them. If I'm ever around Ottawa I'll take you up on that offer and bring you some roe. I have tons in the freezer.

Ill try it today actually. That'd be great I have most days off and retire next year. Cheers.

Does anyone ice fish by lowering a 12V waterproof light to the bottom of the pond from an adjacent hole? I am wondering what the trout, YP, etc. would think about the novelty of being able to see some dinner after many weeks of darkness.

(I am NOT an ice fisherman, just thinking out loud.)

Does anyone ice fish by lowering a 12V waterproof light to the bottom of the pond from an adjacent hole? I am wondering what the trout, YP, etc. would think about the novelty of being able to see some dinner after many weeks of darkness.

(I am NOT an ice fisherman, just thinking out loud.)[/quote
Lol we've tried it...12v 50 inch light bar...nothing.