going fishing (am i really this stupid) HELP!!!

[bacon]

hey everybody, im finally back. its been a while, but the house is mostly finished, crops are all harvested, and with the smell of snow in the air, its time to do some ice fishing, not the weather round here has been nice, but to nice to do any fishing here, the ice is punky and unsafe so i went ahead and booked a lodge to go fishing on lake of the woods MN/canada. thats right, the middle of january im going to the northern most parts of minnesota (and i mean northern most, like you have to drive through parts of canada just to get to it) to go fishing for walleye and pike on the northwest angle. this however my friends can not be nearly enough, so i am taking my wife with me, oh lord i know this is a mistake. I did consider snowbank lake near ely MN, but the area is predominatly trout, and i would like walleye better. but, i have a problem(some problem, i have to fish one of the most famous fishing lakes in north america) I dont know how to fish it. here i jig for panfish with tiny tiny jigs and maggots and such. its shallow, and my lakes dont even really have any walleye in them. so i know im going to need a whole new arsenal of jigging gear, heavier rods and such, but do any of you have an idea of what kind of line(braid/mono), jigs, rigs, tecniques. i know lots of guys fish with the rapala jigging minnows for walleye and pike, and i have tried them around here, and have gotten bupkiss. personally i would love to actually figure them out, and have another reason to buy more rapala stuff. thanks for any advice in advance. JDB trap

[nathenpd]

Okay, for ice fishing for walleye, jigging raps, and jigging shad raps seem to have the walleye ice fishermen hooked. I'd say that the trilene coldweather 8lb ice line would be enough for the canadian beasts. As for a reel, dont settle for a crappy plastic one that are on most combos. Maybe try an ultralight reel of somesort, such as a shimano. And for the rod, try an ugly stick medium action, or the new Genz walleye stick. Hope this helps

[nathenpd]

Oh, this site will help you out very much also www.iceshanty.com

[Bodeen]

I would like to help, but I mainly do gills and bass when I ice fish. That is WHEN I HAVE ICE. I did buy a bunch of jigs off this one guy on ebay and they worked good on other fish. They are diamond shaped with perch stripes. They are flat too. Try running some tipups with bass minnows on them. The north american fishing club might have a section on ice fishing as should field and stream. Do a Yahoo seach, should pull up some ideas. I have never got so into it I used a flasher, but an underwater camera setup might be of some help. They are coming down in price too.

Electric auger too. Minnesota in January! I still have a hand crank lol.

[nathenpd]

Um, you forgot In-Fisherman bodeen! They have their own special 2007 ice fishing magazine that you could probably find at wal-mart, or a bookstore. I got one last year, and it was full of information, and im thinking that this years comes with a 30 minute dvd.

[Bodeen]

you mean like pay for it Perish the thought!!!