fishing today....

[CrappieJohn]

I found some relief this morning from the on-going blahs attached to our recent weather. Without the wind, I tossed the rain gear in the boat and headed out for some snooping and came across some very good success.

I found a narrow slick along a shore with real deep water and decided to delve into it a bit. I found water temps on one side of the slick at 47 degrees on the top with the temp at 8 feet being 46 degrees. On the shore-side of the same slick, and withing mere feet of the first temp readings, I came up with 56 degrees at 8' and 54 at the top. This was it....the only place I could find with this warm water close to the shore.

This slick ran along the deep shore for about 100 feet before turning into the main lake and disappearing. I located some ruble down in 19 feet and set the float for 6 and went at it. I was at this spot three hours with non-stop catching.

The stub grub was the doctor today and did a respectable job of cleaning them up. Purple/Chartreuse was the color.

The Exude Micro Shad was also a winner. I found fish that would bump the stub grub , but not hook up. If I cast back and had the same happen again, I'd pick up the rod with the Micro Shad on it and make my third cast right back in the same spot. That would do it every time. probably 75 % of the fish fell to the Stub while the remainder were taken on the Exude when tag teamed with the stub. It turned out tobe an awesome way to get them.

The sunfish were just about everywhere today, but some huge bulls came in on the stubs when fished tight to the shoreline where this warm water was pooling. Ihad one that was smack on at 10 inches and several over the nine inch mark. They all went back.

With a three hour total of about 125 crappies this morning I felt ok about weeding the smaller ones into the bucket for the trip home. The smallest taken today was a mere 10.5 inches while the largest that came home was a deep hooked male that taped out at a hair under twelve inches. These were the smaller fish....the larger ones were something to see.

I spoke with a few other anglers when I got ready to leave and they had little luck, but they were allworking shallow water and that stuff did not have the temps to hold the fish. The key was the warmest and the deeper the better.

I guess the wait to get on the water over the last couple days was worth it. It sure was nice out there this morning in spite of the chill and drizzle.

[Corey Bechtold]

Nice report Tom! Glad to hear the fish were cooperating. Were you doing anything specific to trigger these fish?

Talk to you later,

Corey Bechtold

[CrappieJohn]

Fish were very active and needed nothing other than to have the bait put out for them. They rose right up and nailed it. For all prctical purposes you could say that the hits were all up ward and let me tell you, the float made the difference in detecting them today. As soon as the jig settled after the cast and the float sat up, it would simply fall over on it's side. Few of the hits just took it down or moved it to the side. It just layed down.

Its amazing how a degree or two of water temp can hurt the fishing or how a degree or two in a very limited area can provide activity like I saw today.

[Guest]

Also had good luck on crappies and sunfish this a.m. Caught all the fish on a 1/64 purple jig in 35-40fow ,8-12 feet off the bottom.The fish were very aggressive.Supprised to find all the fish were very nice sized and swimming together.Water surface temp was 53.

[united jigsticker]

Caught and released over 100 11" Crappies from 20+ feet of water today.

53 was my surface temp as well.

I attribute the weather being "stable" (it may have been cold, but it was cold most the week) to the aggressive nature of these fish.

One great day on the water as I had a few 9" Gills, an 11" Perch and a Waldo mixed in with the Crappies.

[Slyster]

yipes I have lots to learn Been out in the boat 8 times so far and have yet to catch a crappie... or a sunny for that matter... So sad. Way to go guys! Maybe my luck will improve with warming temps.

[CrappieJohn]

Something I just never dois go out on opener, but a buddy and I broke ranks and went yesterday. Oh, how things can change in 24 hours.

We got on the water quite early and were met with very near to identical circumstances as those found on Friday. We even found that warm water seam still fairly intact, but what we didn't see was the cold front sliding down on us. It was soon raining and the wind picked up. And it was getting noticably colder all the while.

The fish were NOT agreeable in the area that gave such good activity the day before. We were marking them right on the bottom of 19 feet and at best, we could tease them into a bump....no takes. I went thru about ten lure changes at the first spot fished with nothing but bumps.

We moved several times and fished each area well. Our plan was to fish the windward shores to stay in the warmest water but the wind had not been been instructed well. We finaly just headed to the shore with the deeper water the lake has to offer. Still no crappies. But! There were plenty of boats to follow being the opener and that was how we approached this shore. We simply motored ,with the electric, slowly along the shore fishing areas with lots of wood and were rewarded with some very nice sunfish from a couple of spots. And they were deep, coming mostly from 20 plus feet of water.

We had to get down to 1/32 hair jigs fished on a bare line just off the bottom to get these fish to hit. The overall size was down from the day before too with the largest fish coming in at about 9 inches....maybe a bit bigger. But we did finally manage to get my buddy a meal's worth of the sunnies.

The crappies? Deep , negative, and still there to bother me another day. But on another note. I did get a #9-9 ounce carp on one of the hair jigs using two pound line!

