What's workin' now : ICE

[The Grebe]

Hanson...good morning...the situation you explained, is exactly what I have experienced alot this winter.

I have fished alot of different lakes, but this has also happened on some of the lakes I have fished religously over the years?

The fish are down there, I just can't get em to bite, no matter what I try, then toward evening they start popping and if you are not on the right area and it might be an area that was cold earlier in the day, you don't get anything.

I guess it boils down to the difference between fishing and catching...sometimes we are fishermen and sometimes we are catchermen and we go back and forth between the two!

[hanson]

ivegottabite-

I hear you on the spring bobber rod and I've been eyeing that rod up for a little while now. Its the end of the season now so I just figured I'd wait til next fall to drop a little cash on some quality panfish rods and small tackle.

Like I've said, I've never been a really big bluegill guy but these fish have been getting the better of me and we just can't have that now.

This winter has definitely taught me about the importance of a finesse presentation. I was at Matt Johnson's seminar about finicky gills and subtle presentations and I've learned I've been going about this all wrong. I've got quite a little education fishing with Matt a couple times and Corey Bechtold.

So I guess next year I'll be hitting the panfish lakes a little more. I've tried to grow a little more as a winter angler in other areas but the panfish took a back seat this winter.

[deeky]

For me it's been crappie nibbles on a Marmooska. The spring bobber has been a must, although the other night I had one hit up so fast, the bobber went almost 45 degrees up past level - exciting. Hardest hitting fish of the night and it was too small to keep.

I did have a little better luck if they came, looked at the Marmooska, and left if I quickly dropped a finess plastic down the hole and pounded it a couple of times to get their attention. Picked up a couple more on that. Got the idea Saturday watching Bass U or whatever on ESPN. Who'd a thought it would work on crappies?

Deeky

[The Grebe]

FINALLY!!! Man did we have fun on the sunnies tonight! We did'nt spend 20 bucks on gas, we did'nt spend the whole day out of town and many hours driving to and from, we hit one of reliables here in the metro and it finally turned on!

What a blast! Three of us and a fella we met out on the ice, were the only fishermen out working and everybody got fish, nice fish I might add. The sunnies we kept were fat and sassy, all in the 7" to 8" range, measured, not guessed!

The biggest was an 8 1/4" Bluegill.

We had mostly Bluegills, but there were a couple of really fat and husky Pumpkinseeds and a couple of hybreds. We only managed 1 small Crappie.

The fish were in shallow water, 6 feet to be exact, in the newly forming weeds and they were biting on a variety of baits and colors.

A chartruse Rat Finky got hot for awhile, as did the little white and pink demon. One guy had an orange ant that he was kicking with and the other fella had a mill run type of jig and he to was also nailing them.

One thing I did notice...the maggies were outfishing the waxies 3 to 1 (I ran out of maggies and had to fish waxies only) my catch rate dropped immediately. Must be the difference in smells or something?

At any rate, it was a satisifying evening and for a change, I don't have anything to whine about concerning fishing!

But my new high speed internet service is'nt impressing me much yet...I had to fall back on the dial up? But thats another story.

[delmuts]

well we finally got to start open water fishing wed.a little bay off a marsh opens first ( due to having some springs in it) it is only about 50 yds in dia. but the fish move in for the warmer water. many little fish and some eating size ones. this wed. i caught lots of little ones. thurs. it was very tough. it seems like they become more active in the afternoon. i caught many little ones . i did catch one 14 in. lg.mouth bass.( that was fun on 2# mono and a 1/80 oz. flu flu jig!)it feels sooooo good ! del

[The Grebe]

Del, how ya doin? Open water is still a ways off up here, unless a person wants to fish the river.

We were out again tonight, ice is getting pretty funky here in the metro, at least the lake I was on. When I augered a hole, the ice was comming up in chunks in some spots.

As much as I like ice fishing and I really do, believe me, I'm ready for a change in seasons! Winter can get long, even a mild one!

I'm looking forward to trying out different stuff I gleened from this site.

[Corey Bechtold]

I made it out the other day to sight fish for some Panfish. I decided to up size my presentation during the day to try for some bigger fish. I started using a 1/32oz jighead with a Berkley Power Tube and started catching Sunfish and Crappies. The size of this presentation kept the smaller fish from getting the bait and it was quite comical because after the smaller fish tried to get the bait in their mouths and couldn't a bigger fish would come along and take it! It was like the bigger ones were saying "OK, you've fooled around long enough, now let me at it!". I tried several other presentations like Paddletails, Puddle Jumpers, Exude, and other brand tubes but never had the same luck as I did with the Berkley Powerbait. Then I even up sized a bit more. I went to a 2" Power minnow and started picking up more and bigger fish. I was amazed at how the Crappies (9-11.5") would get the whole package in their mouths. Another thing that worked great for me was Berkley Transition fishing line. It was nice to be able to see the line on the Ice and the fish didn't have a problem with it under the water too. I was fishing in shallow water and couldn't see the lines gold color down 2 feet. I hope to get out today with the kid or kids out today. I'll post the report later.

Good Luck,

Corey Bechtold

[CrappieJohn]

Hey Corey....Can we saw open water? I have my shoreline!

[Corey Bechtold]

Yea Tom, I'm ready for the soft stuff too. But even though it isn't going to happen any time real soon I am still going to try and enjoy the last of the Ice season. I went out today with my cousin and we targeted Sunfish and Crappies in shallow water. The lake we were fishing was gin clear and the fish were a bit fussy. I managed to take quite a few Bluegills on the old standby jig tipped with a small plastic. But later as the sun went down I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Although I didn't catch many Crappies during the flurry I was able to get a PIG before they shut off.

