Jigging Whitefish thorough the ice.
Posted on February 1st, 2022Many anglers are taking advantage of cold temperatures, save ice conditions and heading out to Ontario lakes for Whitefish.
Whitefish vary in size from 1 1’2 lb to over 5 lb caught from Lake Simcoe, ON.
Here are some tips that should help you catch these tasty fish through the ice.
- Whitefish feed almost exclusively near the bottom. Make sure your live minnows on a tip-up rig, jigs, spoons and soft-plastics are fished within 1′ of the bottom.
- If jigging vary your strokes from long “exploring” jigs to “shaking” the jig on the bottom if you think you had a hit.
- A good quality ice-sonar will help you see your presentation and also any Whitefish that come in the vicinity fishing as deep as 100′.
- On sunny days try and fish the first bite after sun-rise and set-up even in the dark to take advantage of aggressively feeding Whitefish.
- Choose “feeding areas” such as reefs and bars that come up 10′ or more from the surrounding deeper water.
- Match the size of your minnow or lure to the forage you believe the Whitefish are feeding on. These could vary from emerald shiner size (4″), to smelt (5-6″) .
Make sure to check the fishing videos on our Italo Labignan YouTube channel and if you have any questions just email them to me at Ask Italo throughout our www.canadian-sportfishing.com website.
