What's workin' now?

[united jigsticker]

Yep, Tom.

This has been my "go-to" color for stained water conditions for 12 years now.

Tanic acid, tea color, green, or cloudy, I start with this color and it typically produces good for me. If not, it's typically a color combo including one of the two colors.

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Good fishing,
UJ
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[The Grebe]

Yesterday, although some of the Crappies were biting real light and others were "Ticking" it with solid hits, they would only bite on one thing, a florescent 1/32 ball jig with a gold hook and a minnie hooked through the lips.

Nothing else worked, I tried several different colors, retrieves, even a plain wire hook and minnie...got all the fish on one type of jig.

A Northern relieved me of my last one, so I had to go out to JR's today and get somemore!

[Matt Johnson]

Grebe,

The guys at JR's are awesome and they know their fishing. They've been in the business for a long time and have some excellent tackle. You ever fish with their ice tackle?

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Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson
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[united jigsticker]

I got to say, Grebe, you would have out-fished me all day and night with that tactic, as I never would have gone to it for Crappies. (plain colored ball jig and minnow combo)

Walleyes and Perch...Yes. Crappies...Doubtful.

Goes to show just how much I have to learn.

Good work!

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Good fishing,
UJ
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[The Grebe]

MJ...Yes, I do get my ice fishing gear from JR's.

I'm glad they are in one spot now, I used to have to hunt them down wherever they would set up shop.

All my rods and reels came from JR's...they even done some research for me and special ordered a match to a special ultralight I'am really fond of.

United....I stumbled onto the ball head thing by accident up on Red Lake last winter....no one in our group was getting any Crappies so I started searching and trying different stuff.

I've always heard that when the bite gets finicky, go smaller and lighter and that is what I did.

I put on a 1/64 white ball jig in the glow style, hooked the minnie through the lips and let him swim...the little jig would eventually bring him down to the bottom, but his slow dessent, confronted everything in the water column and I started hauling!

My buds were going to kill me, because I was the only one catching fish and what beauties they were! They decided to let me live, but I had share my lures, which they promply lost to walleyes or something?

I just used the same principle on the open water Crappies, only a little bigger jig so I can cast it without a bobber.

For the record, I have'nt been able to get anymore Crappies for the last couple of mornings? Walleyes, but no Crappies? I'll try again tommarrow before work.

[The Grebe]

Nada, one hand sized Crappie today, one little pike, a couple of largemouths and dat was dat! Nothing I tried worked, back to the drawing board!

[united jigsticker]

The wife and I hit the water for a few Crappies yesterday, and what a gorgeous day weatherwise it was!

Found Crappies suspending high in 12-34 feet of water.

A 1/32 oz. marabou jig was the trick for us again, but the only way to trigger the fish was to either slowly troll the jig along the top of the school, or pump it high enough so they could take it on the fall with an aggresive run.

Minimal fish were caught vertically jigging, with them taking the bait as it sat stationary.

Surface temp was 58-61, with the surface being extremely green.

The bigger fish came in the evening, closer to the bottom.

The family enjoyed fresh fried Crappies last night.

It certainly was a great day to be out!!! One of the nicest fall days I can recall in a long time.

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Good fishing,
UJ
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[This message has been edited by united jigsticker (edited 10-10-2004).]

[The Grebe]

United....sounds good...I think I'll use your post as an excuse to take the boat out and get the Stabile through the gas system, 1st time I've ever tried it...spent alot on a tune up and some maintainence this past spring, don't want to take a chance again next spring! We'll see what the wind does today? Get after them more toward evening.

[delmuts]

i talked to a guy at our littl lake yesturday about crappies; he's like tom. if there is a fish in there he'll catch it ( nobody has been catching any crappies) he was gettng a few either at day break or just at dusk. he is using tubes, paddle tails and last night he was going to try a rat tail. he said once it gets light then the gils take over. the crappies would only hit it on the fall. we did well on gils drifting or trolling . del

[Corey Bechtold]

Well it's been a while since I have had a chance to get out fishing Crappies. Here is what I found. The Crappies are still active but not grouped together in bunches. Tonight Cole and myself worked hard to find and stay on top of the Crappies. Right at sunset I found the fish holding near a destinct weedline in 12-14 feet of water. A real grab-bag of size with a couple reaching the 11"-12" mark. Berkley 2" power minnows on a 1/16 oz jughead did the trick. Water temps were 61 degrees. A great weekend to do some C+R fishing.

Cole, Crappie, Sunset.

Hopefully some more fishing coming up this week. Good Luck to you all.

Corey Bechtold

[BDR]

Corey, Very nice!! says it all

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[CrappieJohn]

Nice pic Corey! The child looks a bit like Matt Johnson though. Sure is a pretty sunset to shoot against.

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

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[Matt Johnson]

LOL ... Tom's a funny guy

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Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson
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[united jigsticker]

Careful, Tom...that could be taken two different ways...

Master of Disguise...everytime Dana Carvey's character slaps someone, he says.....

