What's working now Open Water '07

[Juan Grande]

My buddy and I hit Fish Lake in Maple Grove this past weekend since it's close to home, for me anyway.

Started out on the north end where I had success last year with crappies and there were none to be found. Tons of surfacing carp in the area though.

Water temp was 60 degrees so I thought they might still be in shallow spawning, but if they were, they wouldn't take anything we had to offer. Tried minnows, power baits, beetle spins, etc. but got no takers.

Ended up moving out deeper and found some fish in about 14' of water. Caught two small bass, one northern, a bullhead and 4-5 crappies. Two of them were whites and were the biggest of the five. Most of the fish came on a drop shot rig with a crappie minnow.

Kind of a slow day, but at least we caught something. Got off the lake just before the rain hit.

[riversmallmouth35]

Went out in the wind on Saturday. When the sun was out and not covered by the clouds I caught many fish. The water temp was from 55-60 degrees. Most of the fish were bluegills with a few bass thrown in there, even though I was fishing for crappies. I had a nice day fishing even though the rain stopped me a little early.

I think I found a good bass lake though for bass opener.

[Slyster]

Posted this on the metro forum.. but probably should have posted it here!

This was the rule of the day for crappies! (May 4 or so) Outfished live bait today.. although not a few days ago.. you never know. Give it a try. Only got crappies on this setup.. no bass.

[jlreding]

That's one ugly looking beetle spin...

[Kyle Sandberg]

I have recently fallen in love with those things. The only difference in mine is I use a crappie slider. I tell you what, the fish still love them.

[uwecsteeple]

How do you guys fish beetlespins? Just out and back like a spinnerbait or change speeds and/or direction? I would like to try them soon.

This weekend I had pretty decent luck with a size 6 shrimpo under a thill steath mini float. I had the bait only 1 ft down in about 6 ft of water.

[Slyster]

It's a thing of beauty! Not ugly! Background is horrible though.

I just cast them out and reel them in.. with frequent pauses to let it drop.

[Kyle Sandberg]

Yep, what slyster said. I like to go really slow, but fast enough to get the blade and tail moving. I feel the slower I go the better chance the fish have of hitting it.

[jlreding]

Ha! You're absolutely right...after all, anything that catches fish is a thing of beauty! I was laughing more at the tail on that thing...it looks like it was glued on sideways. Is that some sort of home-made concoction?

Slyster / K-Dawg, what are the situations you find success using these spinners? As a search lure to cover water? Once you're on top of the fish? How about deep vs. shallow? Can't tell by the photo whether it's a 1/32nd or 1/16th sized jig head. Personally, I've had difficulty casting those weights w/o a bobber (even with ultra-light setups), and particularly in the wind. Any tricks for getting it out there a ways? Thanks.

[Slyster]

It just happens to be an oddball and a little beatup.. they are stubgrubs and I ordered them right here on the FishMN sponsers page.

http://outdoorprostore.com/crappietom-plastics.html

Yesterday I was out again May 8, and the beetlespin was NOT the ticket.. what really worked now was a float and 2' down a jig (black or yellow) and both white Exude nymphs and chartreuse (and other colors were good too) stubgrups and rat-tails were good.. really in in spurts... letting the jig fall, then a few feet in again and so on. Same areas though.. weedy hump or drop off edges at 6-9' they are still biting.

[Ryan M]

Slyster~

Thanks for the tip on the beatle spin. I went with a similar color combo last night and hit about 15 crappies in about 30 minutes right before sunset (and the rain).

[Matt Johnson]

Spent most of the day on the water yesterday. A great day to be out and the pannies were moving all over the place... along with the muskies, bass, walleye, carp....

Managed to find a solid school of gills relating to a shallow set of weeds in about 3-5 feet of water. Mainly on the inside edge, but a few were scattered along the outside as well. Flipped Power Tubes at them for the most part, also hooked a few on Exude Micro Shad.

