Little crappies deep, big crappies???

[bmc]

A buddy and I fished a lake last night that we've never fished before. I found it on the MN DNR lake finder and saw a lake survey had been done last year on it. They caught like 80 crappies in test nets with quite a few in the 9-11" range. There's 2 32' deep holes and one large 24' deep hole on the lake. We fished one of the 32' deep holes and could only catch those little 4-5" crappies. Have the bigger crappies started moving towards shallower water? I plan on trying the lake again, being we were fishing cold front conditions, but I thought for sure we'd catch some keeper sized crappies. Any thoughts?

Brian

[msm1018]

I have been cathing good ones in 11 Fow, 9 minus ice. Over a weed bed.

[CrappieJohn]

Crappies have a very definite pecking order and will oftentimes school according to age group/size rather than by schooling according to specific specie. You find smaller crappies right in with sunfish quite often.

Moving often will put you onto better fish. If you were fishing over the deep water with nothing to show but small ones, try hitting the edges of the deep water and if you can find weeds, so much the better. Your real active fish will be just over the tops of deep weeds.

You indicated that you were fishing at night. Did you fish the entire water column? Many times the crappies of size will be found right under the ice where the buglife and microplankton stop rising. Easy pickins for them.

Winter crappies are vertical fish....they will travel on a horiztontal plane yes, but the real movement is up and down in the water column. If you found smaller fish, chances are that some lateral movement along with some vertical adjustment maybe would be the ticket to larger fish.

You may have hit a time period where the larger fish were simply not active too. Don't give up on it. Carry a small notebook with you and when you do find some larger fish, note the time, the depth, the bait, and the weather conditions, including the barometric pressure when you get back home. Dothis enough and you will begin to see some patterns to the fish there to helpyou out.

[bmc]

Excellent info Tom. No, I don't plan on scratching this one off my list! I'm definitely gonna give it a try again next week. With that current info from the DNR site, I know there's some decent sized crappies in there. We were using our vexilars and graphed fish from bottom up to about 8' off the bottom, nothing higher than that though. The water was pretty clear too, so I'm sure it's an early morning or evening, night bite. Have you ever run into a clear water lake with a daytime crappie bite?

Brian

[CrappieJohn]

As winter wears on it is not uncommon to see crappies fire up in the daytime. Old ice takes a heavy opaqueness and snow cover helps to shade and filter the sunlight. The best chances for this to happen though are days with a radical overcast.

As we approach the latter part of the ice season many of the different forms of zooplankton and other aquatic insects begin to get active too. Feeding will become more of a "must" issue with the approaching open water and the spawning season drawing near. As the water begins to warm (and yes it does warm some under the ice as the sun gets higher inthe sky and run-off influences the system)these fish will begin to binge feed much like they do in the fall. Only now they feed to rebuild vital fat stoires needed for the spawning activity, not to sustain themselves over the winter.

Feeding will become a serious priority under the ice soon and a daytime bite becomes more and more a possiblity with each passing day.

[Matt Breuer]

My favorite crappie hole in the Bemidji area turns to a day bite pretty darn soon here. It's like clockwork, every year, late ice, they come up on a shallower flat, and we pound 'em during daylight. This lake is extremely clear by the way.

There are many factors in turning them into day biting fish. Oxygen, melting ice (which can hold large quantities of copeds), and downright hunger for a nice belly come spawn.

Great stuff Tom!

[eyepatrol]

CrappieTom

When you say crappies will sometimes be found right under the ice in your earlier post, how far under the ice do you mean? 3 feet down, 5 feet down? I never knew fish would come very shallow under the ice.

[Matt Breuer]

I've had crappies and 'gills come through touching the ice!

I've also had dogfish swimming against the ice and swim right up my hole.

[Dan Thiem]

Excellent posting Matt & Tom! Very easily read & understood.

[CrappieJohn]

I mean RIGHT under the ice. Last year I was on open ice(no shelter) and saw something at the bottom of the hole that looked familiar, but out of place, so I yanked the jacket up to make a hood and took a "covered" peek down the hole and crappies were coming along popping the underside of the ice They looked as though they were standing on their tails! And the dorsals were fully up. They were actively feeding off the underside of the ice. This event took place about the second week in Feb. Before the winter fishing was done I noticed this activity two more times.

The ice can not only provide shade from the sun that allows crappies the comfort from light to ascend to the top of the water column, but the ice acts as a cap to stop the water- borne food from going anywhere. Fish will capitalize on this.

During some fall fishing a number of years ago I watched crappies feeding off a vertically submerged tree. I mean feeding right on the tree itself. The water was clear and as long as I stayed quiet in the boat (it was anchored), these fish would literally slide up this tree, pecking all the way, clear to the surface where they even made sucking sounds. Deeper in the water I could drop a tube down and select which fish I wanted to catch!

I fished the tree for about three weeks on many occasions and found the fish there as long as we didn't have high skies. The tree eventually fell prey to a late fall storm which got the water moving enough to wash it away, but it gave me alot of insight into crappie feeding behavior. One of those behaviors was the dorsal being erected while feeding. Those fish under the ice had an erect dorsal every time I witnessed them and I can only conclude that they were in this stance because they were feeding.

To fish crappies effectively, you need to understand that they will, at times, be found at places within the water column that we seldom look for them....like right under the ice. At this time of year we will see the fish begin to show how much the drive for food controls what and where these fish are found. Right under the ice is one place that few anglers look for the fish. It does require that you are quiet. And dark skies are almost a must. A shwelter would be primetime for veiwing assistance. Sooner or later you will find them right at your feet. Remember, they do feed off the surface during open water. The ice just stops them from being visible in that respect.

[Icemandu]

I think nothing is more fun than late ice crappies and bluegills right under the ice. My brothers and I have had instances where we didn't want people to know we were catching fish, so we would drop our line down to the bottom (say 10 ft down), and pull up little perch. Than as soon as they left, reel up and fish with two to three feet of line out and nail 'em.

FYI, this phenomenom can occur throughout the ice season, but is most prevalent at first and late ice. Don't always believe that those marks can't be fish 2 ft down in 20 ft of water.

[NAPAFISH]

Exactly, There is a certain lake I fish exactly this way. I just smile when everyone else leaves. They think the bite is done. I usually only find this after dark. I thought it had something to do with my lantern right on the ice.

[eyepatrol]

That's amazing (to me anyway) that crappie do that. A couple weeks ago I was fishing crappie in the afternoon in 40 feet and was getting them 8'-12' off the bottom. When dusk and dark hit, nothing. But, the locator started graphing "something" between 3'-8' down, but I completely wrote it off as interference or just plain bad readings. Guess I'll think differently next time!!! Could be that I missed out on some great action. Never even bothered to put the camera at that depth to see if it was actually fish moving through. *feelin bummed*

[Matt Breuer]

Don't feel bummed, you'll have many more chances!

[CrappieJohn]

B'catcher..... Now imagine how tough it was when there no electronics to rely on. The changes we have seen are something just short of unreal. Still, the changes to the positive side continue to be held in check for many people because they simply are not curious enough to check those blips out. You are not alone and I am not saying this to pick on you, but the bulk of people assume just as you have.....it must be shallow interference or bubbles.

It only takes a second to jack one of the lines up to where you see these marks on the locator. In those few seconds you might find some amazing fishing. And if they don't hit, its just a couple seconds lost from your deeper water.

Here's a hint....the fish you find that high up are going to have the feed bag on. Raise the most aggresive bait that you have in the water when you see these marks. Feeding fish are acutely aware of two things: motion and sound. Me? I keep a jigging spoon in a 1/16 ounce size baited and next to me all the time if one is not in the water. When I see a blip or two way high up, it takes me about four seconds to crank a line in to stay legal when this puppy hits the drink. And I work this like there is no tomorrow. I've even stuck the rod tip in the hole and swooshed it back and forth a few times....anything to get their attention. (Even though you have to be quite quiet to have fish come in this close to you, they still seem to find interest in water noise. It's clanking and crunching on ice that they seem to shy away from.) If after three or four attempts such as this with no success, I will simply raise the one rod and go subtle for a switch, mabe even be baitless with a very thin plastic like a shrimpo or ratso.

To make a point as to the effectiveness of this, I got my jig hung on the ice lip at the bottom of the hole once this winter when I was marking high fish. I was in a shelter. I leaned over to see what and where the catch was when a sunfish of nice size came and picked this jig off the lip. It cam from right under the ice. The ice was less than a foot thick and I was fishing over 26 feet of water!

We are dealing with fish here and they tend to make their own rules as they go along. That being said, the greatest limitation the angler has is his own lack of creativity. Like I said, you are not alone nor am I picking on you....but rather I am trying to get you to be craetive in your approach to fishing. Go for it!

[eyepatrol]

That's great info CrappieTom! I don't need to touch the burner twice to know that it's hot....meaning next time I'll know better and will be prepared in case I encounter the same situation. And you're right...it only takes seconds to either real up a line and put down another, or make some quick adjustments. Not gonna lose any quality fishing time over that, especially with the other line still down there. Could likely increase my quality fishing time. This is CERTAINLY information I'll never forget!

Thanks again!

[1lkstage]

Was in 8' of water for the last 2 days(didn't have to redrill). 2' of weeds. fished 6" to 1' above the weeds nothing but small sunfish. Any time the vex would go crazy with (alot of interfernce) you could bring your line up to just below the hole and wham, the crappies were thier.I beleive all the green lines on the vex(can't make out our jig) where the little algie crappietom talks about. they are up feeding on them. Biggest crappie today was 12". Go shallow.(tip-up action was great!! )

[PYROPAL]

hey napa...my graph showed something just under the ice. i too dismissed it as interference...then a northern grabbed my transducer! i dropped a big swedish pimple down there an had it for a bit...what a hoot!

[NAPAFISH]

Thats sweet, I usually always check just to make sure its not interference. Usually at night if the crappies are just under the ice I can look down the hole and see them. I swear it has something to do with the lantern on the ice.

[Trouthunter]

Gus and I tried fishing the 5-10 ft range while in 22 feet of water last night. There were instances where the returns between 0-5 feet were pretty solid green/yellow, with what appeared to be fish coming through between 5-10 feet since a solid red would appear in the column and then later disappear. At other times, the vex would be clear down to 20 feet, which made us suspicious.

More often than not, when we'd drop down or come up to the fish at 5-10ft, they'd immediately spook, and not return until we were back fishing the 20ft depths again. We managed to catch a few of these shallow roaming fish, biggest one being 11". These shallow guys didnt seem to move vertically for food and were very skittish. Even tried stealth mode and turned out the lights for a while...which actually seemed to negatively impact the number of fish we saw on the vex.

Has anyone else experienced how skittish these fish can be and found a way to get a presentation with out spooking them? Tonight I'm going to try dropping a fly or something super teeny to see if they were just scared of the minnow or waxie.

This thread has definetly helped me catch more fish...without a doubt!

BD

BTW, I picked up a power noodle last night from Thorne....CRAZY!