What's workin' now?

[mnrstrider]

We'll today I went to a lake that HAS fish, and we did very good out there, We found fish starting in the 15 foot range, out to around 20-25 FOW where we caught 90% of our fish. The crappies seemed aggressive today, and would come up as much as 10 feet to hit a tube above them, but only if the presentation was right, with most fish being caught suspended somewhere around 6-10 feet but we did have to work a good 30 minutes to figure out exactly what they wanted, today we basically ended up trolling 1/32 tube jigs, just off the back of the boat, crawling at a pace probably around .75 to 1 mph, moving was key to picking up numbers, at first when we found the crappies, we anchored, I caught 1 fish in about 10 minutes, all while I could see they were interested, tried a couple different colors, but the 'ole stand by red tube white tentacles was still the hot ticket (we even tipped the tubes with waxies, but that didn't increase the numbers any). Once we started moving the action picked up. I did pick up some white minnow grub GULP bait today, 3" variety, and that hands down produced the biggest crappies running around 11" , but that bite was much slower, and I couldn't let the GF out fish me again . We were only on the water for about an hour and a half, and didn't much time to stay out any longer.

Keys to success for us today

1. Lake knowledge, I've fish this lake multiple times this year and have gotten a great "starter" jig that always seems to produce. Fish came on tubes, and gulp, no stopping at the bait store for me.

2. Started Wind blown side, started shallow, and worked my way out deeper expecting to find fish in the 16 foot range.
Identified large groups for fish, and multiple "spot on the spots" that put fish in the boat every pass.

3. We Gave the fish exactly what they wanted, I almost feel the Marcum LX3 flasher is cheating, (almost ) it will tell you instantly if fish are there and can show you their moods, and preferences, little of my fishing time is wasted with the LX3 running up front.

4. Fishing Minnesota, and the prostaff here in this "crappie" forum. I've learned so very much this year, I would've never thrown a 3 inch grub for crappies before, and upsizing did produce the better fish. Hopefully I can keep giving to others things I've learned and applied here. Simply amazing you guys do such a great job describing exactly what to do to find fish, and it works every time, every time...

-Nick

[CrappieJohn]

Minstrider....Very good words! And fantastic observations! With the water picking up some real heat now, movement will be a key issue to catching these critters. Far too many fisherman think the crappies are only found in schools that mill around weeds and wood. Often times that may be the case, but open water is the realm of the summer crappie. They may be shallow, they may be deep....one thing almost for certain is that you will need to have horizontal movement of your bait,whatever it may be, to get them unless they are sitting in a neutral mood. And one thing you commented on, the plastic size factor, can be crucial. When these fish have the feedbag on, they will want substantial. That means upsizing.

Great post! And again, great observations.

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Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

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[Corey Bechtold]

I'm excited to get out again tonight and try some "new" baits and presentations. I'll post my report later tonight.

Corey

[CALVINIST]

This is what has been working for me. A southern-Pro black bodied/chartreuse skirted umbrella tube tipped with Berkley power nibblers, about 3' under a float. Just trolling along at a slow speed and giving it the occasional pull. Usually in about 6-12' FOW, above the weeds. This has been producing crappies on ******* lake, however, I still haven't caught anything over 9.5 inches yet. I have been working the outer margin of the basin, and haven't even explored the middle regions yet, where it gets to the mid-thirties. Will crappies suspend in this deep of water? BTW, I just bought an ultra-light rod, because it's just not as fun pulling 'em in on a medium action rod.

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Calvinist
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[mnrstrider]

I know the fish I caught were in the 25 fow range, I know there was another boat fishing near me, in deeper water (30 ish), and they were picking up fish too. neither of us were using float, we used speed and weight to find the depths that were working, I've used floats for "trolling" before, I think this non float method works a tad better it certainly seems much eaier, YMMV. I suppose find fish out that deep depends on lots of factors, that being said I did not, and could not catch a fish in water as shallow as you that day.

