When I go fishing, I often have the perspective that I am there for the quality instead of quantity.... In other words, I would rather catch one big fish than fifty tiny fish. I feel that catching "the big one" or a fish that is unique in some way is much more worth it than catching numerous small fish. Don't get me wrong, this is not to say that I do not enjoy getting out and catching fish of all shapes and sizes, I am just stating what goes on in my head (usually while I'm sitting there watching everyone around me catch fish and me doing nothing but sitting there thinking...) I would much rather catch a few small fish than no fish at all!
Brook Trout
I have fished enough in my area to know what works in the different bodies of water I fish in. I am sure there are things that work that I am not aware of, but I have my own "traditions" you might say that I use religiously for bait. I have caught quite a few big fish of many different species and feel that I will have to get pretty lucky if I am going to out do my own records on some species. Here in Idaho, I am able to ice fish with up to 5 poles at a time which allows me to use what I know works, as well as take the time to try something new to see if it works any better. Recently, I have been visiting with the Matt who designed the JawJacker and one tip he suggested, is to use a smaller bait to get more hook ups. I will admit, I thought to myself that I may be able to catch more fish if I go to a smaller bait, but I will not catch as many big fish by doing this. I went fishing a few times this year, and what I have always used seemed to be working just fine so I didn't think twice about changing things up.
A trout I caught earlier this year.
This last Saturday however, I was ice fishing and wasn't having as good as luck as I had been hoping for. It had been about an hour and I had only caught a few small fish. By this point I thought, I might as well try using smaller bait to see what happens. I decided to use a few jigs Matt had told me to use, and tipped them with half of meal worm. I was quite skeptical putting such a small jig and bait down the hole while my other poles were baited up with much larger baits. I set it all up in my JawJacker with the bait a few feet off the bottom and walked away. By the time I got to my seat and sat down my JawJacker went off! My first thought was that I had failed to set it up right and the JawJacker had gone off due to some mistake on my part, but when I looked at the pole I could see that the only mistake was that I hadn't listened to this advice sooner! My pole tip was bending with the fight of a decent sized Cut Throat Trout who thought my bait was just to much to resist! I pulled in the fish and in this picture you can see the jig I caught it with.
After this experience, I will admit, I ended up changing 3 of my 5 poles to have similar bait. I started catching quite a few fish and ended the day by pulling 24 onto the ice. I did catch a few on the bait that have always had good luck with, but I was surprised at how many decent size trout I caught on such small bait. So next time you are sitting there on the ice not catching anything, maybe try switching your bait around and maybe even downsizing your bait to see if that helps. This may be a tip that many people already know or talk about, but it was new to me and thought I would pass it on to anyone who may be interested.
Many of you may not know what this contraption is, but hopefully after reading this it will be on your wish list! What you see above is called a JawJacker which is an ice fishing contraption with the purpose of making good ice fisherman great! The way it works is explained and demonstrated thoroughly on this video from YouTube.
See them in action!
JawJacker in Action!!!
When I used these for the first time myself, it shocked me how easy they were to use! I will admit, I was worried looking at it and wondering if I would set it up wrong with all the different adjustments such as the rod height, the trigger slide, and the trigger tension. After getting it out of the box and playing around with it, I realized that all of these adjustments are extremely simple and self explanatory. If there is any confusion on how to set it up, there are step by step instructions on the back of the JawJacker box. I headed up to the lake Friday morning to give these a shot in hopes that I would have some good luck.
JawJacker set up and ready for a bite!
In Idaho, we are able to use 5 poles which can be hard to monitor all 5 poles at once. With my poles in the JawJacker, I didn't stress about looking around constantly checking to see if my poles were getting a bite or not. This made ice fishing so much more relaxing and enjoyable because I was able to sit and jig one pole while all my other poles were being "monitored" by the JawJacker. It wasn't long until I got some action on the JawJacker and the only words I have to say about my first experience is that these things work!
JawJacker with my 3 pound male Brook Trout
I was able to catch some great fish using these things and had a blast every time one went off. I would be in the middle of a conversation and then hear the sound of a JawJacker go off and my adrenaline would rush in anticipation of what would come next. There were a few times when the JawJacker would go off, but fail to hook my fish... I was a little frustrated and thought that there was just a little fish messing with my bait. Then I remembered a tip which was also on the back of the JawJacker box which said that if you are getting bites on the JawJacker but not having many hookups, then try to downsize your bait. I thought what do I have to loose, so I gave it a shot... Sure enough the next time the JawJacker went off the fish was hooked and the rest was left up to me to get that fish on the ice.
My dad and one of his fish of the day
My dad and I spent about 6 hours on the ice and caught almost 50 fish. There were quite a few people fishing around us who kept saying that the fishing was quite slow. In respect to them, the fishing was quite a bit slower than what it had been for them a few days earlier. They were catching a few fish here and there, but the fish were not biting very hard for some reason this day. Those next to us would run from pole to pole because they would see a fish was nibbling on their bait, but by the time they got to it the fish was either gone or it was not interested in their bait any more. I would not say that we had more bites than the other fisherman around us, but the difference was that when we were getting bites, we were mostly always hooking up with a fish because of the JawJacker. A few of these people kept asking us what we were using for bait and we were open and honest about what we were using. To their disappointment, it was the same thing they were using, but we were catching more fish. I would definitely say that the purpose of the JawJacker, which is to "make good ice fisherman great," was fulfilled because the only difference between us and the other guys was the JawJackers... AND... about 30 more fish!
When we decided to call it a day and pack up, the JawJackers collapsed very compact and simple so that they were easy to pack on and off the ice. They are also secure so that you don't have to worry about any part of the JawJacker getting caught on something and breaking off. My personal favorite part about the JawJacker is that you are more likely to catch more fish with them than you are without them. In my opinion, the more fish you catch, the better chance you have of catching a big fish! The great part about this day is that my thoughts were confirmed because the last fish we pulled in for the day was this great trout!
My Catch of the Day!
I would 100% recommend the JawJacker to anyone who enjoys ice fishing, or is thinking about getting started in ice fishing. You do not have to be a professional to run one of these contraptions, and they are worth every penny. Honestly if you see one of these things work you will realize that they are worth it! This is why Matt from JawJacker Ice Fishing Supplies is letting me give one of these away on my blog to show some lucky reader/follower how amazing this product really is! All you have to do to be registered to win is share this blog post either on Facebook or Twitter AND leave a comment below! The drawing will be Wednesday November 28th so please pass this word on and leave a comment for your chance to win a free JawJacker!!!
If you would like to purchase a JawJacker, please visit http://www.jawjackerfishing.com/
Visit his website for tips on ice fishing and other ice fishing gear!
