Pre ice-ice fishing

[Jim Uran]

For those of us who haven't given up on open water fishing quite yet, there is still time to get out and enjoy some time on the water before it glazes over and hardens up until April. For the most part, you will have the lake entirely to yourself, the fish are fairly easy to locate, and most importantly you will know right where to go once you strap on your ice cleets and head out for your first ice adventures!

Electronics aren't a necessity to get out and find late fall fish, but they sure eliminate dead water quicker than if you are fishing without them. I dusted off the Humminbird Ice-45 for my latest adventure. I like the real time information it gives you, and on a calm day you can drop the jig down and use the flasher as if you were ice fishing.

Give your lake map a good look over before you go out, whether your lake map is on paper, or in your mind. Think of where you were catching those fish last month, or the month before that for that matter, and draw an arrow to deep water adjacent to those summer haunts. This is where you will find your panfish this time of year. The depth really depends on the depth of your lake, one lake I fish tops out at about 40 feet, but I generally find the fish this time of year and during early ice in the 20-30 foot range during the day and shallower as the sun creeps towards the trees. They like to cling to the edge or near the edge of the deeper holes in these deeper lakes. Other lakes I fish top out at 17 feet, and those deepest parts of those shallower lakes is right where I go first. Move around the edges of these deeper holes and watch for those fish to light up your screen, they will be there, and if they aren't there, move a little deeper and keep on searching until your flasher lights up!

Presentation can be a challenge in deeper water depending on the weather. If the wind is blowing it's a little tougher to keep a small panfish sized jig in the target zone, especially if you are targeting bluegills. They, unlike their spotted cousins, don't have the gaping mouth to inhale those bigger jigs and chunks of plastics. I like to add a little lead above a smaller more bluegill friendly jig, just to get it down to the right depth and to keep it there. Another technique is to rig up a floating jig head like a Northland screwball floater and heavy sinker, most of these fish will be near the bottom, this can be casted, drifted, or even fished vertically with great success!

Once you find the fish, make a mental note of where you are at, or better yet if you have a GPS unit punch in a waypoint so that you can find where you will be ice fishing at the end of November. Over the course of a few years the pattern starts to repeat itself and it gets easier to locate fish in the fall, and that just leads to better early ice success. As a reminder, be careful with these fish when you are hoisting them from deep water like this, crappies seem so darn fragile, they just can't survive a quick trip up to the surface. Bluegills are a little tougher, that's why I love them a little more.

So don't put your boat away for the winter quite yet, there is always a few days of great weather in the fall to enjoy yourself on the water and to do a little ice fishing recon!

[Dylan8351]

Good stuff. Spot on for locating them! I've got a few early ice spots set!

[Rick G]

Great read as always Jim. This is that time of year when the fish of all species are starting to be found on those first ice locations.

I figure I have at least a few more weeks before I put the boat away for the season

[blackdog1101]

Great post. I've tried this before, knowing the fish are deeper this time of year. But I only have a canoe, and keeping it from swinging around in the breeze and keeping the transducer steady was kind of a hastle. I'd mark a fish occasionally but mostly I had green fuzz on my flasher.

[Jim Uran]

Blackdog, I hear ya! this past tuesday night was absolutely perfect for this type of fishing. That awesome weather is tough to find this time of year, but it does happen. Just have to be ready to hit the water when it does. Saturday looks pretty decent, if the weatherman was right, it should be calm again.

[mainbutter]

I'm going to break the canoe out sometime in the last week of october/first week of november and try to "ice fish" a bit. I've got 9 days off of work to go hunting, and I'm surely going to have to let the woods rest at least one day (or a few more if I fill my tag/s). I love seeing blips on my electronics and targeting a fish that way. I'm just hoping I don't run into too much wind, that's been my nemesis lately.

[TyGuy02]

I have a flasher transducer on my bow mount and I love vertical jigging this time of year! I've found that my best luck when it's not calm, or even if it is calm, is to use my medium jigging rod and a 1 oz egg sinker above a swivel 3 feet above the hook. This allows me to keep the bait directly below the transducer even in the wind. Having I-pilot helps too, but you need to be aware of when the motor will kick in, haven't gotten into the prop yet but had a couple of times when I could feel the vibrations on the line. Using this presentation will allow you to use even the lightest of panfish jigs. The hardest part is paying attention to which direction you need to move the rod to keep the bait within the cone angle, and a long jigging rod helps too. Nice post Jim!

[Jim Uran]

Bump!!!

[OnAFly]

I've been up to this lately, but the wind won't quit, so there's no flasher involved. Just trolling around finding the schools and pulling a few out before they move or I get blown off.

Soooo nice to be out there pretty much alone. Sometimes there's a hunter or two, but I just steer clear of the points they are hunting.

[Jim Uran]

Yeah the wind is pretty relentless, but there always a few calm days to get out and enjoy the water, a heavy tungsten jig also helps you stay in the cone angle.

[DLD24]

I threw the ice gear on yesterday and took the canoe out to a secluded small lake...I was looking on the lakefinder one day and came across it and it looked like it has a decent population of big crappies, the day after I found it a guy I know said he fishes it and there are monster crappies in it... So I'm assuming there in there...It gets to about 15ft deep so I paddled out there and anchored when I saw a few marks on bottom...I threw out a slip bobber and man it was one after another perch...Some were keeper sized also caught some snake pike...I went to the other side of the lake a couple ft shallower and all I caught was a pike, so I went back to the other spot and the perch were really on fire the bigger ones...Then they shut off at dark and when I started making my paddle back I saw a lot of marks suspended...I would move a little and I would see about 3 or 4 red marks on the flasher....The lake definately seemed to get more life after dark...Do you think these are possibly the crappies and they come out after the pike go to bed??I didn't have a chance to fish them very hard so now I'm curious what they were....Any thoughts??The survey was done a little over a decade ago

[BartmanMN]

Yes, those would be the crappies. Fish them as the sun is going down.

[DLD24]

Well I went back to that little lake yesterday, and it is a night bite lake it seems...I saw the crappies on my camera during the day, but they wouldn't bite..Then it got dark and they came right up and smacked the jig...Nothing better than finding a little secluded and having it pay off with your new PB...Can't wait to ice fish it

[Thundy]

Do crappies bites during the day this time of year, or should I concentrate my time when the sun is setting?

[dispatch1313]

This fall (especially late fall) has been awesome for me this year for crappies. Most of the time I have been the only boat out on the lake. I've been fishing early to mid-afternoon and have been finding the crappies suspended near the main lake basin (25-30 FOW). I'll usually mark a couple schools on my graph, throw out some buoys, then work those areas with a jig/minnow, using my electric to stay on the spot. Here's some fish I caught with my dad on deer opener today (Cambridge area lake). Cold northwest wind, had to work a little to catch them, but was able to limit out between 2 of us in a couple hours.