What's workin' now...

[Captain B.R.K]

Thanks for all the reports guys and keep em' coming. This is a thread that is definately keeping my spirits up about open water fishing this spring. I just haven't had the time with everything going on to get the boat ready and on the water. Sure hope this is the weekend to do just that!

Nice pictures of the slab crappies! What lake were you on again

[Corey Bechtold]

Brandon, you just worry about getting things set for the Wedding and leave the fishing to us . Just kidding man, your fishing days are going to be real limited soon. A little advice for you though, get under her skin just enough so she wants you to go fishing.

I got under my wife's skin just enough this weekend so I was able to go fishing. I took Brooke and Cole on Saturday and just Cole and I went on Sunday. I was really supprised to see the drastic difference in the fishing and strategies for both days. On Saturday the fish really liked the Berkley Power Tubes in White, Chart/White and Dark Green spaarkle. I tried various other baits with little to no luck so I stuck with the tubes. We fished them under a float in shallow muddy bottom bays. The fish were very active and both Sunfish and Crappies were mixed. Here are a couple pictures from Saturday's trip (photo's compliments of Brooke's photography )...

Cole with a 9.5" Bull gill

The release

A nice 11" Crappie (I love the new Berkley Series One rod and the Abu Garcia 300U Spinning reel for Panfish)

Saturday the fishing was totally different and so was my presentation. I brought along my fly rod and a few flies and was rewarded for bringing it. The fish were shifting gears to the spawn and they were stirring up the bottom. I know it seems a bit early yet but the water temps were rising just enough to get some of these fish into the mood . There were schools of Sunfish, Crappies, Bass, Turtles and minnows roaming around basking in the warmer water. I tried almost every sytle bait in the boat before I just went strictly to the fly rod. The fish liked a tan wollybugger with grizzly hackle and a red tail. Several Bluegills, a Crappie and a few Bass readily took this presentation. I then was given a different fly (from a nice gentlemen who was passing by in another boat) called a jellybean. The Sunfish really liked this bait too. It was black in color with tinsle tail and a few clear beads near the top. I wish I would have had my fly box with me because the fish were really liking the small profile and I think that a bead head prince nymph would have done really well. One other thing that came from this day was Cole decided he wants to learn how to fly fish . I now have to make some more time to teach him how to fly fish.

Here is a nice 8.75" Gill that came off the Woolybugger...

A very nice weekend to get some time on the water. I hope to start chasing some Crappies like "The Magician" found soon. Nice fish man!

Great reports everyone!

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Juan Grande]

Nice report Corey, I always look forward to reading your stuff.

I got out on the lake twice the past weekend in my new boat. Still learning the ins and outs of it, but it's great being able to go out when I want...wife permitting of course.

Sunday was probably one of the nicest fishing days we'll have all year.

We hit a small lake in the St. Michael/Albertville area and had some luck with the crappies. We anchored in 10-12 feet of water and casted in shallow. Most of the crappies were taken on plain hooks and minnows under bobbers, but my buddy caught the biggest crop of the day (between 12 and 13 inches) on a little crank.

If we wanted a meal we could have sorted through and found 8-10 nice eaters, but we threw them all back.

No pics, forgot the camera. That must explain why we actually caught fish!

John

[ASMOLEY]

I went out last sat. and nomatter what i used as a lure every cast i would catch a bass. I know there are a decent amount of crappies in there but can't get them take it before that bass. Don't get me wrong i love to catch bass but i just didn't feel right pulling the large mouths off there spawning beds so i left. Whats a guy to do in a situation like this?

[DMC5]

Exactly what you did. You guys make me want to get a boat. It's really frustrating being on shore. I fished prior today off of eagle creek blvd and there were TWENTY FIVE people out there and I didn't such much of any action from 7:00-8:30. It looked like people with live bait under a bobber were doing the best though.

[Tom Wilson]

What's working now...

[hanson]

I'm trying to see what kind of knot you have tied there but can't quite make it out!

Darn! Pretty incredible photo!

[Tom Wilson]

6lb Trilene XL--single wrap Palomar knot and thanks.

Tom W

[Matt Johnson]

Outstanding shot Tom! Nice fish too

[Skeets]

That is one awesome photo!

It will make a nice desktop background...

[Matt Johnson]

We found our crappies today in about 9-12 feet amongst some short-standing weeds. We worked them over with tubes, twister tails, and Micro Shads on 1/32oz jigs. No live-bait, no floats, just pitching and hopping. They were fairly aggressive. They seem to be holding on that first break right now, we couldn't catch anything up shallow. We did mark several schools of fish out in deeper water, but we didn't drop a line at the time.

This rain and wind makes it tough to target main-lake fish, but we didn't have much of an option today if we wanted to catch fish...

[Corey Bechtold]

What's workin' now?..... A rainjacket!

