What's workin' now Ice...

[fisherdog19]

I got a chance to get my permanent out and fish the night bite for crappies, I even slept overnight in it last night. It was a little slow, managed just 6 small crappies, 3 on the rod and 3 on the rattle reel. I think my buddy set the house up to shallow, we'll have to put it out a little deeper.

Cory, on that fireline crystal. Even when fishing in the heated permanent, I have a hard time getting it off the spool, I even stripped a bunch off and reeled it back on fairly loose. One thing it doesn't do is hold water like my power pro, which makes fishing outside with it nice.

Another new line I have tried, and like, is the Cajun Red Ice, it is very limp and has little stretch. It isn't as limp as the Sufix, but has less stretch. Neither of them have coiled off the spool on their own yet like some mono's will.

[Corey Bechtold]

Nice report Jim! What happened at the NAIFC? My guess would be large Crappies and some average Bluegills.

Here's my report from the weekend. I only had one morning to fish before a Christmas party so I hit some smaller lakes that had good Ice. What I found on the first lake was a lack of weedgrowth in shallow so it took me a long time to track down the fish. Once I finally found some weeds I auged a ton of holes on the edges. I was shallow and mainly used Power Tubes and Little Atom Optic Glow Stealth's tipped with a small soft plastic. The LA was doing better for small Gills and Crappies so I went back to the Power Tube. It didn't take long till I started catching a few respectable Crappies. It was a blast as I could watch the fish slide in and take the bait. They would really hammer the Power Tubes. White was the best color fished on a 1/32oz jighead.

Later I switched to a different lake and found the weeds to be very plentiful. The fish were relating to the edges but seemed to prefer standing weeds. My guess for this is that as soon as I started fishing the break it didn't take long to hook into a Pike. Power Tubes again were the key as this kept the stunted Gills in the lake from bothering my bait. Having a larger bait only allowed them to peck at the tails.

Again this day I pounded the Fireline Crystal and had excellent luck with it. It even held up well to a good sized Pike that had the hook buried on the roof of it's mouth. The color of Little Atom Optic Glow Stealth was Chart/White. Crappies and Sunfish really liked this color on the fairly clear lakes I fished.

I hope to get out again soon and see what I can find.

Good luck everyone,

Corey Bechtold

[Jim Hudson]

Corey

Pretty tough bite for everyone... Very few fish weighed in.. Overall it was an interesting tourney!!! You hit it on the size.. good sized crappies and minimal size on the gills...

[ole matty]

went out on linwood lake tonite. start out on 15 fow with pink shrimpo tip with spike. caught one walleye and one perch. then switch to green ratfinkee n move more shallow 7 to 10 fow. have much better lucks with bluegills few was over 7 inches and caught one more eyes... ice was 6 to 9 inches anybody have luck with crappies out at linwood

lake??

cheers

[Corey Bechtold]

Here are a couple pictures form my recent outings...

12" Crappie that took a Little Atom Optic Stealth tipped with 2 spikes.

A shallow water Crappie that wanted the Power Tube.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[ozzie]

nice pics corey.....i have been noticing a decent bite on 2 different lakes both in the 20 ft range for crappies......I have been mainly using shrimpos and ratsos sometimes tipped with a euro. One night by myself I caught about 70 crappies and at least 50 caught on the plastic. fun fishing.....not all the fish are big but plenty in the 9 inch range which is decent...

[tommyk]

Got out on a small body of water in eastern WI this past Saturday. Tough bite with very clear water, clear skies, no snow cover, and the gills being in 4 fow or less. With alot of patience ,and breathing being the only thing I could do with out spooking the fish, it turned out to be a decent day of sight fishing. I started with small plastics but only a few lookers came through. I switched to the smallest size Diamond Jig (in black/orange/yellow) tipped with a single wax worm and got the gills to stay after very very light twitches and pauses. The design of the Diamond Jigs is pretty cool since there is a lot of weight in these jig but yet the body size is so compact giving them a tiny apperance and still having the feel through the line. I think I will be using these a lot in tough bite conditions.

[Stratosman]

Got out today with my brother in law and managed a pretty good day, fishing in 10 feet of water on a small lake that's max is 15'. Got some nice bluegills up to 9.5" and a few crappies around 11-12". Tough bite, a tiny orange marmooska tipped with a single maggot along with a spring bobber was the ticket.

[Jim Hudson]

Tough bite for me as well today on some smaller bodies of waters... High pressure, no clouds, and windy as all get out.. Tried clear and stained water, but the bite was pretty well off for the most part. I did end up catching a few fish.. Lots of largemouths for some reason.. 'Gills were quite small, with 4 nice crappies though, in the 12 to 14 inch range right as the sun was starting to set...

Switched up presentations throughout the day.. but the best color combo was a green glow along with a glow tail of some sort. I switched between a Lindy Pounder, Lindy Fat Boy, and Little Atom Stealth Optic in this color combo. Wedgies and Micro Minnows were the preferred plastics. Meat was definite as well, euros is what they wanted, but only one at a time...

