Skip to main content

Boreal Community Media

Cool new tools for the 2019-20 ice fishing campaign

Dec 13, 2019 05:55AM ● By Editor

From staff reports from Outdoor News - December 12, 2019


Gear for the 2019-20 ice-fishing season has a heavy slant towards larger baits, continued innovations in plastics, fly fishing or in-line reels, and even more emphasis on tungsten jigs and lures.

Glow jigs or noisy spoons remain hot items, as are rods and reels designed for specific fish species and fishing situations. Here’s the lineup for this ice-fishing campaign. 

 Snyders Lures

For this ice-fishing season, Gary Snyder has taken the popular Moon Fry jigand made it into a horizontal option. Field testing last year proved the new design will trigger just about everything swimming in a lake. It’s available in new glow colors, including blood line, and is available in sizes 4,6,8, and 10.

The Stripper Spoon is one of Snyders favorite lures and for good reason: It catches big fish. Tip it with a minnow or minnow head and watch the big fish drool. The Stripper Spoon comes in six colors and in 8 and 10 hook sizes.

Maynard’s Fantom Grub

www.snyderslures.com

Maynard’s Tackle

Maynard’s Tackle is continuing a tradition established in Minnesota in 1958. This season, anglers should set their sights on the 2 Banger spoon, the first on the market to have a rattle built inside the jigging spoon and not glued on the back. It features a brass rattle with steel balls for that extra loud rattle, as well as a red treble hook and flipper to attract even those reluctant fish.

The Fantom Grub from Maynards is made from Tungsten steel. It’s available in eight color combinations and four sizes. It features their Nite-Lite Natural “Power Glow” paint on one side and a three-tone color on the other.

www.maynardstackle.com

Clam Pinhead Minnow

Clam Outdoors

The Jointed Pinhead Jigging Mino is the next generation of the ever popular Pinhead Jigging Mino from Clam Outdoors. This new spoon still has the sleek slab spoon design that is on the Pinhead Mino, but this jointed version combines two sleek slab spoons to create extra movement and a flapper blade to attract fish. 

This “must have” bait gets down fast, features a natural injured minnow profile, a flapper blade that calls fish in, and its facedown design attracts upward feeding fish.

The latest addition to the Maki family is the Scudi XL, a true freshwater shrimp imitator. At 13⁄8-inch, it is designed to catch the biggest panfish in the school and allows you to match the hatch perfectly.

The Scudi XL comes with eight pieces per bag. They’re injected with “Maki” Juice and feature a tantalizing splitail that mimics scurrying shrimp.

www.clamoutdoors.com

Northland Tungsten Punch Fly

Northland Tackle

Northland Fishing Tackle now offers panfish and predator anglers an incredibly versatile and lifelike lure with its new Eye-Ball Spoon. The backside of the spoon offers an array of colorful glow patterns for all scenarios, providing both attraction and realistic seduction. The Eye-Ball Spoon’slead material and compact design means you’re getting to fish fast, and can multi-species fish in various sizes in a range of depths. 

Also new from Northland in its expansive array of tungsten panfish jigs, are the Tungsten Punch Jig and Tungsten Punch Fly. Like the rest of its tungsten lineup, the Tungsten Punch Jig offers a sleek design and an increased weight-to-size ratio. By tweaking the head design, Northland achieves a fall rate 20% faster than traditional tungsten.

The Tungsten Punch Fly is a buggy version of the Tungsten Punch Jig, yet offers many of the same benefits as its brother. Invertebrates and suspended zooplankton are the preferred prey of any panfish species, and this jig stands out while fitting in. 

 www.northlandtackle.com

Northwest Metro Spoons

Northwest Metro Tackle

Neon Lites Glow Jigs by Northwest Metro Tackle have a reputation of producing a glow that simply glow brighter and last longer. They come in a huge array of options.

As the ice takes hold this season, they are introducing new Glass Rat’lr Hammer Spoons to their lineup. They’re built with the company’s most effective glass rattle and combined with Neon Lites glow, along with a lifelike holographic feature and an ability to flutter, perfectly simulating a distressed minnow. 

The Glass Rat’lr Hammer Spoons are available in 10 Neon Lites color combinations, including 24K gold plate. 

www.northwestmetrotackle.com

Eagle Claw Tungsten

Eagle Claw Tungsten

Add the new Eagle Claw Lazer Sharp Tungsten Arctic Wide Gap Jigs to your ice-fishing tackle boxes this winter. These jigs have American-made hooks with Lazer Sharp’s patented needlepoint hook points and premium tear drop tungsten heads. 

They’re available in 1⁄12- and 1⁄24-ounce sizes and a variety of color options, including UV- or Glow-enabled paint. These jigs offer anglers the attractive presentation options, versatility, and performance to put a variety of fish species atop the ice.

www.eagleclaw.com

Al’s Goldfish Lures

Al’s Goldfish Lure Company 

Al’s Goldfish Lure Company is over 67 years old and it’s reintroducing the “Lil’ 49er”, a lure that has not been on the market for years. This spoon was retired when the die used to manufacture it became damaged. But they recently repaired it and are excited to bring this lure back to market.

The Lil’ 49er is a brass spoon with a funky shape and distinct action. It takes after its big brother, the Forty Niner, an outstanding ice jig for large freshwater species such as lake trout, walleye and pike thanks to its pronounced flutter. 