Also located a stack of gills in several back shallow bays preparing for the spawn. Water temps were darn near 74 degrees in some of the bays. Mainlake was around 67-70 degrees.

The crappies were holding to shallow cover, mainly wood and down trees. A lot of dark-colored fish that are in motion for the upcoming (and actually darn near current) spawn. Very aggressive and hammered whatever we threw at them.

We tried throwing small spinners but they were not as eager to take those types of presentations. A few fish came on those techniques, but non-spinner approach seemed to work much better.

With the warm temps again today you can bet the activity levels are going to increase. Should be a good weekend...

[Kyle Sandberg]

I personaly use and 1/8 oz head just cause I can cast it farther. I like to use them kinda like a homing becon but work well if you cast to the same spot and catch them. Sometimes I put a weedless hook on and cast it into lillys or other vegitation and see what I pull out.

[TNFL]

Went out on Saturday, not in search of walleyes. My wife And I brought her sister and boyfriend out which was fun because neither had been in a boat in 3 years. We went to the smaller, shallower northern side of the lake and fished on the southside (windblown). Got out at about 9:30 and the surface temp was 64 degrees. The fish weren't biting, but every half hour or so the temp kept going up to 70 by 2:00 when we left. I held my ground that the fishing would pick-up as temp rose and boy did it ever. We anchored right in the middle of some sparse pads. Sunnies were being caught on the edge of the channel heading shallow and in the large holes (on waxies). While crappies were available on the deeper edge of the pads (minnows). And later some dark males were biting towards shore in 2 feet. All different styles of jigs were working as well as a plain hook, under a slip "wing-it" bobber, some thill bobbers as well as some cheap round plastic bobbers.

We kept about 24 fish total and released anywhere from 50 to 100 more. Also got a bit of sun burn. Remember the sunscreen folks.

[ole matty]

went out this morning..alot of nice sizes bluegill they was in shallow water 2 to 3 fow..limited out on 8 to 10 inches bluegills n kept few 11 to 13 inches crappies as well.. twister tail on 1/32 n 1.16 jighead work good for me...

have a good week

[Matt Johnson]

Found a lot of nice fish in the shallow areas of the mainlake yesterday. Most were holding around docks with weeds. A lot of crappies moving in and starting to bed. Gills are still a little ways off in the Metro area, but it's getting close. Power Tubes worked very well, as did Micro Shads. Slow fall seemed to work the best. We also pitched floats up along docks poles and boat lifts. Nice to see the water temps hitting the mid to upper 60s on the main lake. Shallow bays are hitting the 70s, very cool

Should be a nice weekend coming out to get out in the boat. Hope everyone is enjoying the open water season!

[eyepatrol]

Nice to see you're getting out a bit now Matt. You seemed a little "dormant" over the winter.

I didn't search for pannies over the opener, but on May 9 the crappies were in the shallow pretty well along with a number of average size 'gills. I sure am glad people like you turned me on to plastics for these fish. We threw a boatload of plastics at the fish that day, and they ate'em up. Very willing to chase our baits as we "burned" them just under the surface. Very cool!

I'll be out again Friday, and might just take some time to check out the panfish situation again....after some 'eye fishing of course.

[Corey Bechtold]

Like Matt, I have been finding more fish starting to slide shallow. The fish have been waiting for conditions to ripen to start the spawn. Crappies typically go before Sunfish and that may have happened on some lakes. There are areas on the lakes where different groups find favorable spawning conditions. This is what I have been finding.

The Crappies have been roaming around so staying mobile has been key.

Power Tube Crappie

Cole with a good fish

The release

I'll put some more photo's up later in the Photo thread I started for Panfish.

As for the "What's working now" here goes...

