What am I doing wrong?

[Walleyewife]

Was out on Thursday afternoon, evening. Would see fish appear on the vexilar, I tried all different speeds of jigging (#7 Jiggin Rap). But fish would just look at it. I did get one on and got it about half way up and it came off. I am new at jigging walleyes thru the ice and I wanted to show my hubby that I could do this. Any advice on how to jig these frustrating eyes? :)

[ski2313]

The fish would just look at it and not bite?

Sounds like you're doing everything right! hahahaha

Frustrating, isn't it?

[walleyemick]

my fiance and I were out there on thursday friday and saturday morning and we caught our share of fish on tip ups but jig bites were tough. She was determined to catch one on the jig and finally hooked up and lost it half way up, i did finally get a 24" walleye saturday morning on a #9 fire tiger but that was the only walleye out of 10 we got on the jig. You will be frustrated like the rest of us then one day everyone that come in that will bite and it will all be worth it, just hope im out there with ya that night

[raywriter]

First off, are you sure they are all walleyes? There are many other species out on the bay.

Secondly, one of the best ways to trigger a bite is to let the lure hit bottom, stir up some silt, then pull it up two or three feet and lightly quiver it in place. Do this at about two minute intervals. I also like to run large shiners on a slip float rig in a hole near where I am jigging.

[Walleyewife]

First off, are you sure they are all walleyes? There are many other species out on the bay.

Secondly, one of the best ways to trigger a bite is to let the lure hit bottom, stir up some silt, then pull it up two or three feet and lightly quiver it in place. Do this at about two minute intervals. I also like to run large shiners on a slip float rig in a hole near where I am jigging.

Yes pretty sure they were walleyes, husband caught one by me. I did stir up the bottom as you suggested. I also had a slip bobber out a hole over. That one did have a bite on it. I am thinking that they were negative at that time I was out. Big weather change, warm up, raining, etc. It didn't seem as though there were many being caught. Oh well better luck next time. I think I'm going all the right things. Just have to practice :)

[GullyWhoMper]

I know for a fact this year is pretty weird. The areas that should hold nothing but walleye and occasional Whitefish or other oddity are holding a lot more perch. I was marking a fish ever couple of minutes on my vexilar and they would come to the rap but would never hit. So I put a teardrop down with a minnow and started landing perch. Just a good year for perch.

[tipup_time]

what i do is aggressivly jig until i see a fish. lift it up a foot and then drop it to the bottom hard. do this until you see a fish follow, if it follows up, keep steadily moving it up, pausing to quiver here and there, until they bite. another tactic i use is starting about 8-10 inches off bottom then lifting it up VERY slowly about 2 feet and then dropping it slowly two feet and repeat all in one motion.. do that until fish comes in and then it all depends.. sometimes you have keep raising it up, sometimes let it sit still, other times just a quiver.. hope this helps