[Mike Girard]

The "intel" so far has been great reading. I'm coming up to the "V" a few days before Memorial Day with a group that includes some younger fisherman. I'm hoping to get them into some crappie action. We stay on Taylor Island. Any thing around there to keep them busy?

Thanks,

Mike

[CrappieJohn]

Welcome to FishingMinnesota.com Mike! We hope to hear from you more as you get aquainted with the site.

I am assuming you mean Lake Vermillion, eh? You may want to re-direct your post to that regional forum and see what you get there. Or simply add your question to that forum and leave this one in place too.

Crappies are beginning to get it done across the state , a bit early for anything large scale, but the waters are warming and things should be hopping by the time you get there.

Again....welcome to the site!

[rosspj59]

CrappieTom, We caught a nice 12" crappie out trolling the flats on lake pepin on sunday which we kept with a couple sauger and walleyes. I noticed it didn't have eggs in it. Did the crappies you keep have eggs in them or have they spawned already?

[CrappieJohn]

Those may have spawned, but then too they may have been males. Pepin can toss out some really large crappies and because you got them trolling makes me think they were males. Females will be less strenuous prior to the spawn. Did you get a surface temp?

[Matt Johnson]

Yeah, I'd say you had a male crappie on your hands. Those aggressive males will more than likely be the ones to hammer up on those trolling presentations right now.

Nice fish either way! Congrats!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[united jigsticker]

I agree with that as well.

Even after spawn, the females will retain some residual eggs, as they cannot completely evactuate the full volume of eggs they produced.

It takes a variable amount of time before they absorb the remaining balance of eggs completely.

To give an exact time frame in which this will occur is difficult, because I have caught female Crappies in July that still have some traces of eggs in them.

Othertimes, it may take a week or even less after spawning is complete for the fish to be "empty".

Keep in mind that the Crappie spawning period may also take place in "stages"; meaning, the fish might have a limited amount of prime spawning habitat, and must "share" it.

So, consiquently, the spawning time frame can last alot longer then expected, as different "shifts" of fish occupy the territories they spawn in.

But, as to your post, this time of year, especially with the unfavorable weather conditions we have been experiencing, the eggless 12" Crappie you captured was most certainly a Male.

[Matt Johnson]

That spawning in stages concept is very interesting. Makes sense. Great point UJ!

I've also seen crappies with traces of eggs still in them in the mid to late summer months. Some eggs are just not released, some fail and some fish are interupted during the release that can cause "mis-birth" or whatnot. Every year there is a topic started here on FM about someone who is wondering why a crappie they caught during late summer still has eggs in her. I don't recall off the top of my head what some of the explainations were. We'll have to find some of those topics and bring them back up...

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[CrappieJohn]

Over the years I have seen some interesting behavior by these fish at spawning time. While the masses are generally driven by water temps about 66 degrees, make no bone about it that those true pig crappies have the job done by the time the water temps are to that point. And they are not using the same shallow water as the masses. They won't be far, but they will be deeper in the spawning activity.

Cold fronts with rain can chill a spawning area to the point that activity already begun will cease until the temps again are to the fishs' liking. Starting and stopping the spawning process is not at all uncommon. Neither is finding egg residue in the females even after spawning has completed. This ritual can go on for a month and a half if the conditions allow it.

Remember last year? The spawning was just getting underway when we got popped with tons of rain resulting in cold, high water with a prolonged period of cold following. The fish that had not spawned just re-incorporated the egg content they held back into their own living system. We found loose, runny almost rotten looking eggs in females clear into late July while these fish were being caught in typical haunts for that time of year. In this case the high water simply took the crappies out of decent spawning conditions in many areas while the cold temps of the air and water fudged process in other areas.

I think a lot of people get confused as to where to look for the fish when we get these yo-yoing spring conditions.

[rosspj59]

Water temps out in the lake were 52-53 degrees. We were only trolling about 1.5 to 1.8 gps. Not only do I get confused by the yo-yo weather, but I think the fish do too! It would be nice to get some constant weather so I can put together a pattern. I didn't think they had spawned in the river yet. Thanks for the replies!

[markkstanley]

Tom, regarding the big crappie spawning sites. Do they use midlake humps at all? Most of the spawning fish I contact are in coves and backwaters that don't get any deeper so I suspect some main lake spawning is going on. If all the crappies in Minnetonka tried to get in these areas you'd be making fish chowder. Wondering what depths and possible areas to search out? Tonka doesn't have the reed beds but there are a few mid lake humps coming out of 40ft or more and topping out at 5 ft. Covered in milfoil later in summer but not now. Thinking these might be a spot to check out.

[CrappieJohn]

I'd give it a go Mark. One never knows. The only thing that might be a draw back is wave action....too much and they won't use them.

Where I fish I look for a break at eight feet for this acivity. And this break will usually also involve a deep point. While I am not looking for a bay specifically, I am looking for one to be very close to where I search for the breaks. Remember, not all waters will have a luxury of this feature.

Mark....can you e-mail me? Just click the TSJigs.