Here is one of the crappies that was caught on the Optic and wedgie combo...

Hopefully tomorrow is a better day, for numbers anyways.

[Jim Hudson]

Fished a few more inland waters today for panfish action.. First light, found myself and two friends on a clear semi-deep lake that holds really nice gills. Fish were very neutral and took some teasing into biting. Lack of weed growth this year seems to be why, as the lake has some big predators and the fish did not want to come very far off the bottom for this reason. Did pull a few 9 to 9.5 inch gills. Hot bait was the #10 Techni-Glo Genz Worm and a Gold and Green Wolfram. Both tipped with multiple spikes.

Second lake is a numbers lake for me with the possibility of size. Here we found fish in a 15 foot depression in a 5 foot flat. Still a lot of green weeds left and the fish were relating to pockets inside the weeds. Again, a lot of predators swimming about on this lake today. Caught probably 50 'gills for 2 hours fishing in the middle of the day. Quite a few in the 8 to 9 inch range. Hot baits were a #10 Techni Glo Red Fat Boy, Grn Glow #10 Optic Stealth, and a #8 Techni Glo Grn Genz Bug. Waxies or spikes took fish. Again, here the fish needed a little coaxing to bit.

A constant pound with some pauses as you slowly lift the bait away has been needed to make the fish go. If you stopped, the fish would start to sink back down. But starting the pound again would get em to come back and seal the deal. Finicky little devils!!!

[Matt Johnson]

Worked over a mainlake basin this morning for pannies... found mostly crappies, all throughout the water column too. Sticky-bottom mostly, not many weeds, but the fish were definitely cruising in search of food. Depths anywhere from 8-13 feet, with an emphasis on the 10-13 foot range.

A variety of presentations were working today. 2-inch Power Minnows, Power Tubes, Size 6 and 4 Ratsos, Maynard's Flutter Bugs... you dropped it down and they ate it.

Managed to pick up a few decent fish, but most were in the 8-10 inch range.

These warm temps sure made it comfortable to be out on the ice. Not much wind and the ice was a solid 7-8 inches on the spots we fished.

The gills were also there, but they were more finicky and hunkered down to the bottom. The crappies were the dominate force today...

[ole matty]

went out yesterday for my birthday day..caught few crappies n bluegills nothing big just keep my busy.. caught few perches one is 12 inches and went to other lake for evening fishing caught 25 inches walleyes on ratfinkee n waxworm my biggest walleye ever caught durin ice fishin! merry christmas everyone and have a good one!

cheers

[Corey Bechtold]

Here are a couple pictures from last week's adventures...

Hopefully I can get into some good fish this weekend! Happy New Year everybody!!!

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Jim Hudson]

Fish were relating to a break into the basin of this lake today.. Key depths were 24 to 32 feet of water and the fish wanted the bait moving away from them to elict strikes.. Big fish galore, with many over 9 inches and a handful over 10 inches...

#8 Techni Glo Chart Genz Bug with a glow Micro Minnow and one waxie was the ticket today... Also, the Arnolds Fairy Jig took a few as well...

[Corey Bechtold]

Nice job Jim!

I finally got some time to get some of the recent fishing pictures on the site. Cole and me have been fishing on occasion and have found a mixed bag of Crappies and Sunfish. Mainly we have been fishing breaklines from 8'-15' of water. Some of the presentations that have been working have been Power Tubes, Optic Stealths, and various horizontal jigs. For the Power Tubes I have been working them on 1/32oz collerless jigheads. Multiple colors have been the ticket but White had taken the most fish. There have even been an occasional Bass thrown in with the other fish. Cole managed this good one the other day...

Cole's Bass

The other day I found a few Crappies that only bit during a 5 minute window. The bait of choice was the Power Tube again. This fish came in and hammered the tube and put quite the bend on my new Thorne Bros 32" Panfish Sweetheart...

Me and a 13" Power Tube Crappie!

Here are a few pictures from some of our last few fishing outings...

Cole and a nice Crappie.

Cole likes the new Fireline Crystal!

This guy liked a small Pink and White Southern Pro tube.

Some more "What's workin' now"...

I outfitted my Thorne Bros 32" Sweetheart Plus with a new reel from Mitchell. It is a 310Xe that I really like. The line I put on is Berlkey Fireline Crystal 1lb test. This is a great hole hopping outfit!

Cole has been using his Christmas present lately. I got him a 26" Fig Rig rod and put a Mitchell Advocet with the Fireline Crystal line. He has no problem with hooksets now!

I hope to get out again soon and possibly chase some Bluegills.

Good fishing everybody,

Corey Bechtold

[Cyberfish]

Got some nice pannies today since the UPL was tanked by the nasty weather me and Jack hit some river backwaters and for the most part missed the rain. We got about a dozen nice fish and threw back more smaller ones, I got this jumbo bluegill which I released after a quick pic!