Here's the story... As the sun was hitting the horizon the Sunfish started to disappear. I wasn't able to sight fish so I had to go to the locator. While I was jigglng some fish near the bottom I saw a suspended fish. I raised my jig and twitched it ever so slightly to get the tail of the bait kicking. I felt a light bump and landed a nice 11" Crappie. I jumped holes and did the same thing to another similar fish. Then after another jump I noticed a fish a little higher up. I went after it and after a little coaxing I felt the lightest bump. I lowered my rod tip and saw the line go slack so I went for the hook set. Fish on! I immediately noticed the fish had some shoulders and questioned what it might be. I asked my cousin to come over and take the locator out of the hole for me. As he just go the locator out of the hole he and I saw the fish go bye and he said he thought it was a Pike. I thought the same till I had the head started up the hole. It was a beautiful Crappie! After a few quick pictures and a measurement I let her go back down the hole. As we all know late Ice holds good opportunities for trophy fish and letting them back to the water insures good quality of fishing for the future.

Me and a 16" Crappie!

Good Luck,

Corey Bechtold

[tonyjor]

Bravo on the CPR! Nice fish Corey!

[wolfman-k]

Wow! Nice fish Corey. I love it when people can enjoy the pure pleasure of catching big fish, and then getting a picture and letting them go. The next generation of fisherpeople owe you and others like you a giant 'thank you', along with anyone lucky enough to tie into those big ones in the near future. The fishery depends on having good stock to replenish itself and CPR is needed to meet those ends.

[CrappieJohn]

Hey Corey...Great fish! Congrats. I've got current bumping my shoreline and Tuesday is the day of discovery! Got something to try you know!

[The Grebe]

Dang, what a beauty!

[Matt Johnson]

Corey never ceases to amaze me! Awesome fish dude! That's a beaut!!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[united jigsticker]

Hey,

Maybe with all the trophy shots between Corey and Matt, I could photo shop them and put me in the pic...

Although I might not be careful enough and end up with two thumbs as I hold up my slab.

Oh well.

Corey, Nice fish dude!

[Corey Bechtold]

Thanks for the responses guys! I have caught lots of nice Crappies in my lifetime but a fish like that doesn't come around that often. I think that the days of keeping fish like that will be a thing of the past now that we have good photography equipment and replicas are better than real mounts. We always say that "The future of fishing is in our hands" and with that said we should have a lot to look forward to! Let me say that when that fish took off from my hands and made it's way back to the underwater world there was a great feeling of relief. Mainly because I picture a young kid fishing with his/her dad and hooking into a fish like that someday. Bailey, Brooke and Cole will definately have their chance too!

Corey Bechtold

[The Grebe]

CB...I brought the picture of the Crappie up to show the male relatives at the Easter get together....I thought we were going to have the Easter rumble when one of the guys said, "Aw, it's probably a fake!"

A couple of us did our best to persuede the doubter that it was indeed a real fish, then we threatened to stuff him with ham and cheat him out of points in the Easter cribbage elimination. He relented and came around to our way of thinking......it is a real fish, is'nt it? Just kidding, someone in your crew is taking some great pictures!

[Corey Bechtold]

Sorry for the late response Grebe. You know me by the reports I have posted that I'm not a total talk'er, . I will have to put some of the other pictures up where I am about to slip that Crappie back down the hole. I'll put it in the Photo Sharing forum. It looks like it's almost all over but the crying for the Ice season but I am rearing to go for the Open Water fishing! It was a great Ice season for me and I enjoyed everybody's posts about their success through the season. I look forward to helping for Open water Panfish and we'll do the "What's workin now: Ice" later this year.

Take Care,

Corey Bechtold

[The Grebe]

Hey, you do a great job in your reporting and in your photography! We pinned the one guy to the wall and we all glared at him!

From what I have seen in your photos, the quality of your posts and the obvious respect of other members of the FM fraternity, if you had a picture of a 5 pound Crappie you caught, I would'nt doubt it for a minute!

[Corey Bechtold]

Thanks Grebe, It's nice to know I have your trust

See ya on Soft Water,

Corey Bechtold

[deeky]

Went out the other night and here's the situation:

Was fishing a gradual break adjacent to 30+ feet of water, east side of the north end of the lake. We have consistently been seeing and catching decent crappies there the last month or so.

Was out and worked from about 8 feet out to just over 20'. Went from in the weeds to the edge to no weeds. The perch were going nuts, but I didn't even see a crappie on the flasher. I moved around quite a bit and worked everything from a rattle spoon to a tiny jig to plastic. Nothing.

So the question is, where did the fish go? After dark, the wind did a sudden switch from south to west/northwest, but the bite didn't change between the two - always nothing. Have the fish moved to a different area? Were they just not on? Is it worth going back or better to find another area? There is a culvert that drains in very close to where I was fishing, so there is moving water.

HELP!!!! Thanks.

Deeky

[CrappieJohn]

Your fish are roaming. I'd set up somewhere adjecent to the moving water but where it is still fairly deep. Begin by working the deeper water (warmer water) all the way to just under the ice.

If you know where there is a shallow flat with abruptly deeper water attached to it, try there on the deep side, but high up. Late in the day, but before evening, try the deeper portions of the shallow water.

Fish are going to be moving pretty good right now. Incoming current will provide breaks and eddys that can be hot for crappies and sunfish. This water, even tough a bit dirtier, will be warmer and carry food morsels with it....both attractors of the pannies.

[The Grebe]

Sounds good to me! I got alot of start up work done in the last few days and can probably top it off tommarrow...I'm going to go down to the river and practice what you preach and see if I can't get into the nice Crappies I know are there.

I called up to Mora and it did'nt sound good for ice, Mille Lacs sounds better if you have a 4 wheeler, but my bud has some trees to take down this week-end, so thats out.

Again, as always, your post makes sense and I'm gonna give it a shot!