Ice Fishing Tactics with Vibric Rooster Tail

By Jamie Robinson

    With the opening of brook trout season on January 1st and really the beginning of my ice fishing season, my first task is to make sure I have all my jigging lures packed and ready for action. One thing I have learned, I don’t leave home without a variety of Vibric Rooster Tail spinners in the 1/8 and 1/4oz sizes. Although most day’s small spoons would work just fine for all your jigging applications, it seems on the tough bite days, the Vibric Rooster Tail seems to shine.

    I am very fortunate to live in an area basically surrounded by trout waters where I can simply leave right from my house on my Skandic Ski-Doo and fish literally over 50 lakes. Many of these lakes are only accessible by Ski-Doo in the winter and have tough access and therefore are full of brook trout. I took the opportunity to experiment with various lures, on the days when nothing seemed to work, through trial and error discovered the Vibric Rooster Tail triggered some of the most beautiful brook trout we have ever landed.

    The technique is very similar to jigging any spoon, a simple jigging cadence with lifts in the 10” to 16” range has worked best. When jigging the Vibric Rooster Tail, you will know you are jigging correctly and getting the maximum action when you feel the thumping vibration the blade creates on your jigging lift.

    You wouldn’t think a spinner would be a great ice fishing jigging lure. Yet the Vibric Rooster Tail with its hackle tail, offset body and shaft through blade design, creates a rotation that gives off a fish catching vibration and presentation that the large brook trout can’t resist.