What's workin' now...

[CRET]

Went out in the middle of the day on Saturday; Crappies were in 16-21 fow. The White Head/Pink Micro Shad worked very well for 6 varieties of fish. Lots of fun...Really like the Micro shads & Ringin Rats the best. No other Plastics have come close in production for me.

Cret

[Bob/Mn]

For this week I have been having good luck on crappies using a balanced stealth bobber and a hand tied jigfly 1/32 once, tipped with power bait.

Fishing weed beds in depths from 6-12 feet. A pull and set retreve worked the best. The bite happened with the jigfly setting still, with 40% of the bites up-setting the stealth bobber.

[united jigsticker]

Hit the water yesterday and found numerous Crappies and Bluegills in 13-18 feet of water.

Water is getting good and green. The fishing will get better and better every week now.

4 Crappies went 13" or better, a couple 12's, and plenty of smaller ones to keep a guy busy.

[Matt Johnson]

Corey and I (and Cole ) made it out yesterday in search of pannies. We also met up with juggs for a little while. We worked a pile of different structures ranging anywhere from 4-30 feet.

We found a school of crappies out in 20-25 feet of water that were relating to the bottom. It was tough trying to stay on them but when we did it was decent action. Berkley Power Minnows tipped on a 1/32oz collarless jig worked well, as did Culprit Paddle Tails.

We also found fish relating to various different deeper weed edges, ranging anywhere from 7-20 feet. Bluegills and crappies were comingling on these spots. And of course, we landed a stack of those tiny 6-10 inch bass

Fishing was tough yesterday. There were a lot of fish being marked, but they were very finicky and weren't hammering the plastic. A lot of missed hooksets on short-biting fish.

The wind was virtually non-existent on some spots, which was nice for vertical jigging, but it might have been a factor in the non-aggressive bite. I also think the storm system that moved through was still affecting the bite. The fish are usually holding in that 10-15 foot range, but we didn't mark consistent schools of fish until we hit that 17-30 foot range on some spots. That tells me those fish slid out deep and haven't made the move back in yet. They were also holding close to the bottom and the bait needed to be sitting right in front of their noses in order for them to bite.

Cole did manage to reel in a nice pike all by himself...

And Corey hooked into a 12-incher in the afternoon...

It was a beautiful day to be on the water and it's always a pleasure sharing a boat with Corey and Cole

[Corey Bechtold]

Hopefully everyone had a chance to get out and enjoy the nice weather this weekend! Thanks to Matty for sharing his boat with Cole and Myself. We had a lot of fun even if the fish weren't numberous or huge. It's always fun to fish with friends. It was also nice visiting with juggs on the water and sharing some fishing tips. We will be getting out again soon!

I also was able to fish with Borch today. Again, it wasn't a stellar day on the water but it was fun to see some new lakes and try out some different areas. There were lots of smaller fish today along with quite a few pesky Pike .

I look forward to getting out with some more fellow FM'ers this fall to search out some eager fish. It is only going to get better!

How did everyone else fair this weekend?

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Wookiee]

I got out yesterday morning with my dad and located actively feeding sunfish on the top of a reef which was covered in milfoil. My dad worked a 1/32oz green jighead with a piece of gulp minnow worm that he had cut into chunks. I worked a pink 1/32oz collarless jighead with a 1" glow power grub on it. We caught a lot of fish about 20 to 30 in less than an hour, it kept us content the biggest was about 8 1/2 inches. We tried numerous other presentations like micro shads, micro power tubes and power minnows but the 2 presentations I listed worked the best. We fished them about 2 feet below a float in about 4 to 6 fow on top of that reef. It was a great day to be on the water with great company.

[rosspj59]

I hit a north metro lake with my wife and had good success in the 9am -11am time period for sunfish and crappies. I finally found some Exude micro shads in the pearl color at Gander in Maplehood. I was using those with a float while the wife had a ratfinke with a waxie. She caught a few more fish than me, but the size was better with the fish I caught except for the 3lb channel cat she caught. We were fishing near some shallow weeds 3-5 feet of water. After a drive around the lake I hit another area on a breakline off a shallow weed hump and caught a few good sized crappies on a float/jig/minnow twitched back to the boat in 8-11 fow. The afternoon bite really slowed and it was kinda warm so we headed home.

[RonZych]

Went out to a favorite lake north of the cities. Experimented with some white colored crappie candy.

My wife used the crappie candy on a pink mini-mite with the tail bitten off. (By a fish not me.)

I used a plain gold long shank hook with crappie minnow.

They were both used under a float.

The jig was jigged and stopped on the way in.

Minnow slowly reeled in and stopped now and then.

4-8 fow. (This is the best depth for this particular lake for all species all open water long)

Wife caught the first 5 fish. All crappie.

Then it was back and forth for the rest of the time.

The jig was slightly better for action.

Crappie,Sunfish,Bass and Walleye were caught.

Fewer sunfish then normal.

Crappie up to 12"

Sunfish up to 8"

Walleye up to 15.5"

Bass up to 10"

Overview:

The crappie candy worked excellent.

The crappie candy is a great bait for women or kids that dont want to mess with worms or minnows.

A little surprised with the amount of sunfish caught. No worms were used so that may be why.

Beautifull day on the lake.

Joe (fishkid) also was on the lake fishing for pike. Caught them up to 41"

Sorry can't post pictures.(Spies everywhere)

[Corey Bechtold]

I forgot to post some pictures from a fishing outing when I took some kids from my church.

Anthony caught this nice hybrid Sunfish on a Power Tube.

Here are the Anthony and Jordan (brothers) with some nice Crappies they caught on Berkley 2" Power Minnows.

They had a blast catching fish and really caught on quick on how to get the fish to bite. I think they might want to go again soon .

