What's working now Open Water '07

[jltimm]

Nice pics Crappie Keith! I hope this site treats you better than the "other" site. I don't know why some of them people have to act the way they do?

[Cyberfish]

Hi CrappieKeith! nice to see ya here! nice pics! cant wait to chase that 12 inch gill!

[Matt Johnson]

Awesome pics and reports everyone! At least I can live vicariously through all of you for the time being

Looks like some great pannie action is being had by a lot of you. From the looks of it Mike hooked a few monster gills! Good fish buddy!

Tommy caught a few nice ones too... and the fish aren't bad either Glad to see you're enjoying the boat, it's a beaut!

[palisade1kid]

Thanks for the welcome men!

Just a word about the other sites.

There is usually a negative agenda that I was entering into.

Mostly politics!

I use what I use & it went against their grain.

I'm my own man,noones paid lacky & since I was not apart of their group I was bashed.

So having said that lets talk about some freakin mules eh!

I'm heading out in a few minutes to get my pops & son into some fish.

I'll be looking at my honey hole for some monster gills this weekend.

The water temp has picked up 10 degrees so now that it's at near 50 everything should be snapping.

I'll come back with some pics tonight as I just got hooked up with super fast DSL.

[ozzie]

funny i had no clue about any politics on the other site in fact the site i was talking about is the most unpolitical site that I have been to so to bad for them and great for us!!! I can't wait to read reports and see pictures from your spring fishing adventures!!! Love the hair jigs and good luck!!!

[jltimm]

You're right on with the certain "group" of guys over there.They think that they are the best thing to come to fish, and doubted your fishing abilities and got all bent out of shape about it. I don't know you, but I do not doubt your fish stories as you show alot of pic's to prove some of them.Keep up the good posts, and pics! Leave some paanies in the lake for me!

[Corey Bechtold]

Where is "there"? Let's keep on the topic of "What's working now".

Any current fishing reports?

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[palisade1kid]

It's gone

[palisade1kid]

sorry this post did not fall in line with the topic,so I've deleted it.

[riverrat56]

Back to whats working now, we found some nice gills pushed up right next to the cattails in 1-2 ft of water. Temp was between 58-60, had to be in the warmer water to find a consitent bite. All fish caught on plastics being free casted or on a thill bobber. Nothing out deeper.

[palisade1kid]

Quote:

---

Back to whats working now, we found some nice gills pushed up right next to the cattails in 1-2 ft of water. Temp was between 58-60, had to be in the warmer water to find a consitent bite. All fish caught on plastics being free casted or on a thill bobber. Nothing out deeper.

---

Those fish are looking for the bugs hatching out of the mud.

We found the same thing.

The closer to the bog we got the better the bite was.

[Corey Bechtold]

Could we limit the pictures to 3-4 pics per post? I have DSL and reading through posts is very annoying as the computer is constantly loading pics. I can't imagine how tough it can be for people with dial up to try and read through a post. The information is great but this site has a Photo Sharing forum.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[palisade1kid]

I'm new here and did not realise that that was an issue.

I guess deleting it should take care of the issue.

It's gone.

CK

[Corey Bechtold]

I've got an idea...

Look in this forum in a bit...

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[palisade1kid]

I've got super fast DSL and the pics load fast for me ,but I need to see that there are those still on dialup.

I saw what you did,thanks.

Back to fishing,eh!

The water is really warming up fast & I'd encourage everyone to get out as they are hitting good.

There are 2 signs that tell me they are in most places & that is the sunnies have moved in & the male crappies are turning black.

I think any small plastic bait or hair jig or a minnow even 12" under a cork worked close to shore where there is some sort of structure be it reed stuble or trees in the water should produce fish.

Mud humps on the mouth of a creek dumping in to the lake should be a good spot ,especially if there is some wild rice stubble.

The minnows are there so the crappies should be too.

[Matt Johnson]

Spent most of the day on the water today. Worked several spots and found the most consistent bite to be in 3-6 feet of water along back bays and wood. Water temps in the bays reached about 64 degrees and mainlake was at a consistent 57-58. Exude Micro Shads below a Thill Mini-Stealth seemed to be the ticket. We worked a couple mainlake spots but the fished were much more spread out in those areas. Nothing huge but a lot of numbers. A great day to be on the water!

