Söder Balance Jig Combo

The technique differs a bit from the regular vertical ice fishing and we will give a short presentation and our personal recommendations regarding gear as well as strategies. 

The mainline we prefer to use for this is actually a thicker fluocarbon instead of a thin monofilament/nylon. This is mainly to prevent unwanted spieces from cutting off our lines with its sharp teeth, but it also playes an important role on how it influences the action of the lure in the water while fishing. A thicker mainline with higher density will make the lure falling back to its original position in a slower manner, thus triggering the perch even more to strike the lure.

What we are aiming for, presentation-wise, is making the balance jig move in a circular motion, creating the shape of an "8" underneath the water. This is made by pulling the rod firmly once, making a 2-3 second pause and then pulling once more. This is forcing the balance jig to move the way we want and is best followed up by a 4-5 second pause before repeating. Remaining as unpredictable and irregular as possible in your motions will create a more wounded and life like-pattern of the lure, resulting in more fish caught.

We choose a rod which is quite stiff to ensure an efficient hook settings and the powerful rod is also helping the lure to move even more intrituiging.
A box, rod, fluocarbon and a total number of 3 balance jigs comes with this bundle and they are all proven to work extremely well together.

To maximize your odds we always recommend to use a treble hook with extreme sharpness due to the simple fact that big perch are rare, and when you finally get your chance you want to make sure the hooks are firmly set and wont fail you. Therefore, we normally change hook to a sligthly bigger model and one of better quality.                                         
We will add an alternative option of a fitting hook but please bare in mind this is not crucial for success and it comes with original hooks.

Typical for the more classic ice fishing method with ordinary vertical lures is to move around and search along the bottom. However, in this case we want to linger for a longer period of time in each hole and start fishing higher up in the water column before working the jig down to the bottom. Big perch are somtimes roaming right underneath the ice during their feeding-frenzies and they can move several meters up and down in the water column when active.
Recommended for this type of fishing is a drill with a widht of 150mm which makes it easier to steer bigger perch up through the hole, as well as being more gentle to the organs and their mucus layer.

The beauty of icefishing is that it dosn't heaps and tonnes of equipment, but there are some utilities you can take advantage of to further enhance your odds in the pursuit of big perch.
One major improvment to this fishing is definitely the use of a sonar adapted for icefishing. One of the best and easiest sonars we have on the market is Deeper Smart Sonar which easily tracks every movement of your smallest lure all the way down to 10 meters. With ease you connect the Deeper Smart Sonar to your smartphone or tablet and all of a sudden a new world has opened up to you. 

Good luck on your icy adventures, and do not forget the safety measures!


Rod:

Pimpelspö QL-1001A


Balance Jigs:

Rapala Balanspirk 70mm 18g
Daiwa Balance Jig 50mm 15g

Fluocarbon:

Darts Fluocarbon 0,36mm
Darts Fluocarbon 0,44mm