------------------
Good fishing,
UJ
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[The Grebe]

I went out for awhile morning, before I started dinking with the new plow...Target wise, I did'nt get squat, and I'm not sure what happened this past week or so?

The Crappie hole that I'am fishing, has usually been pretty good for the last 5-6 years, right up until the ice forms around the shore?

No Crappies today, no wallys, not even a snake? I did manage to catch a few sunnies, nothing big, a couple of lethargic acting largemouth and one pretty lively Dogfish.

Man, the Dogfish was'nt very big, maybe 4-5 pounds, but I have never seen one colored as beautifully as this one, it was something!

I'll give the fish right up until the ice forms around the edge of the water, and then I'll take a breather before the hard water act begins.

[Corey Bechtold]

Well, back to the fishing... Tonight I took off early from work with my little good luck charm Brooke. We went back to the lake Cole and I fished the day before hoping that the earlier start might help up locate the fish. Unfortunately getting out at 4:30 didn't help that much. We fished the area where they were the day before without seeing a fish on the locator or the camera. We jumped around different depths and areas and couldn't get a bite. As sunset was drawing near I tought we were going to get the first skunk since I can't remember. Then I decided to go back for one more look. Lo and behold they magically appeared. No rhyme or reason to why they just appeared (but I'd be willing to bet Tom knows ) but they were there. It took a little experimenting to find the right combo but a glow jig really drove these fish crazy. A 1/16 glow jighead and a 2" power minnow put them in a frenzy! I cut one bait down 1/2 inch and that seemed to get some positive reaction from the Crappies. These Crappies were stacked on the flasher like we see ice fishing, in fact tonight was a lot like ice fishing, these fish were meeting the bait on the way down. They didn't slam it totally, just take the weight off the rod. This bite went on hard right until dark and then they seemed to tuck away in the weeds, or so I speculate (again, Tom?). Brooke and I had a great time tonight and I would hope to get Bailey out there before this cold front gets here and slows the bite. To recap tonights success; 1/16 oz jighead, 2" Power Minnow, 10-15' of water, and timing timing timing. Oh and a little good luck charm as well .

Brooke struggles to hold up a 12+" slab.

Good fishin'everybody

Corey Bechtold

[Corey Bechtold]

Thought I'd throw these in there too. Brooke's pretty good with the camera too.

Me and a 11.5"er

Another good one.

Go get em'

Corey Bechtold

[delmuts]

man those pictures bring back memories of when my twins were smaller. the pictures of them holding up a bass or big gil, with the looks on their faces! ( they are 18 now) nice fish too! del

[The Grebe]

Corey..."You da man!"

[CrappieJohn]

Did the backwaters today and ended up on the dike road between Wabasha and Nelson Ws. We found some major league crappies along that stretch of road...not a lot, but the ones taken were long and thick with a couple approaching the 2 pound mark. They wanted plastics today. Hair only got dinks and sunfish. Paddletails and tubes were the bill of fare.

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[The Grebe]

Could'nt do diddly today...tried Corey B's afternoon attack, let some of the work slide until tommarrow and got after them.

I tried everthing I could think of, plastic, colors, hair, minnows, minnow heads, plain hook...got one nice Speck,1 nice Sunnie, one dink walleye, a largemouth, a Dogfish again, bigger and duller then the last, and a Bullhead.

Thinking we might be on the cusp of a weather change, I thought that might trigger them? Maybe once the colder weather
comes, they will pick up a bit, what do you think guys?

[Corey Bechtold]

Grebe and everyone, I would expect this cold windy snap to turn most of the lakes over if they haven't already. Fishing may take a nose dive with this cold front.

I made it out today and took Bailey and hoped for some of the same luck that Roo and I had yesterday. We found about the same thing, a real mad rush right at sunset then a big shutdown at dark. If it wasn't for a school night I'd have stayed a bit longer and worked the fish harder. Water temps are cooling a bit and the fish were a little less agressive tonight but the size was still around the 10-12" mark again.

Bailey with 11"er and 12"er.

Probably will leave this bite alone until the weather stabilizes a little bit.

Good luck and stay warm!

Corey Bechtold

[united jigsticker]

We talk, tell stories, report our fishing...

Corey just shows pictures, and darn nice ones they always are.

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Good fishing,
UJ
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[The Grebe]

CB...dang you take some nice pictures! You have some great material to work with, a smiling, happy kid, a terrific back drop and some very nice fish!

I have to confess...prior to going out yesterday afternoon, I wimped out and put the boat up for the winter. Stabiled it, cleaned it out, drained lower unit (Had some water in it to!) put the cover on it and bade her good night until spring.

There are a few spots that I traditionally fish from shore in the fall, for Walleye and Crappies...I'll stick with these areas and wait for ice.

[Corey Bechtold]

Grebe, tell me it ain't so! There is some good fishing yet to be had. I usually fish until I start breaking ice going across the lakes. Hopefully there are some warmer days before the ice season gets here. Thanks for the replies guys.

Corey Bechtold