Later,

Corey Bechtold

[Cyberfish]

Good Job Corey! those kids look like they are havin fun! I got to take some kids out too, fish were biting too!

[Matt Johnson]

Good pictures everyone!

My dad and I spent a good part of the day on the water yesterday. We also met up with Corey Bechtold and fished for a little while. Weed edges are producing.

We used a variety of presentations, ranging anywhere from Tadpole Spins to a tiny jig and Micro Shad.

I think the key right now is to stay moving. Pick up a few fish here and there and then it's usually time to move on. At least if looking for quality fish. The small fish are still piled up in certain spots, so there is action to be had if you want to get the kids out.

A few more warmer days this week, then we'll start to see things cool down. Should be a fun fall for pannies...

We found panfish roaming anywhere from shallow, 3-5 foot flats, all the way to 25 feet off the break suspended. The fish are definitely moving a lot right now and it can be tough trying to stay on top of deep water fish.

Seems like some sort of weed growth still plays a vital roll right now, unless out in deeper water.

[Cyberfish]

Got this slab gill today on a green 2 inch powergrub in shallow water.

[Matt Johnson]

Nice fish Mike! That's a brute! Congrats!

[Lost]

That fish looks familiar! Nice catch! I think I know just where you caught it too. Hehe.

[Corey Bechtold]

It's been a while but I was able to coax Bailey to join Cole and myself for a little Panfish fishing the other night. We went out in search of some big Crappies. With very little effort we stumbled into the fish. There were Sunfish and Crappies mixed with the occasional Bass as well. The only thing was we couldn't get any Crappies over 11". We did manage a couple big Sunfish on the Power Minnows (biggest was 8.75"). There were good numbers anyways and Cole and Bailey had fun catching them. Water temps were in the mid 60's which has me guessing that prime time will be here soon. We did the most damage with Power Minnows in the Chart/white color along with the Black Shad. Cole was getting more Sunfish on white Power Tubes but he switched over to Power Minnows when the Crappies started biting. It was a fun night with the kids and as always a good time watching the kids lay into some fish.

Yesterday I went to a different lake in search of some Walleyes. Unfortunately the Walleyes weren't around so I switched over to Panfish. I found the Crappies on the shallow turns near deep water. No bruisers again but good numbers. I also banged a few decent Gills, Rock Bass, LMBass and some Pike. Water temperatures were the same as the other day. And the patterns were the same.

Hopefully this colder weather will get the bigger fish in the mood to bite.

Anyone else getting out lately?

Later,

Corey Bechtold

[Cyberfish]

Got this nice sunfish today while casting a Mann's Minus1 plug for bass!

[The Grebe]

That not sunfish....that pirhana!

[Corey Bechtold]

Well, it's been a while but I made it out last Sunday in search of some fish. I wasn't going to target anything specific, I just was fishing.

What I found when I got on the water is that the lake was about 56 degrees. When I started searching for fish most of them were a little deeper than usual. They weren't really agressive either. I started fishing a 2" Power Minnow and caught Walleyes in 16' of water. No real big ones in this area but plenty of them. I kept fishing the area and caught Walleyes as deep as 27'. Other than Walleyes there were plenty of Pike and small Bass all over. Kind of a mixed bag of fish.

I moved around a bit and tried to find some Panfish. Nothing real exciting for them. There were plenty of baitfish everywhere I looked but no gamefish that I could see or catch.

Near evening I started seeing more bigger fish show up on my locator. I popped a nice sized Gill on the Power Minnow and the school moved on. I chased them down 50 yards away from where I started. Next I caught a big Rock Bass. Again they moved. My next 2 fish were nice Crappies. The biggest was 12.5". The school moved again and I couldn't find them this time. The sun set and the lake came alive with all kinds of floating stuff that cluttered my locator making it difficult to see much of anything. I noticed that the water temp dropped a few degrees after sunset as well. Possibly the begining signs of a turnover. With cold temperatures at night and the days getting shorter it won't be long until the lakes start to fully turnover.

I'll let everyone know what I find the next time I get to the lake.

Anyone else been getting out lately?

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Matt Johnson]

Any recent panfish reports?

[Aberdak]

I must confess that I have switched to fishing for walleyes in this fall season. Casting jigs and minnows in and amoungst flooded timber. That has been working nicely!

[delmuts]

i went out to one of the ponds near here. had good luck on gils using a jig and a white shrimpo body tipped with a waxie. caught one gil that was 8-9 inches and was a good 1 1/2 inches thick!no crappies

[Deitz Dittrich]

Hey del.. maybe you can answer me this.. whats does a IA non-res day or 7 day angling lic cost.. I may try and get down this winter and try some ice angling?

[tommyk]

Deitz,

I went to school and worked down there for a couple of years and still make it down quite often to visit the in-laws in Des Moines. I have spent many days chasing pannies down there in both winter and open water and sometimes open water in the winter . I believe a one day is $8 and a weekenend (3 day I think) is about $17.50 and if you really get hooked on the panfish down there as I did you can fork out $39.50 for the whole year. You will have to do some temperature watching for ice fishing since the ice conditions can be day to day for most of the winter, at least for central and south Iowa.

[Matt Johnson]

Deitz,

If you want to make a trip down to Iowa this winter let me know, I'll join you... I really want to hit up some of those big gills down there...

[Corey Bechtold]

As far as what's working, I hope to find out really soon. I just have to leave the Walleyes alone for a while.

Last time I fished Panfish was with a couple fellow FM'ers. We fished shallow water breaks with Power Minnows and had good success. There also was a mixed bag of Walleyes, Pike, SMB and a Buffalo fish .

I'll try and get a current report up soon (before Ice ).

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold