What's Workin Now...

[mnrstrider]

Yeah I hate to admit thisa is one time of the year, I don't think I'll be caugth without minnows again.

[Matt Johnson]

Today was a nice day to be outside, no doubt about that. I went to a local lake and fished from shore for about an hour or so. The crappies were holding shallow, and some looked to be on their beds (or areas soon to be their beds) and had no intentions of moving from the spot. Really dark colored fish. I just looked for roaming crappies and site fished for them. I tied on a 1/32oz collarless jig tipped with a Pearl/Chartreuse Rat Grub, without a float. I would pitch in front of a roaming fish and let it slowly free-fall and when the jig dissapeared I'd set the hook. Nothing real big as far as fish, but a lot of fun and a great way to spend a free hour.

I got to try out my new CrappieTom Signature Series Rod today too!! And let me tell you, this is my new favorite piece of fishing equipment! It's made with a St. Croix Avid blank and rounds out at about 6 feet with a super ultra-lite action. An extra eyelet, giving the rod 7 eyelets, really increases the sensitivity and feel when not only detecting bites, but fighting a fish as well. I could pitch a 1/32oz jig a good distance with this rod as well. A truly outstanding rod for panfish, and I can't wait to use again in the future!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Captain B.R.K]

No doubt about that Matt- truely was a beautiful evening to be out.

Got on an St.Cloud area lake this evening with Snowfish and found bull gills in 7-8ft of water. Tied on a 1/16oz. jig w/ a paddy tail and Snowfish had a 1/16oz. jig w/ a twister tail. Color didn't seem to matter but we did better on chartruese/speckled plastics.

Gills would hit the the jig as it was dropping either on the initial cast or as we worked the jig back to the boat...again on the drop/fall. Real agressive fish too. It wasn't just a little tap...it was a thump and they'd inhale the whole thing.

The lake was crystal clear, so at times I didn't cast a long ways because I wanted to sight fish em'. Sure was fun to see the jig disappear!

[Corey Bechtold]

Nice reports guys. It's nice to see that some others have time to get out fishing! Hopefully I get my turn soon, if not Corey starts to go crazy!!!

Good Luck,

Corey Bechtold

[united jigsticker]

Can anyone else hear Corey's kids walking around saying "I think my Daddy's gone cra-a-a-a-zy!!!"?

[delmuts]

naw !! they'll just walk away and say " dad has lost it"

[delmuts]

my son and i finally go the boat out tues night, and fished a little lake near here.we primarily fished for bass, but did get in on the late evening panfish bite. caught several nice perch and lots of female gils that looked like they were ready to burst from eggs.i started out with a white shrimpo body on a 1/80 jig . i did try a purple/char. paddle tail. they didn't want that. i didn't try anything else.( i wanted to get in on the fun !!) the suface temps were in the 68 to 71 range. a good night!

[markkstanley]

Nice night on Tonka. My lilypad bite is just about done. The females are all aspawned out and the males are all shredded from spawning. Still hitting almost anything you want to throw. Moved out to a deeper break and caught some nice bluegills and one nice crappie on Stub grubs - the junebug color. Going to focus there as those crappies haven't spawned yet.

[CrappieJohn]

I got off the water a while ago this morning and can say I had a pretty hot bite today. I got some really , really nice sized crappies and they had worn tails but were still carrying eggs. The fish taken in shallower water showed no tail fraying whatever yet. Another degree of water temp will change that around though.

I've been tagging some huge sunfish on Stubs the last couple days....10" plus. They absolutely eat the Stubs!

[Corey Bechtold]

With nice reports like that, I'm definately going crazy now!

I have to go fishing soon!!!

Later,

Corey Bechtold

[Matt Johnson]

BDR and I hit a shore/dock spot today for crappies. It rained on and off for the entire 2 hours we were out there. Rat Grubs were the ticket again. No need for a float when on the dock area, just pitched the 1/32oz collarless Chartreuse jig and plastic out into the weed pockets and worked it slowly back. However, a float was a must-have when standing on shore and pitching out towards the weeds. Several spots produced along the shoreline, but the spots were sand and weeds coincided were best. BDR was pulling up crappie after crappie by pitching along side a long drainage pipe. We didn't get anything real big, a few 9-10 inchers maybe, and the rest were smaller. The overcast skies and light rain pulled those crappies shallower and out into open, and not so much deep into the weeds or off the breaks. I've always done the best on crappies this time of year in these conditions. Water temps are stable and the weeds are really starting to take off. We also saw several nice laregmouth roaming the shallows, as well as a ton of small sunfish (which couldn't get our baits in their mouths).

I just can't emphasize enough the importance a slow-fall approach has when fishing with plastics. Being able to have the plastic slowly descend into an open pocket in the weeds was one of the main reasons we caught so many fish. The crappies were not always willing to chase the bait down, they were triggered mostly by the bait gliding right in front of their faces. A presentation that is too heavy and falls too rapidly will only result in missed opportunities. The Rat Grub and Stub Grub both really incorporate a slow-fall because of the ringed bodies (and when coupled with a collarless jighead). A phenomenal presentation for crappies right now and they have staked claim as my go-to bait.

Umbrella tubes will work well too, as will other slow-fall plastics. Give them a try if you're struggling to catch crappies on areas where you think fish are holding. Color didn't play a huge role, so don't get too caught up on that aspect, go with a Pearl/White or Chartreuse.

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Oldtyme]

Thanks for sharing Matt.

I came today looking for help with a slow bite. Your post pretty much answered my question. I've been fishing with talk-type spinner. While I've caught fish, they were few & far between. I think I may be going to fast for them.

While I don't have any Rat or Stub grubs(yet) I have enough of a selection to pick & choose.

I will be going Sunday & plan on hitting the areas you described that I have in my lake. I will report back.

It will be my first time with just a plain jig so it should be interesting.....

[CrappieJohn]

Old Tyme....Why don't you drop me an e-mail with your mailing address attached. Just click on the TSJgs in my signature.

[Matt Johnson]

Oldtyme,

I haven't started on the spinner style presentations quite yet here in Minnesota where I'm fishing, still on the nuetral plastic phase. I'm not sure what the situation is like in your area, but going with a slower approach probably wouldn't hurt none.

As far as fish holding areas, like I found today (sand/rubble/weeds) are a good bet. Shallow muddy bottoms can produce, but I've found an influx of sunfish activity in those areas and the crappies seem skittish. The crappies were holding quite regularly in the shallows, but soon they will be moving back off the first breaks and eventually back out into deeper water and towards mainlake structure. The shallow water bite is still on though, and should hold for a little while longer. The crappie flurry is still going.

I think weeds are very important right now, and this will not change in the upcoming weeks, except they will use deeper weeds, or move out towards the deeper edge of the weeds. Weeds will up the ante, and they play a big role in the fishing patterns throughout much of the year. With the newly developing weeds we can expect them to come into play.

What type on waters do you fish in Indiana? Clear or stained water? Bottom content? Weed growth? I'm just curious...

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[fishingmike0770]

Hit the lake down the road with my buddy this evening just as the first wave of rain ended. Had the whole lake to ourselves for about an hour. Found a good number of crappies on some submerged logs anywhere from 2 ft to about 4 or 5 ft. We tried minnow, crawlers and ratso. The ratso seemed to work the best cause you could just slowly jerk it and let it rest while watching the float. Caught a handful of 12" and a lot of them seemed to be really dark.

They were really aggressive while it was raining but seemd to slow down once it would stop. Luckily it started raining again soon.

We hit another spot that was more towards to middle of the lake and had a totally different weed structure surrounding it. they were there the night before but decided not to show up tonight. Hooked into one little bass here but that was really it.

I will have to bring out the digital next time and post some pics.

[Oldtyme]

The lake I usually fish at is small. 275 acres divided into two lakes by a channel. I fish on the smaller 1/2 of the lake.

It's a nice lake. Nice ramp,10 mph speed limit, 30 mins from home & best of all good crappie & bluegill.

It's a weedy lake, good weeds down to 10 feet of water.

(I'm not sure what to call the weeds, some are bushy, some are thin & stretch up near the surface.)

I'd called it stained water, but I can see down a good 4-5 feet with glasses on.

Nice pockets in these weeds to throw in too. The bottom is mostly muddy, but I know of a place on this lake that has a sandy bottom with weeds nearby, I plan on hitting this Sunday. I usually fish on the shore near the channel as I've caught most crappie there.

I've fished a few other lakes, but have problem finding "structure" I can use.

[The Grebe]

We stole some time and headed up to Mille Lacs yesterday afternoon....the east side, that was a mistake!

The weather just sucked, rain, wind, calm, blue sky, jackets and rain gear off, tehn back on, cold, warm, and then repeat the cycle!

The rollers and swells were to much for my boat, so we found protection in the bays around Isle. We started fishing some shallow backwaters for Crappies, since we could'nt get anywhere for walleyes and wound up in a little marina, trying to get protection from the rain and wind....the Crappies were there waiting for us! We had a ball!

For the most part, the fish were in the 1/2 pound range, but we did manage to get some to 3/4 and one egg packed female that would have gone a soild pound. On this trip, everything went back into the pond.

The fish did'nt seem to have a preference? Any little jig, jig head, plastic, or feathers, any color, as long as it had a little minnow attached to it. Some of the fish were tight to the shoreline around the docks and anchored boats, some in the main channel.

All in all the Crappies saved the day, as did a big fat Bowfin and about a 4 pound largemouth bass.

We seen several Muskies, and man, a couple of them were some real monsters! When they took off from the shoreline, it was like a Croc jumped into the water!

Bad as the weather was we stuck with the old adage "When life hands you a Lemon, make lemonade!" And thats what we did and had a pretty good time.

[BillP]

I fish a lake I know well near DL and am finding this to be a strange spring. Can't find sunfish in the places I always do this time of the year. Am finding them in shallow bays with mud bottom (places I have never cought anything but little ones). I suspect this is because of the unusually cold water. Speaking of strange, We have been having red ears hitting crank baits regularly. It's sort of funny to land a 5" sunfish on a 4" Rapela

[CrappieJohn]

Its good to hear that the "strange spring" isn't just here in the SE.

I used to catch huge sunnies in a sand pit during the summers years ago using a hula popper...traditional red and white.

[Matt Johnson]

I hit the water today with Duane Betker (owner of JR's Tackle) and BDR in search of pannies and maybe a few bass and pike. We started off targting sunfish in the shallows where we located them on Friday, but they were few and far between. We managed to land a few, but nothing really happening. So, we moved just off the shallow weeds to a nearby flat in hopes to find the roaming school, and again, no real consistent action. After the flats we hit the deep weedline and found the jumbo perch on the shallow side in the sparse weeds. They were eager to hit Stub Grubs below a float. We also picked up a few nice gills and a couple crappies. The high suns really threw a curveball at us and we saw a lot of fish but there were either very skittish or tight inside the thick weeds where conditions were unfishable. However, just as we were on our way out we found a stack of gills holding in about a foot of water right up close to the shoreline amongst some thick patches of weeds. They were very aggressive and we picked up about a dozen or so gills in a matter of minutes. The bulls were not going today though, we needed the cloud cover to hold up. That water is warming up in a hurry though and we're supposed to have high suns and warm weather again tomorrow. Might have to revert to deep water pannies the next couple of days...

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Corey Bechtold]

I also finally made it out today for some family fishing. Cole caught the first fish, a fiesty 16" Largemouth. It was really funny watching him try and reel in that fish! Later Bailey got things started catching a nice Crappie on a 2" Berkley Power Minnow. It wasn't long till Brooke got on the board with another Crappie on a Berkley Power Tube. Then Cole helped reel in a few Crappies as well. Most of our fish were in 4-6 feet of water tight to the weeds. The Crappies were VERY spooky and the presentation had to be perfect for them to hit. A lot of times the fish would move the jig sideways one had to concentrate hard to detect the bites. There were also a few nice Bluegills that took the Power Minnows. I managed 6 nice gills between 8-9.5" that all went back into the water. Surface temps were upper 60's and even a few 70.5 readings in protected areas. The fish seemed really spawn oriented and with the upcoming warm weather they should have no trouble getting things done. Here are a couple pictures from the day.

Bailey and a Crappie

One of Brooke's Crappies

Cole's Crappie

Bluegill release

Hope everyone had a nice Memorial Weekend!

Corey Bechtold

[deacon]

Up north, crappies are in shallow reeds (2 - 4 ft), it was hard to site fish as the fish were extremely spoky. Fishing reeds is so tough if you cannot site fish it can be frustrating. Did catch 15-20 crappies all males except one and 20 or so sunnies.

Any tips on fishing reeds with plastics, I think a 20ft cane pool would probably work better, but then I would need a 20ft boat(not in the budget ) to haul around.

[waltinader]

there still slaming the small jigs.

[markkstanley]

Had a pretty good time on Minnetonka with plastics in the evening. Sitting on a steep break fish holding at about 6ft over 15 to 20ft. Just cast count to 4 and reel it back slowly. No need for a float they were smacking it. Size wasn't great about 1 out of 10 got to be 10". The bigger fish are holding somewhere nearby. Did notice the better fish came when I fished the jig a little deeper but it was hard to get throught he little guys. The spawn is mostly over on Tonka as near as I can tell.

[Corey Bechtold]

I was out today doing some Bass fishing and saw plenty of nice sized Crappies and Sunfish in shallow water. They looked to be doing some spawning still and guarding nests. I had a lot of Sunfish trying to move a 7" ribbon tail worm away from their areas. I even caught one on a 4" Ring Fry! Too bad it was during a Tourney because I would have loved to chase some of those Panfish! Hopefully the weather holds stable for a few days and I can get out and fish some lakes for Panfish.

Good Luck,

Corey Bechtold