[CrappieJohn]

Calvinist...I have agree with MNs...r about the float thing. Also, if you know there are larger fish than those 9.5 inchers, slide out over that deeper water and give it a try. At this time of year I look at crappiefishing about like I do in the dead of winter....fish somewhere between the top and bottom in the deepest water available in the immediate area. You'll notice I said "deepest in the area", not necassarily the lake. Target some deep water with some sunken islands or large humps , weeds and/or breaklines and stay just in the deeper side of things. You will need to watch the electronics to see where fish are being marked and then fish at or just above those marks. And then adjust higher or lower to find the larger fish. Keep a rod handy with a fairly small plastic on a jig. While warmer water and weather generally signal an increase in the size of the bait, sometimes we need to actually downsize to get the larger fish in the deeper stuff. Those umbrellas are quite imposing and if the food in the water is smaller, using them can put you out of fish. When you find fish, throw that smaller bait and see what you come up with. This will often work if you happen across a school of feeding fish, pound them for a half hour using one profile of bait and then switch to something entirely different in shape and color...it's like the fish get wary of the hot bait and then the switch throws them off guard. But as MNs...r says, go without a float. Much less line twist and things just work better.

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Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

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[Corey Bechtold]

Well I just got in from fishing. One word can sum up my night...TOUGH! I don't know what happened the last 4 days but the surface temps are 78 degrees, the weeds are brown and decaying, the water clarity had deminished to less than 2 feet, and the fish seem...Lost?... Even when I got on the fish they didn't really attack the bait. I tried several lots of different/presentations: tubes, fluflu's, gulp, jigging, swing fishing, trolling. The fish I did manage were 10" Crappies caught on chart-pepper paddletail on a 1/32 oz jighead. They didn't really bite they were just there. The fish seemed to be hanging right on the break in 6' of water. There are nice drops to 20' just by swinging the boat. Even when I dropped the camera down I could only see about a foot! Talk about tough. Hopefully things will settle down in a week or so and I can get on them. But until then it's time for me to try a few other lakes.

It sounds like a lot of you are doing good on the Crappies, keep up the good work.

Corey Bechtold

[CrappieJohn]

I shared the boat with Rick on my local pond today. We managed to drag in a few good fish...and then Rick spoiled everything with a baa baa. The fish all came off Culprit paddletails cast and retreived slowly. For the most part the fish were at about six feet but you definitely needed to be in 14+ feet of water. Points and underwater ledges were key areas as were some spots where there was deep wood. Water was at 74 degrees with moderate clarity in most places. We were not really doing any harm to the population and decided that it was time to go when we began to notice emerging fish flies and that sort of answered any questions as to why the bite was so slow. Everything went back today and hopefully I can get out there and wrangle them again next week. Beautiful day to be on the water, especially with good company.

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Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

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[Corey Bechtold]

Anyone going to get out this weekend? The weather report is pretty stable so we could expect some good fishing. I am heading to Mille Lacs for some bottom feeders even though I would like to try for some Crappies, Smallies and Muskies if the Walleyes aren't cooperating. Hope everyone gets on em this weekend.

Good Fishing

Corey Bechtold

[WrightCoFisher]

i got 1 word for what kind of bait to use.....

GULP

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Cast,Reel,Cast,Reel,Cast,Reel..................

[Corey Bechtold]

Well I had a chance to take my neighbor out on Sunday. He asked if we needed any bait and I told him no. He seemed a little confused about what we were going to be using. When we got to the lake I showed him some of my plastics and artificial baits for panfish. I gave him some GULP maggots to put on his fluflu while I went to the Power Tube. We started by each catching a big dogfish. Talk about a fight on light line. Then we moved a little closer to the weedline that had deeper water nearby. I got on some Crappies that were suspending 6 feet down over 12 feet of water. My neighbor also had some luck there but he fished closer to the weedline catching primarily Sunfish. We were doing very well until the sun broke out of the clouds and pushed the fish into the weeds. I think that the Crappies slid out a little deeper but I didn't feel like chasing them. We managed to catch enough fish for a meal for his family and decided to call it a day. Some keys for us were: White Berkley Power Tubes with a 1/32oz jig fished with or without a float around 6 feet deep, black and white fluflu's tipped with GULP maggots also fished under a float near the bottom edge of the weedline. Water temps were in the upper 70's and the moon phase was dark plus 1.

Oh, and the Walleye adventure was kind of a bust for us. A good reason not to put all your eggs in one basket. If the walleyes aren't cooperating, go for something else.

Good fishing

Corey Bechtold

[Ymmit]

Well in tha last week for me its been either a black/white or red/white tube on a 1/8 oz plain lead head. I had it mounted on a Beetle spin. Did prety well just drifting it and casting it out in 12-20ft of water. Most fish were at about 6-9ft.

Although since being on these boards and having some good tips come from everyone i will trying some different techniques.

