BROOKIES ON ICE

Personally, I believe one of the most beautiful fish that swims are the brook trout. I have the chance to fish northeastern Ontario on a multitude of small lakes. I have some lakes that produce good numbers of fish and others that produce quality fish. The challenge is targeting fish over two pounds. On a medium light rod, the fight is impressive, and the angler can be proud of a nice coloured brookie.

Location.

First things first when fishing brookies is to locate them. What I first look for when I arrive at a lake is if a beaver house is present. If one is present, I will begin my fishing there. The shallow water near the pile of branches is a good area for minnows and all sorts of aquatic insects and Brookies eat both. When I fish a beaver house, I drill my holes near shore. I never fish water deeper than 10 feet, usually fishing between 3 and 5 feet. Whether it be in front of a beaver house or on a point or even in a bay, I always drill my holes along the shoreline. When they are feeding, brookies always swim in very shallow water so don’t be afraid to drill as little as 10 feet from the shoreline. As with fishing other species, you can drill a lot of holes to cover water. Often times with brook trout they will bite on the initial drop of your lure down the hole or within the first few minutes.

Best periods of the day.

Usually, I fish early in the morning or later in the evening. For a reason I can’t explain, some lakes are good all day long and others only at dusk. My recommendation is to fish until dark. Don’t leave the lake too early, you might think that there are no fish in the lake but fish in some lakes are not active until the sun is setting below the treeline. In the middle of the day, you can fish deeper as light penetration beneath the ice can push the fish to deeper water. Midday I would suggest moving to a sharp drop off. The edge of a point is a good spot to get some midday brookie action.

Rod and reel.

Yes, you can use tip ups but I mostly fish using ice fishing rods. When I fish little jigs or live bait, I use 28–30-inch rods and when fishing with spoons or artificial minnow baits, I prefer 32–34-inch rods. With a longer rod you have more control over your presentation and have more leeway to give different actions to your lure. I couple these rods with a small spinning reel or an ice spooler reel like the Clam ice spooler élite. Spooled with 5-pound braided line as a main line and a 3-to-4-foot fluorocarbon leader in 6-pound test, you have the perfect setup.

Lures and presentation.

Here are some of my favorite lures for hardwater brookies. If you want to use soft plastics, my favorite is the Clam Maki Mino XL. The best colour to tie on is white with red flake. Put these little plastics on a 1/16 oz white and pink Dave Genz Drop kick jig and you have a great little minnow imitation. The drop kick jig gives you the opportunity to make verry subtle lure movements to convince quality brookies to commit to taking the bait.

With the Drop kick jig, I sometimes simply use a piece of nightcrawler. With this technique, it is important to place the bait on the jig head to have a nice up and down action without it spinning. When the fish are being difficult and won’t bite, I simply place a worm on a hook. With this setup, I occasionally place my rod in a rod holder to dead stick next to the hole where I am actively jigging.

One of my favorite spoons for targeting brook trout is the Guppy flutter spoon. This very light lure is perfect to attract brookies from a further distance. It falls like a leaf and produces good vibration and a lot of flash. Place a piece of worm on the hook and you will be able to catch big brookies in any lake. Let the spoon free fall to get the best action out of this lure.

When the fish are very active, I like to fish with a minnow shaped bait like the 1/8 oz Tikka Mino. When I use it, I like to jig it very aggressively so that the lure covers a greater distance beneath the hole. Fish this bait just above bottom and watch your flasher attentively as the fish tend to charge the bait rapidly. I will frequently raise the bait to just under the ice to get the attention of fish in the surrounding area. Reel in fast and stop maybe 1 foot under the ice, jig there for a minute or so and if nothing happens drop back down to the bottom. It is important to fish the entire water column as when the fish travel near the shoreline they are curious when they see movement throughout the water column.

Tip Ups.

If you want, you can install a Tip up and the setup is very simple. Tie a fluorocarbon leader at the end of your mainline and put a #8 octopus hook baited with a small worm. Put a little split-shot 12 inches above the hook and place that rig 12 inches above bottom. The movement of the little worm will do all the work for you. Some days the tip up will produce more fish than jigging, especially when it is very cold in the middle of winter.

Bonus technique.

When the fish are less active or during the middle or the day, one of my favorite techniques is to use a little worm hooked on a #8 octopus hook and I just open the bail of my reel and let the worm free-fall slowly to the bottom. This technique can be deadly. Once on bottom, let it sit there for a couple seconds and if nothing happens reel it back to the hole and repeat the procedure. If a fish takes your worm, open the bail of your reel and let the fish swim off with the bait before setting the hook. Some days it is the only way to catch them as it is an extremely natural presentation that produces good quality brookies.

If you have the chance to target brook trout give it a try, they are hard fighters, beautifully colored and they are also great table fare.

Have a safe ice fishing season.