Avid angler and guide Jason Mitchell offers a few tips on how to keep fish below the hole when fishing in a wheel house or flip over shelter.
How to Keep Fish Below the Hole!
When it comes to ice fishing I generally prefer to stay mobile. I like to hole-hop around and actively target and chase fish, but when conditions don’t allow for that; there are a few things I like to do to keep fish below the hole when I am fishing in a stationary house.
The real key is to maximize your opportunities and the first thing I will do is to fish aggressively. By fishing aggressively, you are going to call more fish in from a greater distance away. Im talking loud baits that give off a lot of sound and flash. I will work them throughout the water column bringing fish into my set up.
Now, once I get the fish below the hole I will tone down the jigging cadence to a more finesse approach.
Other than jigging aggressively, another way you can kept fish below your set up longer is to utilizes multiple lines.
Panfish, but bluegills in particular are very curious by nature. One way I will get them to stay around longer is by setting up a deadstick right next to my panfish presentation.
More often than not bluegills will come to check out a live minnow even if it is too big for them to eat.