Happy Fishin,
Tim

[delmuts]

tim .. as you may already have seen, we do/try a lot of different things. if we find some thing that works , after a while we may try some thing else just to see if it is better or worse. or if conditions change, what worked this morning, or last hour mite not be good now. del

[Matt Johnson]

Got into the panfish pretty thick this weekend while pre-fishing for a tourny. Small spinners like a Beetle Spin or Betts Spin worked awesome and weeded out the small ones. We found a weededge in about 8-12 feet and we would cast up onto the edge and let the spinner flutter down a couple feet, than we would slow retrieve it back to the boat. Those crappies pounded the spinner! Didn't take more than a couple cranks and the fish would hit. We also caught a few crappies trolling those little spinners along the weededge. These fish were aggressive and it felt like we were bass fishing for those bad boys

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

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[Corey Bechtold]

Nice fish Matt, those look like some healthy fish. Did they show any preference for color?

[Matt Johnson]

Corey,
Not really, I had on white, chartreuse, red, pink, just to name a few. I think the spinner is what sealed the deal. You need to hit that one spot I told you about, just rest your boat right up against it

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

------------------
Matt Johnson Outdoors
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[email protected]
Iceleaders
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[CALVINIST]

I just bought a #5 golden countdown Rapala, thought I would give it a go for crappies, anyone ever have luck casting one out and getting hit on the drop? I also want to get a few more crankbaits for crappies that get a little deeper; anyone have any suggestions on what might work?

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Calvinist
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[This message has been edited by CALVINIST (edited 07-28-2004).]

[pippylongstokens]

hey ahh corey what lake you catch those on and ill give yah what ya need to hammer the crappies and sunfish and have a blast at the same time and get your limit every time you go out hopfully if it works

[Corey Bechtold]

Well this weekend went too fast as usual. I fished a lake that has good numbers of large Sunfish and Crappies but I had a hard time finding them at first. I began searching near the break lines just adjacent to their spawning areas but only the small ones seemed to be there. I tried almost everything I could to get on the big ones. Fished anywhere from 5-25 feet of water but found all small fish and a few snake northerns. I decided to try something else. I moved out to a main lake hump that was about 1/4 mile off of shore. The weeds were growing up in the 10 foot areas but the base of the break was where they were at. As evening progressed the Crappies moved in and were anywhere from 5-14 feet down in 16 feet of water. The big Gills were a little closer to the bottom. Baits that worked were Crappie Tom's "Paddletails" in almost any color, Berkey powerbaits Micro tubes in white or pink and white. Both baits were fished vertically on a 1/32 oz jighead. The Crappies didn't want much movement, just a slight lift or fall to trigger them. The Sunfish just came up and inhaled the offerings. As the sun faded and darkness fell the Crappies and Sunfish were hitting insects on the surface. Too bad I didn't have the Fly rod ready to go. And boy was that moon spectacular! How did everyone else do this weekend?

Corey Bechtold

[pippylongstokens]

If you get the chance to go to a lake called island lake near mooselake put on a bobber and bergie worm with a crappie minnow and start at the boat landing casting it up by shore going south and youll hammer the craps and sunfish

[delmuts]

pip. where are you finding the begie worms ? i haven't seen them for years. some days they would really be a hot bait. del

[Matt Johnson]

Found some crappies today up off the shallow breakline in about 5-6 feet of water. The weeds were pretty thick and we had to pitch into the pockets and along the weedline. White stingers on a chartruese jighead below a float is what tricked the fish into biting. Water clarity was poor, and the algae covered the surface. Marked a lot of suspended fish in 13-20 feet of water but couldn't get any of them to bite. Pretty calm out there today and the panfish were snappin at the surface. Tried poppin for pannies but no takers. A nice day for fishing none the less, no complaints here

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

------------------
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[Corey Bechtold]

Nice report Matt, what was the water temp out there? Seems a little strange that the Crappies are up there still. Maybe the fish that were suspended were the Slabs? Either way those are some good tips. Thanks Matt.

Corey Bechtold

[Matt Johnson]

Couldn't tell ya Corey, didn't take a reading on water temp. Didn't catch any crappies over 11 inches...those probably were the slabs out in deeper water trying to outwit me...they succeeded Didn't try any livebait, only plastics, I think a nice lively minnow would have put some fish in the boat, just seemed like one of those days where a minnow would have produced.

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

------------------
Matt Johnson Outdoors
Metro Area Ice Fishing and more...

[email protected]
Iceleaders
MarCum
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JR's Tackle

[Corey Bechtold]

I have heard that the Crappies and Sunfish have been in the shallows lately. Has anyone been out to try fishing during this Cold Front?