Now anglers can get all the same action in the smaller version, the Lil’ 49er, weighing in at 1⁄4-ounce and measuring 13⁄4 inches long. The Lil’ 49er comes in two configurations, with a hook off the nose making it ideal for vertical jigging in hard water.  

www.alsgoldfish.com 

Kastmaster Drop Chain

Kastmaster Drop Chain

The Kastmaster Drop Chain features the iconic Kastmaster body that produces wild side-to-side action, but it’s been enhanced by adding a Drop Chain that features three epoxy glow eyes on the bottom of the treble hook. 

The epoxy eyes infuriate fish and give them a target to hit as they come in for the kill. The baits also can be fished with minnows on the treble.

www.acmetackle.com

VMC BullFly

The new VMC Tungsten Fly Jig is a spot-on imitator of natural flies and aquatic insects. 

VMC BullFly

Designed with the exclusive VMC Power Gap hook, which offers a wider round gap, it greatly increases your hook rate percentage. The precision balance is amplified by a 90-degree hook eye, which ensures the optimal horizontal position and maintains the perfect strike angle.

The VMC Tungsten Fly is offered in a variety of metallic and ultra glow colors, giving anglers up to 15 minutes of continuous charge!

www.rapala.com

Lindy Glow Streak 

Lindy Glow Streak

The Lindy Glow Streak is a rattling hybrid minnow bait designed with the attributes of a jiggin’ minnow and a rippin’ minnow. It employs a belly treble hook with a single wide-gap tail hook for sure hook-ups when gamefish attack.

Its weight distribution and unique body design create an erratic swimming motion as the Glow Streak darts to the side, then glides back to center. 

It comes in a wide variety of colors and is available in a 2-inch, 5⁄16-ounce version, as well as a 2½-inch, ½-ounce model. Each Glow Streak comes with a three-pack of lightsticks you can insert into the lure to illuminate its lifelike design and patterns. 

www.lindyfishingtackle.com

Acme Hammered Tungsten

Acme Hammered Tungsten

The Acme Hammered Professional Grade Tungsten jigs provide anglers with a new hammered finish that reflects light and adds extra flash that should be easy on the eyes of incoming panfish. 

They’re a micro-presentation that fishes heavy and drops quickly to allow precision control of your presentation to target even the most finicky bluegills. crappies, and perch. 

www.acmetackle.com

JB Lures Fish House Float

JB Lures Fish House Float

The Fish House Float by JB Lures is a unique new product in the bobber market and is now available weighted! 

The extra long 10-inch stem on the bobber, with its fluorescent paint scheme, makes it highly visible above the floor from nearly anywhere in a fish house. This bobber will also work great out on the ice as an alternative for a tip up.

The Fish House Float allows fishermen to catch more fish on their rods and reels instead of rattle reels or tip ups. It’s available in extra small, small, medium, large and a non-weighted version.

www.jblures.com 

Shimano Ice Combos

Shimano Ice Rods

The new Sedona ice-fishing combos feature sensitive and functional rods starting at 24 inches for ultralight needs and going all the way up to 40 inches for larger targets like walleye and northern pike. 

The rods pair with either a Sedona ultralight 500 or 1000 size spinning reel to perfectly complement the combo. Oftentimes, ice combos feature lower quality reels but not so with Shimano as the Sedona has durable Hagane gears and a propulsion line management system. 

Don’t worry about your reel seizing up in frigid temps. They’re silky smooth regardless of the conditions.

fish.shimano.com

Northland Ice Rods

Northland Tackle Rods

Northland Fishing Tackle now offers a detailed lineup of new ice rods. Crappie and bluegill anglers who love noodle actions but hate wet-noodle hooksets will flock to Northland’s Cherry Picker and its ultra-fast action. It allows you to detect bites yet strike with a discernible backbone. 

Northland’s new Haymaker will make perch and walleye anglers look better than they are. Its solid carbon blank provides a fast bend, but strong backbone for putting small hooks into hard mouths, even in deep water. 

Anglers who fish for big walleyes and predators will love the Northland Boom Stick with its hearty backbone that drives hooks home. It has a moderate fast action to absorb big headshakes and lightning fast runs. 

All three rods come with custom color patterns and a Northland grip handle for effective hooksets on long-fights with top-end predators.  

www.northlandtackle.com

Clam Ice Combos

Clam Rods and Reel

Anglers looking for an affordable, super sensitive rod will benefit from the Clam Scepter Series.

The rod blank is potted into the reel seat tube that gives anglers superior sensitivity and bite detection. A rubberized cork handle provides a soft, comfortable grip, and lightweight micro guides add to the sensitivity. It’s available in nine actions. 

A lightweight and adjustable drag make the Clam Gravity Reel comfortable and easy to operate. The drag system lets anglers change the setting to match fishing tactics and jig weights. With a lightweight hybrid construction, the Gravity Reel feels just right.

The Jason Mitchell Gen8 rod and reel combo from Clam provides superior drag and smooth retrieve, while the oversized spool minimizes line twists. 

These are solid graphic blanks with textured no-lip PU handle, Winn Grip and an EVA rod butt for an ultra-sensitive feel. The Gen8 is available in five models.

www.clamoutdoors.com

Boreal Ship Spotter - larger view here