Was 15 minutes of nail biting for me...... during open water the fish can go where they want and really is just you testing the stretch of the line against the play of the rod. This fish was circling all around me (reservoir is only 8' deep) which meant the line was rubbing the bottom of my ice-hole pretty much the whole time. Put the rod tip down the hole on a couple of her runs. Was playing it against the drag and line strength rather than the rod. The fish was actually longer than my little panfish ice rod. 
The green spoon (w/ red #12 fly) below has been doing the vast majority of my 'catching' this winter. I would easily guess 5 to 1 ratio against other spoons and jigs. My son out-fished me on one trip where he was using it in a hole 2 feet away from me. Have been tipping it with waxworms, but on one of my solo trips schools of multiple bluegill would show up on the flasher all at once. When i would loose my waxworm i would just drop it back down (no meat) and still caught fish until the school thinned out or passed by. Fish were very actively feeding that day. That spoon has not come off the end of that rod since i tied it on.
The green spoon (w/ red #12 fly) below has been doing the vast majority of my 'catching' this winter. I would easily guess 5 to 1 ratio against other spoons and jigs. My son out-fished me on one trip where he was using it in a hole 2 feet away from me. Have been tipping it with waxworms, but on one of my solo trips schools of multiple bluegill would show up on the flasher all at once. When i would loose my waxworm i would just drop it back down (no meat) and still caught fish until the school thinned out or passed by. Fish were very actively feeding that day. That spoon has not come off the end of that rod since i tied it on.