[bgreen82]

i got out again today, and worked some shallow areas. found a dropoff and anchored in 9-10 feet of water and casted back into 6-7. me and the wife started off on microshad and power nymphs, dark colors. she started off hot with a few nice fish. she got a personal best crappie at 10 1/4". the plastic bite slowed down but she kept with it while i switched to crappie minnows. we moved into a very shallow area off a point and the minnows got hot, then we moved back to the original spot where they continued to shine. all in all we got about 30 fish, all but 3 were crappies in about 4 hours on the water. kept 9 between us. also saw a large muskie or northern surface. the wife spotted him first and i just barely got a peak so i couldnt tell which. real fun day all together. back to back good days on the new boat.

[decoy]

On Sat. My B-I-Law and I got into some excellent action. We caught and released close to 100 if not more fly fishing in the shallows. Sizes varied.

We did get into some real pigs though. We released 15 or more that were 11 inches. I got one that went 12 inches.

Fly rods in the spring are IMO the only way to go in shallow warm water. [email protected]

[united jigsticker]

I got out after work yesterday for a bit.

Found Crappies suspended high over 14 FOW, down about 6 feet, they were females looking for plastics.

Most were 12" dandy fish, one ran 14.25", and my personal all time best fish, a 16 1/8" fish as the sun was setting!

Hopefully I can get out again soon.

[Corey Bechtold]

16+"!!! Contrats UJ! I'll have to see a picture of that one.

I have fished very little lately. I hope to change that real soon! The water temperatures have climbed lately and some Crappies on different lakes have started the spawn. The males have turned black which is really neat to see. They definatley look like the "studs" of the lake.

I'll try and get a report up soon but till then keep the good fishing reports coming!

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Corey Bechtold]

The Crappies have been going pretty good lately. They are hanging around the shallows protecting their spawning sites and waiting for the ladies to come in shallow to spawn. The male Crappies have turned a darker black color and have been relating to any standing cover like lillypads, rushes and timber. Not all strikes are violent so paying attention to your float for any slight variance is key in detecting strikes. I have been using Thill floats as well as the cheapie weighted cork bobbers. The Thill shows more "up" strikes but the weighted float casts farther and gets pulled under easily. Fishing around this heavy cover I have been using a 6'6"ML Fenwick HMG. This rod has a very fast tip which helps me set the hook and move the fish away from the snags. I have also been fishing some 6lb Stren Magnathin line. So far I am impressed with the line. It has good hook setting power and the larger diameter allows my bait to fall a bit slower. The main bait for me has been Berkley 2" Power Minnows in the Smelt or Black Shad colors. I have had them rigged up on a 1/32oz jighead. Water temperatures have been in the mid 60's.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[RankOfEagle]

I was able to get out on a local lake the past couple days for crappies. Didn't put a ton in the boat but what i did were nice sized. They were consistently around 11 - 12". I found them to be in water from 5-10'. I either drifted with a chartruese power minnow or fished a minnow about a foot under a float and both worked. I would post pics but i still haven't figured out how to...

[LanceJ]

Went out today and battled the wind on a north metro lake and had a heck of a fishing day. All my fish were around some islands and on a sandy/rocky flat in 3'-8' fow. The 2" smelt power minnow that worked so well for me last weekend didn't perform today. The pink micro shad provided maximum ownage on a 32nd oz head with a float. The fish were biting a very aggressive jigging with the rod tip. The crappies were totally inhaling the thing and the bass wouldn't stay away from my float....all in all it was a fantastic day...despite the wind. Caught tons of fish, most crappies over 10".

[Corey Bechtold]

Good job guys!!! I wish I could have fished a little this weekend but I had a lot of family activities to keep me off the water. Hopefully I will have some time to sneak out after work sometime this week.

What kind of water temperatures were you finding?

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[LanceJ]

The lake I was on (somewhere between White Bear and Lino Lakes) was 55 degrees yesterday. It was in the mid 60s last weekend....I guess that's what the wind and cold nights will do for ya.