[rangerforme]

Went fishing up around Brainerd last weekend, got into some dandy crappies, many in that 11-13 inch range, dropped a couple bigger ones in the hole. Fish were caught in 5 feet of water on a weed flat, you had to hole jump to find them though. The bait of choice was a size 10 marmooshka with bright colors and loaded with waxies. Fish were pretty agressive, also landed a few 5 lb pike on the ultra light with 2 lb test.

Corey, I tried both the power minnow and tube and the crappies would come up and sniff and leave, I've still yet to catch a fish on either, must be how i work the bait. Drop the waxies down and you can see them race up for it and crush it. Any hints on the best way to work those?

On a side note, I thought I was catching 14 inch crappies till i measured them and they were 12.5 inchers, fat ones though, weighed about 1.5 lbs. It made me realize that a 12 inch crappie is a BIG crappie, so all the people on these boards(a few excluded, Corey, Matt, etc) that always post about catching all these 11-13 inch crappies all the time i just can't beleive it, put those fish on a tape it would shrink them i think, that or i'm an awful fisherman, because all i catch are 9-10 inchers most the time at best.

[hanson]

9"-10" Crappie, the Bluegill on the right was a 9 1/4" fish

A crappie under 9" is a really small crappie. Most of the crappies I catch around the metro area are in that 9" area with a few that will push 10". A crappie under 10" really isn't worth putting the fillet knife into IMO.

11" - 12" Crappie

Now this is a nice sized crappie, and a size that is fairly common on lots of lakes.

14 1/2" Crappie

Now we're getting serious. Not too many places where true 1 1/2 lb plus crappies exist.

I do agree with you whole heartedly. Put the fish on a bump board, pinch the tail, and you'll be humbled by the measurement typically.

But there are lots of lakes across the state, including metro area, that have 11-13" crappies in them. They aren't that rare.

[Corey Bechtold]

Quote:

---

Corey, I tried both the power minnow and tube and the crappies would come up and sniff and leave, I've still yet to catch a fish on either, must be how i work the bait. Drop the waxies down and you can see them race up for it and crush it. Any hints on the best way to work those?

---

Rangerforme, the real key to using these baits is to be sure to have the know on the very top of the jighead so the bait sits perfectly horizontal. Often the fish will do exactly what you said they did if it's not perfect.

I know exactly what both you and Chris are talking about when it comes to measuring fish. The mouth has to be closed! I have a pet peeve about people who use sizes to tell a story but don't have any proof. I know all too well because I have a co-worker who I have busted several times when he lies about fish size. One time he was telling me about a lake that he was catching 15"ers on and that he'd take me there sometime. Fact is that I made him take me there and it happened to be a lake I fished regularly. I know that there weren't 15"ers that could be caught on a regular basis so I knew that he was full of it. All we caught that day was a few 10"ers that are apparently his 15's! I also went along on one of his "Walleye" adventures and he caught a fish that was all of 8" and he swore up and down to me that the fish was 13". He fumbled around the boat and couldn't find his tape measure! I guess he must have been right then.

Thanks for sharing a few pictures Chris. Any chance you could resurrect that picture of your big Bluegill from last year?

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Corey Bechtold]

12.5" Crappie to start the flurry.

14.75" Piggie that took my Power Tube!

The release.

It got better. 15.25" Bruiser Crappie!

The release of next years 16"er.

Field notes...

I started by firing off 25 holes with my Strikemaster looking for the dropoff along the weedbreak. I sight fished in 11' of water using my FL-20 to see when a fish was approaching. I then watched as the Crappies hit my White Berkley Power Tube. I was using 1lb Fireline Crystal which I am falling in love with. While hole hopping between sight fishing I was using my 32" Thorne Bros Panfish Sweetheart Plus Outside rod with the new Mitchell 310Xe Spinning reel. The other rod I was using was a 27" Thorne bros Sweetheart Plus with a Abu Garcia 300U Spinning reel spooled with 3lb Micro Ice. The Bigger Crappies approached the bait slowly and then inhaled the presentation. All the fish were released.

Gotta love when it all comes together!

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Jim Hudson]

WOWZERS!!!!!!!!!!!! Nice going Corey... I want in the next time..

[fisherdog19]

Nice fish there Corey, I need to find me a day lake around here where I can even catch a crappie. They are tough to get during the day in these parts .

[Matt Johnson]

Corey you dirty dawg... you didn't tell me about those slabs when we talked on the phone today Very nice fish! Congrats dude!

[Tyler Holm]

Man Alive Corey. Now there's some nice crapps. Great pics

[Coach1310]

Wow!! Those are some monster dump's and gills. This past weeekend we tied into some 9-10" gills about 30 a piece per day. Special regs lake, could only keep 5 so we took some 8 1/2" ers for the table. What a blast. I was using Cajun Red for the first time and love it. Might have to try some of that Fireline Crystal.

Hanson-

That 11-12" crappie would happen to have come from a lake north of Deer River would it? The spot looks really familiar.