Yep, it has been kinda miserable lately. However I did get out in the mist/rain/wind stuff with my friend to try out my new locator he helped me install. We weren't planning on fishing when we got the unit out on the water but that soon changed when we found a massive school of somethings. Those somethings were mainly Sunfish with a Pike, Bass, and a few Crappies mixed together.

We were fishing in 16'-19' of water where there were suspended schools of fish. Every once in a while a duck would fly over the surface and the fish would boil all over the place. We caught quite a few fish on Berkley Power tubes including a nice Pike and my friends 4-5lb Largemouth. We did some searching in an area where I had picked up a Crappie and we found a few packs of fish roaming near the flat on the deeper edge. I had switched to a Power Minnow to try and keep the small Sunfish away and started banging up on the Crappies. It didn't take long till my buddy switched over to the same bait and started catching fish.

Although it wasn't the greatest day weather wise, we were rewarded with a good bite for our efforts. Here's what worked for us (other than raingear )...

Berkley Power Tubes-White

Berkley Power Minnows-Smelt, Chart

Berkley Micro Ice 3lb on a Mitchell 310XGold + Abu Garcia Cardinal 100U spinning reels

Berkley 6'ML Lightning rods

The jigheads were 1/32 and 1/16 oz

The fish hit when the bait came to rest 8'-15' down in 16'-19' of water.

Sorry I don't have any pictures today, it's hard to break out the camera in the rain. I hope to get out again tomorrow and see if I can get my kids on a good bite.

Stay dry everyone,

Corey Bechtold

[L2F]

i went out this evening for about 2 hours and had a little luck with wax worms on size 6 red hooks. they were in about 5' of water on a 10' deep flat with weed growth to about 4'. mostly blue gill but 2 good crappies went home with me.

the rain coat would have been a great idea, i got soaked when a couple quick shots of rain went by.

[Juan Grande]

Went out to Fish Lake in MG this evening to try my luck. Fished on the north side of the lake in about 10 feet of water.

I started off with a plain hook and crappie minnow under a float and was picking up a fish here and there. I got sick of staring at the bobber so I switched to a chart. 2" Power Minnor tipped with a crappie minnow (no float). I was getting hits every cast and probably landed 40-50 crappies.

Most of them were dinks but, to my surprise, I caught three really nice white crappies. Two of them went 11" and the third was a fat 13 incher.

There was a boat about 50 feet from me and they were bobber fishing with minnows. I must have out fished them 10 to 1 with the Power Minnows.

All fished were released. Of course, the batteries in my digital cam were dead. I got a pic of the 13" fish with my disposable camera, but I'll have to wait until I get it developed to post.

I never would have thought to try Power Minnows if it weren't for reading about them on this site. Thanks Corey!

[Matt Johnson]

Indeed a great afternoon of fishing. We started off the afternoon by listening to our graphite rods buzz and watching our line take off into air after we casted. The static electricity in the air was definitely interesting

While this went on, we watched quite a few surface-feeding sunfish. Anything we would cast into their vacinity was immediately devoured! But after a short window (right after the static quit) they dissapeared and we had to move.

harvey lee and I cruised over to the first break off a weed/mud line. I began by cruising over the edge and just payed close attention to the electronics to see if we marked fish. Sure enough, the fish were there, both on the bottom and suspended.

I pitched an Exude Pearl Micro Shad on a 1/32oz collarless jig the entire afternoon. We just worked the drift and let the jig/plastic fall to bottom, only to hop it every once in awhile. The fish were aggressive, and there was no mistaking a bite.

A few sunfish were mixed in with the crappies, but most of them were crappies.

8-13 feet of water seemed to be key, with that 10-11 inch mark being the best for crappies. Once we hit 9 feet we seemed to catch more sunfish.

A great day to be on the water. Once that storm moved through the sun came out and it was very comfortable out there.

Here's a few shots from the evening...

harvey lee with a crappie

A few more pics...

Hopefully the weather cooperates for a few days... I have the crappie fever

[Corey Bechtold]

Looks like you lost the winter coat Matt . It took me a while to notice what was different in those pictures.

Great report and it looks like you are enjoying the new boat. Those are some nice Crappies. It looks like you're kneeling down on a dance floor in some of those pictures.

I also have a little report from this evening. I took Cole and Bailey out for some fishing (Brooke had dance class) to see if I could get them on a good bite. I also noticed Sunfish by the hundreds with their backs touching the surface, They were feeding on insects heavily so they were difficult to catch with larger baits. They weren't of any size anyway so we mainly chased Crappies. What we found were a few eager takers near the bottom that would race up to our Power Minnows and slam them before the Sunfish could surround and harass our baits. I also tried several other baits (stub grubs, paddletails, micro shads, twister tails) but they weren't too interested. While I was fishing a different bait Cole and Bailey had on the Power Minnows. Bailey caught a nice Crappie and while I was getting the camera ready Cole caught a nice one. Here is a picture of Bailey and Cole(who almost outfished Dad today )...

