Forage Minnow Spoon

Mobilize For Yellow Perch

From: Chip Leer

Yellow perch are often quick to answer the dinner bell during the winter. Work a Forage Minnow Spoon in a Silver Shiner or Gold Perch pattern under the ice and youā€™re apt to have a school form below the hole in no time. In clear, winter water perch can see a good distance, and their curiosity kicks into overdrive when something that looks a lot like a wounded baitfish starts dancing nearby.

But that doesnā€™t mean you can drill a hole just anywhere and expect success. You have to find the fish first, and when you do, it might take some hole-hopping to stay on them. And that requires an angler to stay mobile.

A small spoon box and a bait puck full of maggots in your pocket; a 3- or 4-foot rod in one hand and a sonar unit in the other, and youā€™re set to put boots on the ice. Why the extra-long stick? The benefits are many. First, it simplifies run-and-gun, stand-up style fishing by allowing you to keep the rod tip close to the ice, negating the windā€™s ill effects on the light line. It also provides a more solid hookset and better control over those heavyset jumbosā€”or the incidental walleyeā€”in deeper water.

There are efficiency advantages, too. With a 4-foot rod in the grasp of a raised hand, you can effectively fish about 12 feet of the water column without having to touch the reel handle.

Northlandā€™s team of professional anglers had all this in mind when developing the Fire-Tip line of ice rods. Five rods, ranging from 36 to 48 inches in actions from ultra-light to medium-heavy, cross the spectrum from panfish to lake trout.

An extended stickā€™s length is also a drawback during transport and storage. Pro staffers worked around this by making each of the carbon graphite blanks a two-piece, complete with its own protective sleeve.

A long rod makes stand-up fishing more efficient and productive. Swap your 2-footer for one twice as long and start catching more fish today.

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