What's workin' now : ICE

[Corey Bechtold]

Good Luck Grebe! Let us know how you do.

Take care,

Corey Bechtold

[Stratosman]

I'm gonna get a wider variety of smaller baits, I have smaller sizes now, just not much in new glow colors. I'll see what happens then, I'm gonna figure this thing out.

Too large an aura makes sense I guess, still surprising considering how hard they were hammering the other baits. I do agree with the timing factor in choosing baits, also weather conditions I assume would dictate bait size and style, similar to the open water season...

[The Grebe]

Well, we'er back! My trusty Demons out fished the Ratso and the Atomic ant, 15 to 1! Truth be told, the 15 fish were mixed and not all that big.

We started fishing about 12:30, hoping against the odds that we could be involved in a day bite....did'nt happen!

We set up on an area that has always been productive for us in the past. We started cutting holes in the deeper water, which is in this case, 12 feet. The lake only gets to 15 feet deep at it's max.

We punched 20 holes total for the day, at intervals, from the 12 feet, into about 6 feet. We wanted to get everything out of the way long before any major feeding period, which is usually from about 4:00 until a tad after dark in this spot. Man, that ice is thick!

There were fish there, but they just would'nt bite at first.

We tried alot of different lures and presentations, minnows hooked a variety of ways, minnow heads, plastics (Gonna give C.T.'s suggestions a good try) different jigs, waxies hooked various ways, but during mid day nothing turned their crank.

We did manage to get some really nice (Suspended) Perch, pretty impressive, but probably wormy. When the sun hit the horizion, things changed quickly!

The dark clouds rolled in, the temp dropped and the wind started really whipping and the fish started hitting (Ah, my little Demon was on the job and kicking butt!) For a short period, I was pulling sunnies and crappies out of just about every hole I jumped to. Nothing big of course, but the possibility was there! Some close to the bottom, some suspended, they seemed to be all over in the water column and they did'nt want Ratso's or Atomic Ants, Demons were their lure of choice and guess who was fishing one? Okay, okay, yes, it was me, same jig I use 90% of the time.

Nice day, got afew fish, had some laughs and over all, a pretty good time. fishing is very theraputic.

[The Grebe]

Nucular Ant, not Atomic Ant? Cheez, that wind blowing into one ear and out the other must have given me a head freeze!

[Corey Bechtold]

Grebe, did you have any eurolarvae or spikes in your arsenal?

Corey Bechtold

[CrappieJohn]

Grebe....did you notice the moon the night before? It was one big white bullseye. When the moon is full or even close it can create a very solid late-night bite. The fish may even prefer a bite of this type since they are not under a bright sun, but still have the illumination to get everything turned on. I think that mauch of what they feed on is driven by the lunar cycle too.

What size demon were you using? Care to share the color scheme? Fuse length? GPS coordinates? Gas mileage? lol But seriously, if you can share the size/color?

[The Grebe]

Whoha, now the tough questions...no, no spikes, just waxies, I'll regulate myself to the corner again and break out the gruel!

Sometimes old habits are hard to break and I'am in the habit of using waxies and trying different ways of hooking them and presenting them to the fish, as opposed to a different worm intirely.

I think to myself, "Self, get some of dim dare maggies and give em a whirl!" Then I load my containers with waxies from the tub and go fishing...cheez! (I still have a good time though.)

[The Grebe]

CT...Moon phase??? Lunar cycle??? Good gravy, I'd be screwed if I waited for all the stars to line up! I have a hard enough time trying to get out fishing, so I go when I can....the moon and stuff is going to have to take care of itself, with no help from me!

Just kidding, I know that all that stuff makes a difference, but alas, I'm not bright enough to put it all together into a working plan, so I go fishing.

The Demon that I was using was a #10 with a white bottom, red top. It worked yesterday and I tried it again today on another local lake...not so good. Nothing worked for me tonight...I set up on a break off of a point, where the water went 6...14..22..and leveled off @ 25 for a ways.

I set up just off of where the 22 feet met the 25. Started marking fish right away, a couple of feet off bottom, so I

figured they were Crappies, my intended target.

First bait down, a waxie on the Demon...nothing, they came and sniffed and that was that. Second bait down, same Demon with a dorsal hooked minnie...red blip came up and "Pop" down went the float! Cranked in the first of what I thought was going to be a banner night.

Another red blip lingered...down went the minnie and "pop" down goes the float..."Shesa gonna be a hot time tonight!"

Those were the only fish I got, from that point on, nothing I tried worked, went shallower, went deeper, ran the gamit and pulled the plug at about 6:15. but I had a good time on the hunt!

[Corey Bechtold]

Moon phase, weather patern, whatever, I don't care. I'm going fishing this weekend! Crappie Tom was nice enough to borrow me a couple "purple pumpkin" jigs to try and I am going to give them a good workout this weekend. I hope you all have a chance to get out too. I'll post my report after I'm done and I look forward to reading yours as well. Have a great weekend!

Good Luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Stratosman]

Had great luck today for Crappies and Gills, found them in pretty shallow water, 5-7', strange I thought but they were very aggressive, caught over 100 in about 3 hours, lot's of fun. Blue glow shrimpos, hooked wacky without bait seemed to get bit by the larger specimens. Also tried red glow and for the first time actually had good luck on it! I couldn't believe it. Man I do love catching them shallow.

[CrappieJohn]

Stratos....Drop me an e-mail when you get a chance...got something you may want to try.

[The Grebe]

Most of the time, I don't know what is working, but I can tell you today what is'nt working....my Strikemaster auger!

Went out to the lake, had a dynomite plan I was going to implement, got to the spot, broke out the auger to start drilling and checking depth, fired and died on the first pull and the rewind froze up tight! End of trip!

