Tullibee Fishing Report
Tullibee season is on. Tullibee season for me, marks the end of winter guiding, warm spring days on the ice, family, friends, and a chance to clean up the smoker. It has been a tradition for me for quite some time. I can remember floating a boat out of Tioga beach a few years back just to get to the ice pack. How could one fish, make one person, want to go through so much effort this late in the ice season? Well, after a winter of chasing sometimes finicky crappies and bluegills, the rush of watching a school of tullibee chase you 40 ft in the water column on your flasher is as close to ice fishing therapy as you can get. They are electric when they are on, but tricky enough to make you stay focused.
My tullibee ice fishing rig has changed over the past few years, and I am sure it will continue to change and evolve. I could go on for days about the different tactics I have used over the years, but for today’s article we are going to focus on my new favorite. A tactic that at this point in time I trust more than any other when targeting Tullibee.It all starts with the rod. St.Croix’s custom pan dancer has the perfect amount of backbone and a light enough tip for detecting bites. I like 4lb test monofilament tied directly to a UV colored buck shot rattle spoon. The color and size of the rattle spoon can change depending on the tip of your rod. You don’t want it to be too loaded when working the rig in the water column. I then proceed to take off the treble hook, and replace it with a dropper chain with quick change clips. You can find different length dropper chains. Personally, I think the longer the better. Simply clip one end to the bottom of your spoon, and the other end clips onto a tungsten jig. The bottom of this rig needs to be heavy, or it will be prone to twisting as you jig through the water column. Another consideration to keep in mind is the size of the line tie on your tungsten. It needs to be big enough to accommodate the quick change clip on the chain. Unless you are going with extremely micro tungstens you will be fine. Bait up the tungsten with wax worms or euro larvae and your rig is ready to rock and roll. You can substitute the dropper chain with a 6, 8, or even 10 lb test fluorocarbon, or monofilament line. It will eventually twist up on you, but it has worked for me in the past quite well when I didn’t have a chain dropper.
Check back next week, for a detailed report on locations for targeting March tullibee. I will also be posting some detailed photos of my tullibee ice fishing rig.
- Jeff Johnson (Fishing Guide)