What's workin' now...

[Ray Mysterio]

Was out last night and caught 30-40 crappies. Most of the fish were caught in 6.5 fow. Caught all my fish on jigs and plastics. Larger fish were tight to the bottom and were fairly aggressive. Didn't catch any gills. Water temps were around 84 degrees.

[CRET]

Ray Mysterio - What lake were you fishing? What plastics...color?

Cret

[comicdog]

Have had some success on larger fish trolling 2" to 2 1/2" jointed Rapala's in 10' to 14'. Best color Fire Tiger and Blue/White. Lots of smaller fish on Crappie Minnows in 10 to 8'. Some LARGE gills have been taking the Rapala's as well. FUN BABY!

[Ray Mysterio]

Cret,

I was fishing your lake. Carissa and I went out in the evening for a few hours on a whim. Purple and Chart. and Red and White worked the best. We had alot of fun.

I was up this weekend at my parents and my Dad and I hooked into some bull gills and some decent crappies. We had a blast. Not more than a couple hundred yards from my parents house. They were hitting the same presentation.

Next time your up there, I am sure my Dad would love to take you out and show your where they are.

Did you get out at all this weekend?

Talk to you later Cret.

Ray

[CRET]

Ray... Threw my neck out, hope to be recovered soon. Read the "Roche-A-Cri Creek" story under the "streams & rivers" section. That would make a good magazine story. Awsome read!! I am getting into my large mouth Bass stretch now.... "my lake" has a record Largemouth or two in it! D.B. caught and released a 24" last year and had another last week! We got to put our spro Frogs on and get out there at 4:30 a.m.

Your boat or Mine? he he

Cret

[Ray Mysterio]

Just let me know when Cret. I'm game for catching some bucketmouths. Now that this heat might be over in a few days, I will try to get back out. Might go up to Rush. Havent been out there in a few years. Did you say you were out with DB and he caught the 24". What's your biggest out there? I seen quite a few bass boats out there when I was fishing.

Anyway, let me know when you are planning to go. I'd love to get out in your boat or mine.

Thanks,

Ray

[Corey Bechtold]

Well hello everybody! Still waiting on my new computer but I have been fishing. With all the warm weather and such I have been having some success. The water temperatures have been in the low to mid 80's on most area lakes. Finding the fish has been pretty standard on the different lakes I have been on. Searching for areas near deep water with sharp drops, destinct weedlines, shade or other structures have been key. The most consistent bite has been near weedlines. The fish seem to be looking for the shade, cooler temperatures and easy access to baitfish and insects that relate to these areas. Supprisingly I have stumbled into some nice Crappies (up to 13") and good sized Bluegills (around 8.5"). Most of my fish have come on the Power Baits. I have given some time to the Northland Slurpies, various Mister Twister products and some Culprit baits. But Power Minnows and Tubes have proven to be most effective.

Here is what's been working on some of the lakes I have been fishing...

Lake #1

Power Minnows 2"-Smelt

Power Tubes-White

Jigheads-1/16, 1/32, White

Trilene Micro Ice 3#

Been loving the new Cardinal 300U and 301U reel!

6' Medium light Series One rod

6' Medium Series One rod

Water clarity-clear

Water surface temps 83 degrees

Fish holding depths 6'-10' near weed edges, vertical jigging and fan casting baits.

Lake #2

Power Minnows 2"-Chart, Pink/White, Glow/Chart

Power Tubes-White, Pink/White, Orange/Chart

Jigheads-same as above

Trilene 4lb XL

Mitchell 310X reel

Lightning rods 6', 6'6"

Water clarity-stained

Water temperature 81 degrees

Fish holding under docks, lifts, pontoons and floating rafts. Skipping baits under structure and "swinging" the baits to the boat. Watch the line for sudden stops of changes in direction.

Lake #3

Similar patterns as lake #2 but more fish suspended over a flat near deeper water. I even managed some Gills on a 3" Power minnow in the Smelt color (8"-9")

Lake #4

Similar lake as #1 but fish were on a midlake hump that tops out at 15' with deep water surrounding it. Bluegills were hitting Crankbaits trolled for Walleye so I switched over to some Power tubes in the Pink/White and started vertical jigging the baits. Fish would come off the bottom more than 4' to take the offering. Lots of gills sitting down there with sizes running 5"-8.5". Dusk was the prime time on this lake.

Hope everyone is having similar luck! Keep the good reports coming!

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Matt Johnson]

Anyone else out chasing pannies?

[FishingFather]

I guess in order to be defined as "chasing" I would have to know where they are. I have been looking for them but have not had any luck the last week. I have a lake behind where I work and I am usually good for a couple bluegills every time but this last week I have been shut out.

But...Never Give Up, Never Surrender!

[markkstanley]

Did some chasing Friday night and it was chasing. Had to troll JR tadpole spins to get a bite. We fan casted areas where we caught then trolling but no go. Went back to trolling and the bite was on again. Nothing big to report. Trolled 12 to 15ft depth along the weedline break. Fish were 6 to 12 ft deep.

