Ice Fishing and Sticklebacks

Ice Fishing with Sticklebacks The Jan day started out as always, merely a quick load up with the ice fishing kit that I keep inside, and a drive out to the lake, but little do I'm of the opinion that future events would contradict a fishing can't do.

After hand augering two holes thru twelve inches of ice fishing, I set up the spot for ice fishing and hooked one crappie minnow on the bobber rig, then dropped my small plastic jig to lure those panfish. Before I could open the thermos to pour some hot coffee, my bobber rig circled in the hole then went down. I dropped the pole tip toward the hole then reeled in the slack and set the hook into decent weight. The fight did not last long as I saw the crappie come to the hole, then roll, throw the hook and swim away. I assumed the quick loss wasn't an issue because more are certain to follow, and the sonar showed masses of fish down below, so I enthusiastically awaited the bites.

After a long 20 mins of no bites on either pole I started wondering what those fish are up to. So I modified out tiddlers on the bobber rig and put on a new crappie minnow. The subsequent 20 mins consisted of playing moggy and mouse with fish on both lines, and it changed into a bit annoying. Disappointment turned to curiosity, a little light bulb in my head started glowing. Swimming in the minnow bucket was a reasonably peculiar number of tiddlers that are usually called the stickleback. Sticklebacks have four spiky dorsal fins that stand straight up, and 2 side spikes or fins on both sides of these small torpedo formed tiddlers. Sticklebacks also have an announced lower lip the gives them an overbite, nothing else looks like them and they cannot be identified as any other minnow but a stickleback. These peculiar looking tiddlers are also scorned by fisherman, and seen by most anglers as a complete waste of bait, a minnow to be ignored, finished, or let go.

There I sat on the ice fishing, and thought well I cannot do any worse by trying a stickleback as bait.

I know fellow fishermen say they are pointless, but what does one have to lose? At least no-one will see me try one, as I am alone on this part of the lake. I gently nicked the top of the stickleback minnow and hooked it between the 1st and 2nd backbone or fin. Inside one minute after lowering that bait the bobber went down. Fish on and ice fishingd - a twelve crappie. Sweet stickleback! I thought and put on another one- boom bobber down - nice perch. Then I caught another nice perch on the plastic jig. Then another nicer perch on the same stickleback that enticed the last fish. Before I came to any conclusions as perhaps the bite is just turning on and those sticklebacks have zilch to do with these catches I put on a crappie minnow, and 4 mins went by without a smash. Reeled up, then put on a stickleback and within one minute another nice perch was ice fishing. I ran out of sticklebacks after about a half hour of good fishing, and was shortly singing the praises of this much-maligned minnow. I got a genuine kick out of making an attempt to establish if in the bites the fish would hit a crappie minnow, and that experiment showed, no, they wanted those tiny spiky tiddlers.

The morning turned from a dud to a good perch fry, as the list of fishing don't's shortens, all thanks to the vengeance of the stickleback. Keep catchin'.

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