I hope everyone gets a chance to get out enjoy the nice weather. Keep the reports coming.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[styx]

Corey,

any tips on how to work the power minnows. I have picked up some but I can't seem to get consistent bites on them. I catch them on tubes and minnows so I know they are there. I have been fishing in the 4-6FOW range.

thanks

[bisonmn]

I hit them today in 8' of water. Ok, well the deepest part of the lake is 11' so that doesn't say much I was catching on white exude tubes, a yellow spinner & pink exude microshads. Mostly the white tubes. It did appear as if they where hitting on just about everything I threw. When that big ole snapping turtle wasn't around anway!

[Matt Johnson]

I made it out most of the day today and chased down a few pannies.

Found all our fish in about 2-5 feet of water. Stained water, muddy bottom. Water temp started out at about 56 degrees in the morning and hit just about 63 degrees once afternoon rolled around.

We tried locating a few deeper water fish, but no go. We did watch a pile of monster largemouths cuising the shallows. That's a good sign, only a few weeks

All of my fish came on Exude Micro Shads on a 1/32oz collarless jighead.

hawkeye43 and Jeremy Cole joined me for a little panfish action as well, what a great day to be on the water!

Here's one from today...

Looks like tomorrow is supposed to be another nice day, I think I'll try another lake down here in the SouthCentral MN area. A lot of excellent panfish lakes...

If you make it out, then good luck tomorrow everyone!

[bisonmn]

I returned to the little hole I found scouting for the fishing trip with my 6 year old. I hit a decent 11" crappie with the first white exude micro tube I dropped in. I fished the tube for a bit then switched to a pink crayfish that was either an exude or berkley powerbait micro/1" with a pink jig and I found a few sunfish. After that I switched to minnows/bobbers since I was spending most of the time with my son's setup. I put a bobber on the white tube and he used that mostly just flopped his pole around not paying much attention and he was able to get a crappie to bite on it. I kept the bobber/minnow out grabbing a few fish while he worked the white tube, then a minnow, then crawlers without much action. Well he had a lot of action with the tube of pringles he spent most of the time focused on.

[Corey Bechtold]

Sorry for the late reply styx. There is no "one" way to fish the Power Minnows. Right now I have been fishing them under a float when the fish are in shallow. When they are off the breaks I take off the float and vertical jig them or swing the bait back to the boat.

Be sure to experiment with them and let us know how it works for you.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[bgreen82]

berkely power tubes have been working great. i find that when i fish for sunnies or crappies with a worm it just gets nibbled away and i get too anxious when they start nibbling but dont take it under. i get worried the fish arent even big enough to take it in. with the power tubes you can wait until you know they have it for sure, and you avoid the smaller ones. man, i am such a noob fisher. thank god i catch on quick. my girlfriend still insists on the worms, so she can buy them herself.

[Corey Bechtold]

Hopefully the fish don't wise up to our techniques!

I had the opportunity to get out with Cole on Saturday, and man, what a day!

We fished near some prime areas for Crappies and the fish weren't there right away. Cole was wondering why the Crappies weren't biting and I told him that the water had to warm a bit before the Crappies came in. And boy was I right! They came in in full force and were hammering our baits. They slid in from the main lake and they keyed in on standing brush, emerging weeds and pencil reeds. Most of the fish we caught were males that had that dark coloring to them. Water temps were right for the pre-spawn so the fish got returned to go do their jobs. Here's the "what worked" for us this day...

Water temps 59-63 degrees

Clarity relatively clear (4'-6')

Presentations in order of success: Berkley Power Tubes (white)

Berkley Power Minnows (black shad)

Northland Slurpies 2" tubes (shad color)

Mister Twister Micro shad (pearl white)

Mainly fished on 1/32oz or 1/16oz jigheads of various colors.

Depths of fish were 2'-5' of water.

Line was Berkley 3lb Micro Ice and Spiderwire XXX mono 4lb

I fished 6' and 6'6" rods in Medium or Medium light actions while Cole used a 6' Medium rod and a 5'6" light action rod.

It was a day to remember as Cole was outfishing a lot of other boats in the area by himself. I'm sure the other anglers were as supprised as how well he was fishing and catching Crappies all by himself. He was taking off the fish himself and releasing them too! I know I was definately a proud Dad today! He even caught the biggest Crappie of the day which was just shy of 12". I hope to get out and chase some larger fish sometime soon and hopefully outfish Cole too. Till then, good luck and keep the reports coming.

As these fish start sliding shallow to carry out their spring rituals, remember Selective Harvest, and CPR. The future of fishing is in our hands.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Cyberfish]

Wow! he is one little fishin machine!

[harvey lee]

Those are some great pictures Cory,you really had to be a proud father and how does it get any better?

You are also very correct with the selective harvest at this time of year.One could possibly do alot of damage to the population.