[slopmaster]

Went out on saturday and was fishing for bass and caught 15 sunfish while throwing crankbaits they hit the plug so hard i thought it was a bass most of the time most of them ran from 7 to 8 inches they were in weeds 5 to 7 foot deep im surprised at how many sunfish i have caught on crankbaits while bass or walleye fishing this year. usually about this time of year i take more time to go sunfishing. Get out the light tackle and hold on i like throwing beetle spins cause you can catch a lot of different fish while doing it when you guys use tubes or plactic minnows and cast them out do you just reel them back or kind of pop them up and down

[Corey Bechtold]

This time of year I am mostly vertical jigging these baits. If the fish are more scattered I will fan cast. I will use one of two methods of retrieving the baits: the first is a slow and steady retrieve. The second is what I call the "Swing". This is done by simply casting the bait out, holding the rod at 9:00 to start then raising the rod up to 12:00 slowly letting the bait swing down toward the bottom. Once the jig gets to the bottom I will reel up the slack and start the process over again. This technique is deadly on the Crappies and Sunfish right now.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[SpecialK]

Always chasing crappies! I have found the bite to be steady believe it or not. I have been fishing low recreation lakes in the south metro trolling a beetle spin form (Chart no 1 colorado blade) with a 1/8th oz glow head / white tail Flu flu tipped with a 2" white exude grub.

My buddy fishes with crappie minnows on a 1/16th oz flu flu and does well bobber fishing.

[RonZych]

I've been catching them in 12-17ft of water on the edge of sunkin islands. Mini-mite under a bobber or a bit of crawler or leech on a #6 long shank gold hook. I can go to the same lake and same spot over and over to catch & release them.

They run between 8 to 10 inches.

[Ray Mysterio]

Went out on Pokegama on Saturday and caught quite a few crappies around the island. The size varied from 6" to 10". Fish were holding in 6.5' to 7.5' of water. On Sunday we went out on Rush and had a tough time staying on spots with the wind. Caught most of the decent sized crappies on west rush. Biggest was about 9.5". Alot of little bass were getting in the way. Sometimes I couldn't even get my jig to the bottom without them grabbing a hold of it. Caught most of the decent fish in 8' of water.

[Corey Bechtold]

I have a few pictures to share from some of the last fishing outings. Enjoy...

A 9" Hybrid Sunfish

A nice Crappie that took the Power Minnow

Cole with a nice Bluegill that hit a White Power Tube

I hope to get some time to give my report from yesterday along with some pictures.

How has everyone been doing lately?

Later,

Corey Bechtold

[fisherdog19]

Been fishing a lake in my area that has an underwater point with one side of the point having an extremely sharp break. Kind of stubled on it, but there is a tree or some sort of brush pile in 18 fow that tops out 12 ft below the surface. We've snagged it and broken off a few times, need to bring the camera out. Needless to say the baitfish are all over the place along with all the predators. You wouldn't believe the size of these crappies, they are BIGGER than URL ones. Not one has been under 13 inches, and they are between 1.5-2lbs, and one of them was over 2 inches wide at the back. You can bet my eyes about popped out of my head when I saw the first one come up. We've been out there twice and caught about 30 of them, once you catch around a dozen or so, they seem to shut down. I'll post some pics when I get them on my computer.

[Slyster]

So you found them! Cool.. but what was working? What bait or lure did you use? I'd be interested to hear what you caught those slabs on!

[Matt Johnson]

That's definitely a great report Pete! So, when do you want me to head up there?

[Aberdak]

I have started fishing with 2" slurpies from Northland. What do guys think of this bait? I have tried the perch color pattern and the sunfish pattern. They have a couple of other colors patterns. Any stories or tips will be appreciated!

[Corey Bechtold]

They have their time and place. I had good success this spring when the Crappies were starting to come in. It really didn't matter that time though as the my favorite baits caught fish better. I have tried them recently on some schools of fish and I haven't had any luck when the Powerbaits have. I don't know if it is because the color selection is limited or if the fish just don't care for the scent. I will keep trying various baits to see if they work better than my confidence baits but I'm not going to get my hopes up.

I will be puting up some new pictures later this weekend or early next week along with a few fishing reports. I hope everyone has a great weekend and gets on some fish too!

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[backlash 1]

The absolute best bite I have had for big gills for the past several years has been a 1/32 oz jig with a small chunk of leach on it fished over the side, no bobber. Right around the deep weed edge.

#2 is the 2" smelt power minnow.

[Corey Bechtold]

Cole and myself fished a lake last week and stumbled into some big Sunfish suspended near a steep weedline break. There were some tanks down there and Cole found them eager to hit his Power Tube...

A little later we were fishing Crappies with Power Minnows when Cole caught another nice Sunfish. This was the biggest of the day at 9.5"...

Cole manged this 11.5" Crappie on a Smelt Power Minnow.

The fish were really roaming the edges this day and were hard to pinpoint. The bonus was when you got on top of the fish they were eager to take the bait. I have been trying different baits from time to time but the Power baits have reigned supreme. I am taking the kids (all 3) today to see if we can find some fish. I'll let you know how it goes .

Keep the reports coming!

Corey Bechtold

[RonZych]

Went out yesterday to a different lake that I never have tried. Caught Bluegills in 16ft of water 12ft down. All on minimites and forktail jigs. White and pink color. Anywhere from 7" to 8.75".

One crappie 10" on the forktail. They were all caught during the middle of the day. Would like to try it early or late in the day. It is a small lake about 100 acres in size. I will definetly be out there this winter.

[Corey Bechtold]

A good report from yesterday with the kids. Despite the windy conditions I was able to hold the boat on a steep dropoff where the Crappies were holding. There were plenty of Bluegills around but they were mostly small. The Crappies we caught were hovering off the break and would slide up to the edge to grab a meal. Fortunate for us the Power Minnows served as that meal. 1/16 jigs fished vertical with a Glow White/Chart tail Power Minnow was the best presentation. Cole managed a few nicer Bluegills on Pink and White Power Minnows along with a few Crappies. Sorry I didn't get any pictures, controlling the boat was challenging enough. We fished only for 2 hours and caught several nice fish. Most were 9" with a few between 10-11.5".

Hopefully everyone has had some success this weekend as well.

Good job RonZych on finding the Pannies on a new lake. It's always exciting fishing new waters.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold