Hey Tom, What's the crappie bite like in Pool 4?

[Murdock]

Hey Tom,How was the back water crappie bite like in Pool 4 over the weekend? This cooler weather has had to have jump started the slabs. Let us know how you did or if you heard reports from other crappie slayers.

[CrappieJohn]

I did not get out for craps last weekend...went for waldos/sauger instead. The people I spoke with that did hit the water for the slabs ran into tough fishing. I think that as long as the weatheris playing games with us, pool 4 might be the key in the sailboat harbor at Lake City. The riprap has always been a solid area to fish and the craps should be beginning to hit on the outside of the wall as well. The tackle is about as varied as the people you meet there. Be prepared to fish with bait, tubes, maribou...you name it. I'd start at about five feet if fishing from the shoreline . If you have a boat let the electronics guide you. The dike road and areas like West Newton have sloweed up pretty good, but will offer some flurries of rapid activity. The last I'd heard from Newton was that if you didn't serve meat, you'd not enjoy the company.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!
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[CrappieJohn]

I spoke with a bud yesterday about the fishing at Lake Zumbro and on the river. The Zum is still giving up fish near deep wood and breaklines. Points with deep water will produce too. Water levels are at winter pool now so care should be used at the ramps. The River at Lake City was showing a good crappie bite with the smaller fish coming from inside the sailboat harbor and the better fish coming off the rocks on the lake side. Slip bobbers , minnows...maybe hair jigs or plastic. Fish between five and 8 feet deep. Further down the river the backwaters have been giving up fish but the trend has been spooty fishing. You maybe catch the heck out of them in one place one day and not see a bite there the next. I think in these typically more temperamental waters the revolving-door fronts we are seeing play a big role in the disposition of the fish. A good rule of thumb here is to find people fishing...no fish, no people. West Newton is still producing ,but the best fishing will be away from where the pools are being pounded. Once the word gets out, as in Newton, the fishing has a short lifespan...especially if you want larger fish. It ain't winter yet, so leave the augers to home and bring long poles!

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!
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[Murdock]

Hey CTom,
Have you been on Pool #4 this week? Just wondering how the crappie bite is progressing and where a guy should look for them. Let us know if you have any info.

[CrappieJohn]

The best I can say about the pool four craps is Lake City on the breakwater in front of the sailboat harbor, not the big concrete pier. The larger fish are coming from the lake side of the breakwater, smaller inside the sailboat harbor. All are coming off the rocks fishing deep-5 to 8 feet- using minnows/ jigs, jigs/ hair, jigs/plastic, minnows/hook/bobber. The best fishing for most people has been under a bobber with either a plain hook or hairjig or feather jig fished with a minnow. I have heard of limits for those who wait them out and are using the two lines. The backwaters are still giving up some dandies, but with this cold weather that will more than likely be over for the year even if we do get into the forties next week.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!
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[Jimmy]

Murdock,
They have been catching some nice crappies just north of youngs cabin and along point-no-point in about 15ft of water along the breaklines. If you look carefully there is alot of structure in these areas.

As Tom stated the LC harbor is a really good location, the fall bite is the best. I remember years ago as a kid we would take home 5 gal. pails full of slab crappie ans sunfish.

There is also plenty of riprap along the shore of Pepin that hold some unbilievable slabs. Pine creek near Maiden rock was producing some nice fish about 4-5 weeks ago and probably still is.

Hope this info helps you out

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Jimmy

[CrappieJohn]

Lake Pepin is just like the southern impoundments. One of the primary reasons that Pepin lacks the notoriety is that it is known more for its waldo/ saugdog fishing and another is that the dnr from both Mn and Ws fail to create any structured habitat (cribbing) to assist in getting the fish to relate to specific areas. If you want to try something challenging, go to Pepin in August and see if you can come home with a limit of keeper crappies....it is hard to do. The fish (crappies) simply have too much free range to occupy and are scattered all over. Cribbing in just a dozen areas would most certainly help to get and keep fish in those areas. It works in southern puddles. On the downside though, the lake is prone to heavy currents in the spring and would annialate any thing but an anchored steel structure if placed near main channel areas. The best for now is following the known spring and fall patterns and in the summer grab whatever can be tricked while fishing the waldo species.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!
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[CrappieJohn]

Murdock...There were two guys doing craps at Lake City this morning and caught ten nice ones before they got blown off the breakwater. They were inside the marina using minnows with small jigs and floats.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!
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[CrappieJohn]

The backwaters along the dike road between Wabasha and Nelson, and areas downstream from there into pool 5 are still mostly ice free and are giving up some panfish and crappies. The weather we've been having lately is not too conducive to ice making and what does form seems to get degraded by the wind or the air temps. We saw several small boats fishing the backwaters on the dike road yesterday. With the drawdown on the Zumbro, getting on the water has done much to keep me away. By now I'm sure that the fishing has shifted to deeper water and will stay there until the lake opens up again in the spring. It was ice free (mostly) about four days ago. Open water will soon be a rarity.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!
[email protected]