Early Ice

[bassNspear]

where do you go to find slabs on early ice?

[pushbutton]

.....pretty much where they were before the ice formed Every lake is different but for the most part they will start to school up in or on the edge of the deeper basins as well as still see plenty them on/near/in green weeds. Ultimately, the best way to find them is to fish or scout for them in Nov. If you have decent sonar, where the basin fish are will be pretty apparent. They do have fins and swim however, but still will be relatively close. Suppose you could just wait and see where the crappie towns form after first ice

[bbfenatic]

I always start shallow in green weeds for early ice slabs. The shallow bays freeze over before the bigger water of course and I find them from 6-12' in weeds that are still green and giving off oxygen, most often there is no snow yet so you can easily find where the weeds are still green. I drill a lot of holes and jump around using larger jigs tipped with a minnow head. My favorite time of year to catch bigger slabs. Once I can no longer catch fish there the big ice is safe and I move out to my basin spots.