Oh yeah! It is totally possible…just don’t use dry flies or poppers 🙂 .

All you have to do is apply the same good old rule “match the hatch”.

Nymphs are the best but small streamers works too. Perch is usually the target but this year I was surprised with a few bass eating my nymphs.

The setup I use is simple: a small 24″ ultralight ice fishing rod that cost me $12 and a $2 reel. The main line is a 4lb ice fishing braid about $6 … so you can have one rod setup like that with under $20.

Tie a fluorocarbon leader on the main line and then all you have to do is go to your favorite pond, drill a hole in the ice and “cast” your new fly rod 🙂 . Let the nymph(s) sink to the bottom. If you use two flies put the heaviest one first and the smallest one on the dropper with around 14-16inch distance between. In case you decide for a squirmy-wormy fly a Palomar knot is best, have the fly tied straight on the main line(no dropper). This helps you make that worm move more naturally.

The ones that gave me best results lately are in this order: Caddis, Buzzers, Squirmy-wormy, Micro black streamer.

Also important if you tie the squirmy-wormy on the line, try to have the hook point up, that way when the fish hits it the hook-up is always in the upper jaw, and that is what you want for a 100% catch/no miss/no loose 😀

Of course that I carry a lot of other models, trying to combine or find the best working fly, all depending on the water colour, time of day, weather, depth…but enough theories for tonight 😀 we can always talk more on this subject, just let me know if you’re interested.

In an era where “fast” is the normal speed, where Facebook and YouTube channels are dominating the online, I am coming back to my good old blog. No one has the time or the patience to read these texts anymore. Just click and scroll to the end then to the next picture or mid action in the next video. Fishing tournaments are the same in a way…you just catch one fish after another as “fast” as you can, always in a rush for the next one. Nothing really matters in those moments, just the speed you have in catching those fish. Everything else gets lost in this foggy crazy rush of getting the fish in the net. You see the sun is up and shining nice but for you this means time, positions, shadows…you see the beautiful landscape but for you this translates into structures under the water…you see the boat slowly floating on the waves but for you this means drift direction…ultimately even your boat partner is just an obstacle in front of your cast.

You see …I am not saying to start day dreaming when fishing, like sitting on a boulder in the middle of the river waiting for the hatch to start. All I am trying to say is that…in my experience… after all these years spent on the water, after so many tournaments and competitions, after hundreds of fish put in the net…all I have left are friends. And I want to say FRIENDS. People who stay with you a lifetime, who make you laugh every time. They listen to you…they GET you.

This is what SOTTO CHAMPIONSHIP is  all about this season.

Thanks for taking the time to read my tonight’s blurb 🙂

Your good old friend,

Sotto