Key depths weren't as important as finding weed edges near deeper water. Water temperatures ranged from 60-65 degrees. Water clarity was absolutely crystal clear. A lot of the Crappies could be seen roaming around the shallows. Fishing by free casting Power Tubes and Power Minnows with 1/32oz jigheads was the ticket for us. I tried a few different baits but these were my most productive. I fished both mono and Fireline Crystal and didn't notice a drop or rise in one particular line choice considering the clear water.

I'll be back soon with more information and look forward to hear what's been working for you as well!

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Kyle Sandberg]

Could someone please post a picture of a power tube. I have no idea what they look like. Thanks.

[Corey Bechtold]

I sent you a link to the site so you can see the Micro Tubes and the colors they offer.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Kyle Sandberg]

Thanks

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Is everyone ignoring the pannies now?

Got out to a small metro lake and found the 'gills in full spawning mode today. Fish were scattered all around but found the biggest concentration in sand just adjacent to a rocky weedy area. The key was locating the fish backing off and casting to them. If you could see them then they could see you and would scatter. I found a 1/32oz. jig and berkley nymph to work well. Lots of 8"+ 'gills were pulled in along with lots of small bass. All fish were released!

One of the bigger fish of the day 9.5"...

[RonZych]

Right now you could throw a rubber band on a hook and catch panfish Of course you have to go deeper to find the bigger pannies, unless you are fishing in the early morning or late evening. It's a fun time of year.

[Matt Johnson]

The inside weedlines have been very good lately for me. Sight fishing for pannies is tough to beat! Open pockets in the weeds have been holding both crappies and gills. Docks are starting to really turn on too. However, focus on docks that have adequate weed growth, and if possible, multiple kinds of weeds or content. Rocky/weedy areas are holding a lot of fish too.

A lot of the shallower back bays are kicking out fish, but in the Metro they are really starting to warm up and I'm finding my better fish on the mainlake along shallower areas. Depending on the lake, I would also look to find a few fish off mainlake structure and weed patches. Yesterday we found a stack of nice gills holding in 7-9 feet of water off a mainlake hump. Dropped down a white Power Tube and they were more than willing to intercept. A few crappies mixed into too, but mostly gills.

Our more consistent crappie activity came from the thicker weeds. They are definitely in spawn mode, and most of the males were very dark. A few still-fat females, but the males were the aggressive ones.

If you're looking for pannies, try running the trolling motor on low and cruise the inside weedline. You'll see a fair share of fish, it's just a matter of locating the larger ones. Sight fishing can really help with that

Also, don't neglect the docks and boat-lifts. Pitch a small float with a plastic along side them, and slowly work it parallel to the dock, something will come out and play

A little bit of a cold front moved in today, but you should still be able to find fish in the weeds...

Good luck out there!

[Corey Bechtold]

It's absolutely true. Cole and I found some spawning fish with water temperatures in the upper 60's. The fish were in less than 5' of water. The Bluegills weren't huge but we still managed a few descent fish. Berkley Gulp 1.5" Grubs in Black were kicking butt on the Gills. The 2" Grubs also did a descent job while free casting for the Gills. I was catching a few Crappies on them as well but soon switched over to a 2" Power Minnow to get the bigger Crappies. Most of the aggressive fish were the dark males. The best thing about it was it was a sight bite. The Crappies would race in and hit the Power Minnow! You could watch them inhale the baits. Cole had one he was toying with that hit and spit the bait about 4 times. He never set the hook but rather watched the fish terrorize the bait.

All in all it was a very productive day. Lots of smaller Gills that took the black Gulp 1.5" grubs or white 1" Power Tubes. The Gulp grubs were fished on a 1/64oz collarless jighead. The Power Tubes were fished on a 1/32oz collared jigheads. The Power Minnows were fished on the 1/64oz and 1/32oz collarless jigheads. The color of choice for the Power Minnows was Smelt. We were using borderline Walleye gear today. Medium action rods, larger reels, heavier line. We had to try and swim our baits around the weeds and into the clearings where the fish would race out and ambush the baits. Then the fun would begin, trying to get them through the weeds and to the boat!

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold