Positive features of the Easy Bite Ice Fishing Spring Bobber

I'll start out with the positives as there are several.  First and foremost, this is a one stop shop, everything you need to attach this to your rod and start catching crappies is in the package (my biggest pet peeve with the St. Croix spring bobbers is unless you want to drop $50 on their legend rod you need to go to 3 different stores to create them on your favorite rods!).  A second major positive is the ability to detect light bites.  This thing worked amazingly well for those real light biters you encounter on the hard water.  Without this ultra sensitive piece of ice fishing gear you are going to catch a lot fewer fish.  Another positive I liked was that you can detach a part of the bobber while in storage and not have to untie your lure.  A huge plus as when it is time to fish, no need to screw around tieing on another lure.  A final positive I noted was that the bobber is resilient and able to handle the rigors of winter fishing.  I could see this being a staple in peoples ice fishing arsenal for many year.

Negatives of the Easy Bite Ice Fishing Spring Bobber

I think the first and foremost thing that people would view as a negative is the price.  At around $10 these are about the most expensive spring bobbers out there.  That said, besides the St. Croix bobber I haven't seen one that is comparable.  A second negative for me was that the installation was not as straight forward as I would have liked.  Thankfully it didn't involve any tools to do, so I would file this under a minor one time inconvenience.  The final negative I noticed was the difficulty in adjusting the bobber to ensure that neutral spot.   You need to twist and turn as you are moving it back and forth to find that happy medium.

Final Verdict on the Easy Bite Spring Bobber?

I would give it a thumbs up.  I probably still prefer the St. Croix bobber system, but that is most likely due to my years of successful use of them.  The price is a bit more than other spring bobbers on the market (or you can find ways to make your own), but I feel the quality materials, ability to last a long time and the ultra sensitive nature of the product warrant the price.

What are your experiences with the Easy Bite Spring Bobber?

First and foremost, it is important to know where you will be fishing.  I’m not talking about whether you are ice fishing Mille Lacs or Ice Fishing Lake of the Woods, I am talking whether you will be inside ice fishing houses the entire time you are fishing or hole hopping out in the elements.  If you are going to be indoors the entire time you can get by with a braided line.  I love braided line in the summer and on the ice it can be quite good, but if you are outside in the cold you are going to be dealing with ice up ice fishing rod guides constantly.  If you are in the warmth of your ice fishing heater constantly than you will be loving the strength and light weight nature of braid.

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For those of use that love to hole hope and find active pods of fish you need to go with a line that won’t hold so much water as it goes in and out of the water.  For that I was a fan of the Gamma line, but unfortunately they stopped making the stuff.  With that in mind another line that I had good luck with in the past is P Line fluorocarbon.  Lightweight and very little memory even when fishing out in the cold which is a huge problem with many monofilament lines I have tried.

Now, the pound test that you target really depends on which species of fish you are targeting.  When ice fishing panfish like sunfish and crappie, I prefer to go ultra light with my line, preferring a weight of 2 lb test, but perhaps as much as 4 lb test.  When it comes to ice fishing walleye I prefer to go up a bit in weight, for sure at least 4 lb test, with perhaps even 6 lb test for line.  And when it comes to ice fishing pike, I am often going with something that is very heavy, such as the braided ice fishing tip up line.

What are your favorite types of ice fishing line that you use?

Worm Like Ice Fishing Bait

I am going to lump a lot of bait into this very general, broad ranging category.  With this I am talking about wax worms, spikes, silver wigglers, mousies (spikes, silver wigglers and mousies are all forms of maggots for those interested) and the like.  The idea behind this bait is to emulate a wiggling organism that drives fish (specifically panfish ) crazy and ready to strap on the feed bag.  When ice fishing crappie I always have some of these baits available to use at a moment’s notice.  This is a very small presentation and can be used to downsize just about any presentation you are using trying to catch fish.  I have caught a wide variety of fish with my particular favorite of these “worm like” baits, the wax worm.  From crappie to sunfish to bullheads to perch to rock bass it has worked really well for me over the years.  I have even caught a 20” walleye using a wax worm on the end of a Frostee Jigging Spoon.  The spike is a similar type bait and comes in several colors depending on what they have fed it.  Red and blue are popular colors with spikes.  Another similar type of worm is the bloodworm.  I have found these baits to be especially effective right around dusk as I think it emulates organisms coming from the bottom about that time to feed on the zoo plankton.

The key differences between the worm types is generally the size as well as the sturdiness.  The wax worm is often the largest of the bunch and also the least durable.  The spikes are tough and people like them due to their excellent durability, but they often kind of lose their insides when they get punctured.  The most common method of attaching these baits to the hook is by T-boning them, or basically hooking them right in the middle.  This allows for a great wiggle when you are trying to finesse that fish to bite.

Minnows For Ice Fishing Bait

Nothing beats live minnows often when it comes to ice fishing.  They swim around and drive the fish nuts.  They work especially well under a dead stick or ice fishing bobber not to mention their almost exclusive use under an ice fishing trap.  Minnows come in many sizes, colors and shapes, but the most common used are the crappie minnow, the shiner, the sucker minnow and the fathead.  For sure there are several other varieties, but these tend to be the most common.  When it comes time to match the minnow to the fish you are targeting, in general match the size of the minnow to the size of the fish you are attempting to catch.  For ice fishing northern pike, a live sucker minnow or shiner below a tip up can be a deadly combination.  This setup would not work at all for crappie, however.  They require crappie minnows and often you want to try and find the smallest of the small crappie minnows to really get them biting.  The walleye is an interesting fish , because there are times when a large minnow like shiner works great, but I have had much success on the ice using a small crappie minnow to catch them in bulk.  Don’t be afraid to downsize minnow sizes when it comes to walleye.

When it comes to rigging minnows, there are several methods that work well.  Hooking the minnow just behind its dorsal or top fin works great to keep the minnow lively.  Cutting the head off is a great technique that can work wonders when the bite slows or the fish appear finicky.  Don’t be afraid to leave a little bit of the guts hanging out to keep the scent strong.  There are also times when a completely dead minnow is the ticket.  A dead sucker minnow or smelt under a tip up can work amazingly well for ice fishing pike.  Keeping a few in your freezer if you don’t use them all in a given outing is often a good idea.

When it comes to ice fishing, there are many ways to skin the proverbial cat.  Don’t be afraid to try different tactics while out wielding your ice fishing rod, the differentiation can be just the thing that makes you a great success and all your fellow anglers failures.  Use the above guide to navigate your way through ice fishing bait and find a combination that puts more fish on the ice for you this winter.

Ice Fishing Bobbers To Match The Old School Cork Bobber

If we are to look at the old school methods of bobber fishing, perhaps nothing is more well known than the standard, stationary red/white bobber.  This works great for casting to a relatively shallow depth for fishing and the weight helps to allow for castability.  In the winter, we don’t need the casting portion and it often helps to be more subtle and alert the fish as little as possible.  For those reasons a small bobber is really appreciated in these situations.  While you could just use a small standard bobber from your open water tackle box, a tried and true method used by ice fishermen is the foam bobber with a toothpick to set the depth.  This is a low cost solution to attaching a bobber to your ice fishing rod.

Ice Fishing Bobbers To Mimic The Versatility Of The Slip Bobber

For those that want a higher tech solution the slip bobber really is hard to beat in the summer.  In the open water you really need a bobber that allows you to cast the line a ways and move steadily towards your desired depth.  An adjustable depth is often very important to ensuring that you can easily change where you are fishing and what depth you are targeting.  The key difference in this case is the casting portion when it comes to ice fishing vs. open water fishing.  Ice fishing will never require any casting.  To that end, we are allowed a little bit of flexibility in terms of the bobber staying on our line.  The other key difference here is of course the temperature.  In the open water we don’t need to worry about the water freezing to the line and screwing up our bobber system.  To that end, the small holes in the slip bobber are really poorly suited to an ice fishing application.  It is far better to go with the foam “ice buster” bobber for your ice fishing travels.  This ingenious bobber solution has a large hole in the bottom of the bobber which is heavily resistant to the freezing water prevalent in the winter months and still allows for the same depth variability of the slip bobber.  The foam bobber can be shortened to a length that allows for the bobber to be almost exactly neutrally buoyant and nearly undetectable to the fish below that are taking your bait.  The same slip knot system as the open water slip bobber rig is used, so this allows for the same terminal tackle to be used in both instances.

Thankfully through the years the ice fishing enthusiasts have developed great ice fishing specific alternatives for attaching a bobber to your line.  Gone are the days of struggling with our open water applications that just don’t work that well in the winter with its specific weather and fish mentality limitations.  When it comes to ice fishing bobbers, there is no reason to be stuck with your open water bobber options on the ice.