Today's Spring-Bobbers Do Right!

Light-biting fish have a tendency to elude hooks. Odds are, too, that some trophy-proportioned fish we spend our lives trying to catch are dainty nibblers. So, how do we increase our odds of hooking fickle eaters? According to ice fishing expert Greg Wilczynski, ice anglers (whether novice or expert) are going to catch more fish when they learn how to use a top-quality spring-bobber rod.

Wilczynski, of course, has reason to speak highly of spring-tipped sticks—he’s the man who designed St. Croix’s series of Legend spring-bobber rods, introduced last season. But he’s not a product-pumping salesman trying to make millions—rather, just someone at it long enough to make some concrete discoveries. “My hope is that the majority of ice anglers eventually learn how to use a spring-bobber rod. Everyone will miss fewer bites and catch more fish, ” he says.

Detecting Bites

There are two different ways to detect bites—by sight and by feel. The problem with the feel-deal, according to Wilczynski, is that the signal—a fish biting your bait—must be transmitted up the line through the rod guides and to the handle, and only then does it reach the angler’s hand, which in winter is probably fitted with a mitten or glove. And sometimes, the fish may completely inhale the bait, so the line never moves and you don’t feel a thing. Plus, once you put any resistance onto line and lure, the fish spits the bait. Nope, the tug-telegram is too slow and inconsistent for Wilczynski.

Methods used to visually detect strikes include line-watching, slipbobber fishing, sight-fishing, and the use of spring-bobbers. “Seeing the bite is much more accurate and dependable than feeling it,” he says. “Line-watching works, but if you’re fishing outside, any wind can make it difficult—even impossible—to see distinct line-jumps that indicate a fish-bite.

Slipbobbers work for suspending your bait at a specific depth and for detecting bites, but bobber-stops tend to freeze to the floats. And light-biting fish tend to spit the bait the instant they feel any resistance from the float,” he says. “Sight-fishing in clear shallow water can be a deadly method, but fish aren’t always shallow, and staying hunched over a hole is hard on your back and neck. No, my best work is done with a spring-bobber.

“To detect the lightest of bites,” he continues, “a good spring-bobber rod must be extremely sensitive, which is directly linked to quality. Whether the fish pulls, pushes, or touches your bait, you should be able to see it all happen on the spring-bobber. It also has to be light enough to move when a fish bites, yet it can’t offer any resistance to the fish. There are several after-market spring-bobber attachments out there, but only a few of them are worth the investment,” he says.

Using thin-diameter line like 1- to 4-pound-test mono allows for better lure presentation (fewer coils). Superline, such as 4-pound-test Berkley FireLine, works well inside a warm shelter. “Using thin line, which is often lighter pound-test line, is critical to make the best lure movements and to detect light bites. The key to landing fish—big panfish, big bass, even walleye and pike—is to rely on your rod action and drag. I rarely break my line.”