Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

Pulling a bass through the ice seems fairly rare. Walleyes, crappie, bluegill are easy to find. Any ice fishing bass tips?

Buddy of mine takes me ice fishing every winter for green fish. We usually use live suckers in the 4-6" range on tip-ups. Don't catch any bluegills with this method.

I nose hook dead minnows to dropshot for slob crappie and perch but catch Largemouth and Pike all the time doing this. Bigger the minnow the better. You could even use smelt (if regulations allow). I catch all manner of fish more consistently doing this than with live bait. Live bait tends to just attract hords of gills. Highly effective method!

Jigging small spoons and blade baits works really well also. Bright Chartreuse and Gold seems to be the ticket for LM.

I find largemouth bass mixed in with bigger gills usually. The trick to getting them bite is using some of the tips above though sometimes I catch the bass too on the tiniest ice jigs with waxworms or spikes. We had one person hammer the bass on Lake Lansing last year in 11-12 feet of water on panfish rigs. I guess they just moved through and were hungry.