Where to buy ice fishing lures
 

Hello,

I am an avid fly fisher and am looking to the hard water as a way to ger out of the house for the long Alberta winters. For flies I like to use Trickflies.ca but they only carry flies. Is there a trusted website you like to use or do most people go to the local fishing store?

Thank you for your help

Lures
 

Try a leech pattern

Go to the tackle shop or gas station closest to the lake you are going fishing at. They usually have the hooks that are good for that lake.

Amazon

Cabela's or the fishin hole. Personally I make most of my ice fishing lures myself. There is a wire worm thread on here worth checking out. Icky Fly Works also sells many flies that double as ice fishing hooks like chromiods and leeches. For the majority of ice fishing you only need a plain hook or jig and some bait.

A lot depends on what your targeting. I suggest going to the Fishin Hole if your near one. Their awesome at advice, and have staff that know what their talking about.

One of my go to’s is a jigging spoon, often I take the treble off and add a 6-12 in leader of fluorocarbon between hook and spoon. Put a minnow on the treble and keep it just off the bottom. Or a crankbait tipped with a minnow. Like a rattlin Rapala sinking, size 4-6.
I’ll put on a crankbait without a minnow at first, send it to the bottom then rip it up a couple - few feet, then repeat a few times. Then I’ll pull out the crank and either switch to a spoon, or add a minnow to the crank. It’s the noise that will attract attention.

The Northlands 3/4 oz ‘macho minnow’ in Perch are my favs. They have a couple variations that all work, like ‘ice jigletts’ or something. I like to bounce the spoon off the bottom as hard as I can. I think it looks like a fry attacking a minnow off bottom. Makes noise and kicks up a bit of silt.

This is for Walleye, and Pike. Wire worms work for White fish, and I’d guess you have plenty of those. SJW with a chunk of minnow should work. If not the common White-Wire-Worm certainly work.

I’d suggest you focus on a lake or a couple and then search and read on the posts related to them. Each lake seems to have a lure, bait, and technique that works better than others, at certain times at least. Like a lake with low visibility, I’ll focus more on noise lures and move more to find the fish. Clear lakes you’ll want to use lighter line and such.

Maybe you weren’t looking for all that advice, lol. You really don’t need a lot of tackle to ice fish. You rarely lose tackle, and fish don’t fight as hard as the other seasons. They don’t have the energy to waste, and your not going to snag tackle and such.

I have a few hundred in ice tackle but I likely use $20-$30 worth 95% of the time.

That’s what I do. Gas station or bait shop closest to the lake usually knows what’s biting on what.

If you're looking for awesome lures, and like supporting Alberta small business, check out Dan's work at Big Sky Flies and Jigs He makes amazing stuff!!