What's workin' now ICE...

[rangerforme]

Do you guys know were in town you can buy the spring bobber attachments?

[Corey Bechtold]

Which town?

Gander, Fleet Farm or Cabelas should have them.

Try Thorne Bros if you can't find it anywhere else. They have some specifically made for their rods as well.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Captain B.R.K]

Matt, thanks for the vote of confidence.

I've been whimpering here at home the last few weekends because I haven't been able to get out much due to other commitments. The fish pictures and success stories you and Corey are posting are just eatin' me to death....there goes my hand ALL that is about to change though starting this weekend and all of February

I definately will take you and Corey up on your guide to panfish tatics at Winnie. I'm all ears when someone has to talk about the little things to make me a better angler. I want to see those new go-to lures you are talking about before I go out and purchase them.

Is it the 28th yet ....I'm counting down the days already!

[Matt Johnson]

The Winni event is on the 21st... so you won't have to wait too long. And by the time the 28th rolls around you'll be ready to rock and roll on them pannies

[Aberdak]

This is my favorite post to watch and read from FM. I live in Aberdeen SD and fish Richmond Lake and Some of the NE glacial lakes when time allows. I was given a Vexilar fl 18 dual beam for Christmas 2005 from My dear wife. I have started fishing with the marmooska jigs and I had one great day in December when I landed 10 nice bluegills and black Crappies. I also bought shrimpos at you guy's recomendation. The panfish however sighted on the Flouresent split shot above the shrimpo. As you can tell I'm a rookie panfisherman at age 47. I still drill holes with a manual ice auger for the exercise. I fish from 1999 Buick LeSabre. I have not been driving on the ice here. Thank you for all your great post and pictures. I learn the most from you guys. All my spin cast ice poles have been switched to 2 lbs test. Not easy tieing knots with my new progressive glasses. I have Matt Johnson web page in my favorites now.

[CrappieJohn]

Aberdak....

Sounds as though you have been seriously bitten. lol

The old saying that "every dog has his day" will surely show itself to you to be true when it comes to tackle like the ice jigs. I'm sure you have already seen where what worked one day so well didn't hold up the next time out.

Your description of "keeping it simply" is refreshing. Sometimes I wonder if things haven't gone way overboard to just catch a fish or two for dinner.

[rangerforme]

Corey,

Tried you 1-inch white power tubes over the weekend, got some crappies, but the ones I was catching were not very big so they had a hard time eating it sometimes, but still caught about 75 in 2 hours, biggest being about 9 inches, still fun. Did catch a few bass too, but i did find out that a 1/32 ounce jig is too light, takes forever to drop it down. Thanks for the tips.

Paul

[Aberdak]

Dear CrappieTom, I had two zero days last weekend. One on Saturday on the Slough they open up on Jan 1st, 06 in Day County. We fished it on the opener and Caught nine nice perch with the largest being a bit over 13" the average size is 8" to 9". On Sunday zeroed out again on Richmond Lk. Oh well that makes me appreciate the good days more! And the Web site helps maintain my Sanity/Insanity.

[deeky]

Aberdak

How is the water in Richmond in the winter? We have a reunion at the group camp each summer and the water seemed pretty murky. Seems like the relatives are usually talking about either Mina or heading east to Waubay. Have you lived there a long time? I've got tons of family in town.

Deeky

[Aberdak]

Deekly, Mina Lake has been the dead sea for about 2 years. No talk from the bait shop or Locals on Mina. I have lived in Aberdeen since 1988. Water clarity in Richmond Lake this weekend was About 7' quite good for Richmond in general. Waubay is tough for access if you do not have a four wheeler or snowmobile.

[deeky]

Sorry Aberdak, I must have missheard about Mina. But that would make sense with Waubay, I think they might run sleds out there. Not quite as many choices right around Aberdeen as there are even around Webster. Good luck on the search.

[Corey Bechtold]

Glad you had some success fishing the Power tubes rangerforme! 75 fish in 2 hours?!!! That's awesome! Especially because you didn't have to dip your hands into a cold minnow bucket . I will switch to 1/16 if I am fishing deeper than 15 feet. Sometimes the slow fall of the bait can really draw in a curious Crappie, especially in shallow water. These bait will catch almost anything that swims. Pike seem to really like them as well. Unfortunately that often means a re-tie. If you ever have a chance to sight fish with these baits I would strongly recommend it. You will really get a feel for what you can do with them. They have teriffic action and can draw fish from a long ways away. If you notice some Crappies sliding through than keep it subtle. Often they want to cruise in and suck in the bait.

Keep us updated on your findings,

Corey Bechtold

[deeky]

OK, what's the scoop? I was out last night on a lake that consistently has a night bight. I was near the bottom of a break in 21 feet, with the basin dropping to somewhere around 30-35 feet relatively near by and the top of the break being around 12-15 feet. I could see the crappies comming through between 12-15 feet. They would even follow my bait up, but then swim away. It has been like this for quite a while appearantly. I tried plastic, rattle spoon, jigging rap, tiny jig with just a euro. Was jigging, jiggling, slow raising, and deadsticking. No takers.

Am I seeing the fish in transit on their way to feeding? Do I need to move up on the flats a little further or are they just not biting? Not a whole lot of time to get out, so I need to make it count. Help!

Deeky

[CALVINIST]

O.K. now Berkley 1" Power Tubes added to the winter arsenal...

[rangerforme]

Yep, I figure at least 75 in two hours, but they were all between 6-8 inches, nothing really bigger than that, but it was pretty fun, you drill a hole put in your vexlar and see lines from the bottom till about 6 feet off the bottem and as soon as you drop in your lure you see about 3 lines racing up to get it, they were hungry. All went back into the water to grow up a little. There were about 30 houses on the lake and it amazes me how everyone wants to fish right next to each other, i just walked another 100 yards and was all by myself and just pounded them.

