Crappies in a gravel pit (Help)

[bigreddog]

In the spring, summer, and fall my buddies and I catch slab crappies out of this gravel pit all the time. We can't find them in the winter. It has a max depth of about fifty feet. Where the heck are they during the winter?

[bassphish2005]

Most likely suspended over deep water

,do u bring electronics along during you winter trips?with that kind of depth a flasher will put the odds in your favor.

I would love [maybe] getting the skinny on this "pit" fishing

sounds fun

[bigreddog]

We bring Vexilars and have tried anywhere from ten to thirty feet of water. Do you think we should go deeper? As for the pit, It is privately owned and I just happen to know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who owns the land around the pit. I'm afraid if I were to give away its position, I would no longer have a head

[CrappieAttitude]

I would try looking at the deepest hole in the pit. More often than not, the crappies will suspend themselves over the deepest hole. I have never personally fished a gravel pit, but I know that the lakes I have been getting crappies out of this year, they were definately found consistantly over the deeper holes. Is it all gravel bottem, or is there other forms of vegitation around to hold the fish in a particular area?

CA

[Antler_Creek_Taxidermy]

This sounds very much like a gravel pit I hunt buy. Is it near St.Cloud?

[bigreddog]

There are weeds around the edges extending down to about ten feet. I have tried along the weed edge and caught nothing. One would think that you would at least catch a sunfish, but I didn't even catch that. The pit on one end is very steep, dropping off to about thirty feet about ten yards off shore. The other end is more of a gradual slope that eventually drops off to fifty feet (this is the end we catch them on in the summer). We even had an aqua-vu down and didn't see anything. It's like this every winter. As I said before, we catch slabs spring, summer, and fall. It has a fairly mucky bottom.

No, the pit is not near St. Cloud. It's about ten minutes away from my house here in Watertown.

[bassphish2005]

[email protected]

if you want privacy?

so you wount get beheaded?

[dstrey]

I had some luck fishin a pit earlier this year but maybe this will help. There was about a foot thick mat of weeds on the bottom that they seemed to in during the day, they seemed to keep moving up the water column as it got darker and when it was dark, they were about 6 in. under the ice in 10 ft. of water. Once again this was early ice but maybe you can't seem to find them because they are deep inside the weeds.

[RonZych]

They will hug the bottom so u can't pick them up on even the lx5 until you do some jigging.

[bigreddog]

I've tried jigging too with numerous types of jigs and still nothing.

Once you get down passed five feet, there isn't much for weeds. There are some put nothing that would really hold fish and absolutely nothing pass ten feet.

Sorry bassphish2005, I am respecting my buddy's wishes by keeping the location of the pit a secret. I wouldn't have a problem e-mailing you the location, but I don't own the land around it. I just know the person who owns it and he would not be very happy if unknown people suddenly started to show up. Nothing against you, but like I said, I'm respecting my buddy's wishes by keeping the location of the pit top secret.

[bassphish2005]

not a problem,I understand totally

[decoy]

What's the topography like? How many acres are you talking about?

I would disect the lake somehow and drill a series of holes in each section. Mark the depth in the snow near each hole, then go hole to hole with a forage minnow spoon and a vex.

Keep in mind, the crappies will bite best toward evening as microbes rise.

I would fish in a flat area by a steep bank.

[bigreddog]

It is a huge bowl with one side a straigh drop off to 67 feet and the other side a gradual slope to 67 feet. It is probably approximately 10-15 acres. We have mainly tried about thirty to twenty feet at the gradual sloping end. We have never marked a fish. We have tried as deep as forty but still nothing.

[fisherdog19]

Have you tried shallow, like 10 fow and less?

[bdiddy]

Are you sure that this pit is COMPLETELY surrounded by private land? The pit I know of in which I think that you are speaking of is indirectly adjacent to a river out of town. It periodically has flooded into the flooplain in the past which has served as the pits water supply. It is also fed through recharge from the river as well.

I have access to the county's parcel GIS info and I think that if I tried to get on it I could--legally.

Not a good idea to be so specific when posting of slab infested waters. By the way--we aren't the only ones who know about it

[bigreddog]

As of yesterday, I have tried from five to sixty feet of water and did not so much as mark a single fish. Fished for five boring hours. I think I'll just wait until spring. Thanks for all your guys' help.

bdiddy, if you are thinking of the pit I am thinking of, it is private. There was a cop sitting at the entrance writing tickets a couple of months ago after a group of people snuck back to the pit. If you really think you know of the pit I am talking about and would like to say something further, please e-mail me at [email protected] so we can speak freely without giving away any vital information.

[fisherdog19]

Not sure if you have a camera, but it sounds like dropping one down would be good idea. They have to be in there somewhere; this all just sounds so intriguing, and challenging, it makes me want to help.

[bigreddog]

My buddy took a camera out there and tried from ten to fifty fow. He fished all over the gravel pit and did not see one fish.

[vitalshot5]

any underground water running in and out of it?? I fish a small acre lake that is packed full of walleyes in the summer but can't find them in the winter....we found out from the dnr that there is an underground waterway coming off the one end of the lake and is very deep....they spend the winter months there.

[bigreddog]

I don't think there is any underground water running in and out of it. I am not sure but I believe it is spring fed.