ice-out crappie location

[CALVINIST]

I'm a little confused on the location of crappies the first week or two from ice-out. Some say they will be suspended off the first break. Others say they will be in very shallow, murky water close to reed beds. I know this is lake specific, but just some general guidelines to follow or personal experience would be great. And yes, I know in 2-3 weeks the craps will be found in shallow north facing bays, etc. BTW, When I fished lake Sarah last night; there were fish suspended in 18-20 FOW, and couldn't get these to bite. I tried to locate some close to shore but didn't find any. Sarah is not a clear water lake...vis at 3 feet. Minnetonka, another lake I plan on fishing for crappies, is very clear.

[CrappieJohn]

Cal....That first break rule is a good one to use as a general one, but nothing is for certain when you deal with fish.

On the lake I fish the crappies will be right on the deep water side of the break as the ice is departing. They may or may not stay in these areas depending on the volumn of run-off and the length of time it takes to discipate it.

This year the high water came quick and went fairly fast. But it moved the fish around enough to mess with the typical whereabouts of them for this time of year. To compound this, the spring turn-over has happened and the water is really taking on heat. Today I found surface temps as high as 53 degrees and the temp at 8 feet was at 51-52 just about everywhere I measured it! When I got on the water the air temp was running about 30 degrees and the water was smoking.

I have been seeing fish at about 2 1/2 to 3 feet, suspending over 11-14 feet. Today I got one fish to come to the boat at that depth while the sun was still low. With things remaining relatively consistant last night, I thought I'd find fish every where at that depth range, but no. With the exception of the first fish, all others came from very deep water, 10-12 feet and were vertically jigged with 1/16 ounce heads and paddletails.

This deeper water was "break" water. The fish were at the bottom of the break instead of the more usual top edge of the break where they had been found the last couple times out.

The real change though, was that the fish were relating almost exclusively to wood found in this deeper water and almost every fish came off a point holding the deeper water and wood. I happened across some of these fish when I started into a deep bay area on a point and saw all the clutter on the bottom on the Bottomline. I slowed down and flipped into a slightly different mode to try and separate things a bit and wallah! Lots of marks hanging just on the wood but a couple feet off the bottom. I though at first they were sun fish, but when I drop the vertical jig down there I came up with a crappie.

These fish were active and hit the jig with fever. No float just straight up and down. Get the jig to the bottom, raise it two feet, and simply hold on. When they hit it was like someone snapping the line.

This shows the primary role of the break. But if there is a shllow bay,weeded or not, directly adjecent to a breakline having water deep like this, it is kind of a double dip for you. Especially on days like today with semi- bright sun and the approach of changing weather. These shallow water area warm real well during the day and this heat will suck the crappies up out of the deeper water and into the bay itself. Late day activity can be wild in spots like that, but because the chill of the night air cools that water down again, the crappies retreat as the temps drop. This scenario can repeat for many days if the weather stay about the same. Throw in an unexpected cold front...one not even very big... and where you maybe caught crappies to boot for three afternoons in a row will be as dead as dead can get.

I hope this helps. The answer to the question is really both. But you have to have each type of water, shallow bay stuff and the deep water with an obvious break, very near to one another.

Temperature drives the crappies, but shallow water temps are easily assailed and crappies really thrive on stablity. That is found in the deep water at this time of year.

[The Grebe]

And so I have my battle plan for Sunday....cable weather said winds to 40 mph on Saturday! Casino tonight, work tommarrow, fish on Sunday...life is good!