stained water crappies on late ice

[chewynoeyes]

any tips on catching crappies in a small 40 acre lake, it is very stained/rusty water colored lake. it is a round lake with a 40 and 20' holes.

i can catch 10-14" crappies right after ice-out when they're spawning in a shallow backwater pond. i fish from shore (floating bog) and use crappie minnows.

it is a mile hike to get to this northern MN lake so i haven't fished it in the winter or on open water.

a couple of us will be trying this lake as soon as the snow cover starts shrinking. 3 weeks?

I don't fish panfish much, any suggestions on where i should start looking, colors, bait?

[bbfenatic]

I fish a similar lake in northern MN and find them in the 35-40' area suspended at 20' so I would start there, at only 40 acres you should be able to find them after drilling it out but start deep this time of year. My go to jig on this lake is a Lindy Red Rattlin Flyer usually tipped with a minnow head sometimes waxies...it glows and it rattles to help in stained water...best part is I can catch them all day in that stained lake and don't have to fish low light hours.

[Jim Uran]

I agree with bbfenatic.... Check those deeper holes, drill the lake out. The Rattl'n Flyer is a solid search lure, and don't be afraid to throw on the smallest Lindy Darter as a search lure. I'll drop it down and give it a few rips to see if anything shows up.

Don't expect to sit right on top of them all day, they will be moving. So move with them, drill drill drill

[Rick G]

Some of my best crappie fishing is done on stained water. Because of the water color the fish tend to be more daytime oriented as far as the bite goes. Like the others have said start your serch deep. Cover the deepest basin fist then start working shallow. Make sure you keep moving till you start marking fish, more often than not hard work pays off.

[th64]

My spring break is coming up-have auger, will drill.Shoot me a Pm.

Otherwise I would find deep water close to where you catch them in the spring, they go into that bay to feed in the spring and spawn later.

I like the smallest buckshot spoon for a search lure, but have more subtle stuff ready if the bit is slow.

Good luck!