Good thing I was close to home...started taking auger apart to fix rewind...that won't happen...seems like you have to take everything except the blades off to get the top off!

Well, rewind works fine, whatever it is, is underneath some where, sometimes it will work, sometimes it jams, cheez! A minnow bucket full of parts and to dark to see properly out in the garage, even with a trouble light! Boo Hoo! I know what I will be doing tommarrow!

[Corey Bechtold]

Well, here's the report. This weekend I hit 3 different lakes with Cole my 3 year old. The fish seemed to be very tight lipped on Saturday with the fish I managed coming on the smallest horizontal bait I had tipped with 2 spikes. Today I opted to look for a shallow bite and was pretty supprised on what I found up there. Crappies, Sunfish, LM Bass, and Pike. The Sunfish were small but the Crappies were nice! I was sight fishing mostly but still using my flasher to alert me when fish were near. The Sunfish came from the weeds and crept up to the bait. While the Crappies seemed to just show up on the bait. The Bass of course just lumbered in real slow and barely sucked in the bait. Most of the fish came on the same presentation as before mentioned. When I fished the night times, glow white far outfished anything else, even Purple Pumpkin . Cole was nice enough to show off some of the fish we caught. He even supprised me today when he started taking off his own fish! I should have taken a picture to show the concentration on his face, tongue out and squinting, pretty hilarious! He unhooked them all by himself and he even unhooked a couple Crappies for me! Here are a few shots from the weekend.

Cole and a Crappie

Cole after unhooking his own Sunfish

Cole and Poochie release a Crappie

Another prior to release

I hope you all had success this weekend as well.

Good Luck,

Corey Bechtold

[CrappieJohn]

Good looking pictures of the young'un there Corey! And nice fish too! I'm getting the boat ready....tell you what I have in mind?

[delmuts]

man i'm impressed ! great pics. and he's taking off his own fish ? wow ! ( soon , he'll be hooking them and letting dad reel them in! ) hey tom. getting the boat ready? ( what ; you putting ski's on it ?)

[CrappieJohn]

Del....I'm finished with the prep...now it's open water time and to heck with the fishing thru little holes when it's decent outside, weather wise. You should come up for a day and we'll do few drifts....all you need is to get here. Think about it.

[CrappieJohn]

Del....And heyt, there are a series of wing dams in one area that tend to concentrate crappies behind them. Two years ago at this time a friend ,with his new camera, and I were fishing and the waldos got sluggish. We figured that they had just gone nuetral and dropped the camera behind one of these wingies and what do you think we found? And in huge numbers? None other than the crappie. Big crappies. Once or twice each winter I'll slide the boat up in those same areas and do a snoop for those guys. If they are around they can make for some additional filleting when I get home and they get eaten first!

[Corey Bechtold]

Yea, I'm ready for some open water! Crappies, Walleyes, Sauger, it don't matter what I fish for. We'll definately have to hit the river. I think I know the spot where the Crappies sit and they are very nice fish. Let me know Tom.

Good Luck,

Corey Bechtold

[delmuts]

oh man; i was hoping you would make me an offer some time. i may wimp out til we have a little more stabil weather. any body got a couch i can borrow for a night? would save me a motel bill. del

[delmuts]

never mind the couch. i'll take a nap in the car. it would be fun to fish with you for a day.

[deeky]

Finally picked up a couple last night (10 & 11 inches), but man was it work. TINY jig with a single maggie. Work it up very slow from the bottom with just tapping the rod. They would follow it up 4-5 feet sometimes before nibbling or swimming off. But I think the best part was that I was using a jig with only 5 or 6 threads tied on that I put together myself. In short, basically everything I did last night I have picked up here, so thanks for the info and the confidence boost.

[Corey Bechtold]

If the Crappies were shy, what size jig were you using? Was it horizontal or vertical? What # line were you fishing with? Sometimes these fish can be stubborn about the smallest details. If the fish are in the area and not biting real consistent I will switch to a smaller jig on a smaller # line, like 2lb, and see if that turns them on.

Good report and I'm glad we could help ,

Corey Bechtold

[deeky]

I was using a horizontal ball head jig. Sorry, don't know the weight, but the whole thing is like a half inch long - they were the smallest ballheads I could find, they were just enough to pull the line down, but it was a slow process. I was using 2# Vanish. I wasn't crazy about going to 2# line, but now love it. My only issue was a coil spring bobber that I was usuing. The line always ended up wrapped up in the spring which created a lot of friction, but it worked well otherwise. Is there any way to prevent this? Or just don't worry about it? I was in 15 feet of water. After they started to just watch, I switched to a jig with silver thread. They would still follow, but not bite. Neither of them had glow heads on them (white and very light pink), and since this was after dark, it may have helped. But then after Tom's aura discussion, maybe not since they were finicky.

I was actually probably 20 feet outside the weed edge on about the same depth, but also tried at the edge with no good results. My experience has been a pretty small window of feeding on this lake in general. Also tried some slightly larger ratsos and other plastics with little to no interest.

[Corey Bechtold]

I'd try a different line to avoid the issue with your spring bobber. Vanish is a great line it just has a problem with wanting to spring off the spool and wrap at the rod tip, especially with light jigs. I'd try their Micro Ice line, I have used it for a long time and it works great for me! I like that it has low memory and also low stretch.

My other guess is that "glow" might have helped get the attention of those Crappies.

I hope this helps,

Corey Bechtold

[dsludge]

Does the ice buster bobber come in a small enough size? If it does, give them a try. You won't be disappointed.

Great pictures. My nephew won't touch the fish without a glove yet.

dsludge