12-14 feet of very clear water by the way, mix of sunfish and crappies. White power tubes and white/red mamooska with two waxies on it. I've really had good luck with mamooska jigs, I like how they site hook up in the water.

[Matt Johnson]

Deeky,

I think you hit the nail right on the head. My guess would be that they are on the move towards their sundown hot spots. However, usually you can intercept a few on their way in out in deeper water and the areas leading up to those soft-bottom areas where they'll feed come sundown.

What I usually do is punch a few holes up shallower where I know those fish will be holding during prime time, then I'll fire off a stack of holes out deeper and along the various breaklines so I can hole hop and pick off a few as they come in. Those deeper holes should also hold some fish during the day, but probably not too many larger pods, just roaming fish.

Some days its like clockwork, and you can actually follow the fish in from deep to shallow. And it can be pretty apparent as to what level they're coming in at, because if I'm catching crappies in 30 feet of water and they are suspended about 15 feet up, then I would bet you can find crappies in about 17-18 feet of water come sundown, and those fish will be relating just a few feet off bottom (which would be just about at the same level they were holding out in deeper water if you drew a line straight out). And, if you see crappies coming through just a few feet below the ice out in deeper water, then I would say that you're chances of seeing higher suspending fish in the shallows are better as well.

For the deeper water crappies I would work a more aggressive approach, say like a 1/16oz jigging spoon, 1-1.5 inch jigging rap, or a size 6 Ratso. Then once they relocate in shallower and hold for a bit, I would work them over with a smaller profile bait (but that doesn't have to always be the case, it seems to work the best for me).

I wouldn't go as far to say they're not biting, it could just be a timing thing and those migrating fish might not be hungry at that particular time. They are obviously on the move and they are making those moves inpreparation for the feeding

It might take some hole hopping to figure out where those fish are going to eventually relate, but once you find it, I would be willing to bet that you'll see a better flurry of activity...

[rangerforme]

How would you guys attack a lake like this? I get a chance to fish it this weekend, totally private lake, i know a guy that lives on it and says he sees 1 spear house a year out there. Full of big pike too i guess and looks like some decent crappies.

DNR Crappie Net Survey

6-8" 9-11"

108 30

93 acres

max depth 24

pretty much a round lake with two 24 foot holes that have a saddle between them, 1 incoming creek

I'm thinking start on the shallow weedline on teh inlet bay and work my way to the middle of the holes, and over that saddle. Just wondering if lack of pressure will affect where the fish are.

[Corey Bechtold]

deeky, My guess is that the Crappies are sliding out of the shallower water where they were feeding heavily all day. They are just suspending and don't really care to eat. It looks like they are just curious as to what all the jigging is and come in and inspect your bait. Try sliding up shallower and fish earlier in the day. You might be very surprised as to what you will find.

Good luck and let us know how you do,

Corey Bechtold

[deeky]

Corey

I've fished there in the day and my experience has been that even when the crappies are feeding, you don't see a crappie till about sundown, but the sunnies tend to bite well. I've also fished in the morning and the crappies hit until the sun gets above the horizon. But I have been fairly immobile about it. I'll get out earlier soon and try moving around more. Thanks for the suggestion.

Deeky

[Corey Bechtold]

Chances are that the Crappies are mixed in with the Sunfish but the Sunfish are more aggressive than the Crappies. Towards sundown the Bluegills have a harder time finding the bait. That is typically when the Crappies start taking your offerings. If the Sunfish are annoying you, don't be afraid to up-size your presentation to see if the Crappies will respond.

Give it a try,

Corey Bechtold

[Aberdak]

Good morning on Richmond Lk. I fished from about 6:00 am to 7:45 am this morning. I had my bait set about 10" off the bottom. Marmooska and small minnows hooked thru the nose/lips. I started seeing flashes come in about a foot to 18 inches higher. Raised the bait up, they chased and I caught. Total before work was 4 crappies. I will need to clean at my lunch hour today. No bites on a Shrimpo and No bites on a Ratso. Do you guys fish Ratso Vertical or Horizontal? Both? Depends?

[Matt Johnson]

Ratso's are designed to be fished horizontal, however, the beauty of fishing is that you can really fish any jig however you want. So, if you feel that the Ratso gives off a better action in a vertical position then so be it, I guess there is no "wrong" way to do it.

Myself however, I prefer to fish the Ratso in a horizontal manner. I do this because I feel it imitates a more natural presentation and I can get the desired action out of the jig. I've personally had better luck using the Ratso in a horizontal position...

[Corey Bechtold]

... Power Minnows !!!...

What's workin' now,

Corey Bechtold

p.s.

pictures to follow

[CrappieJohn]

Ice trolling. On windy days like last Friday or today, you take a chainsaw and cut a path in the ice going in the same direction as the wind. If you cut going with the wind you eliminate the tedious task of chip removal from the waterway you just created. Now you rig up a Culprit paddletail on a 1/16 ounce collarless head and set the depth at five feet. Drop your rig in the open water of the channel at the far upwind end and allow line to come off the reel as the wind blows it down and away from you. When the float gets to the other end (I prefer cuts of about two hundred feet in length, according to Corey), you slowly and gently jig the whole nine yards back to the starting point. Be sure to have a small cut-out at that end for fish removal.

Color is optional as is float style and size.

And if you try this, please get video as I am still not will to believe Corey about this.

[Corey Bechtold]

...

and lastly a shot of Cole with one of the many Bluegills he caught today...

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Good fishin',

Corey Bechtold