early ice crappies

[mnfisher22]

how is everyone catching early ice crappies....what are you using for bait, hooks, jigs, and technique?

[Coach1310]

It depends on the lake. If I am on the lake targeting only crappies, I usually start with a spoon. A frostee or Forage Minnow are two I like. I will start by just fishing them bare, but if need be add spikes or a minnow head. If I am fishing a lake with Sunnies and Crappies mixed I will usually start with a Fatboy or Ratso tipped with spikes or even some plastics.

[ozzie]

shrimpos and ratsos plain or tipped with a colored spike jigging anywhere in the water column that a fish shows up on the vex....and then have a bobber rod with a lively crappie minnow usually a small glow demon attached in the area of the most bars on the vex or on the bottom!!

[Corey Bechtold]

There are a lot of different variables that come into play when it comes to the "set up" of the Ice fishing season. The weather during the late Fall period will dictate where the fish will be and how to best target them.

This year we had a fairly mild Fall and some small lakes froze before the cold winds could stirr things up. For these lakes I'd start relatively shallow looking for the Crappies. I'd target them with horizontal style baits like Ratso's or my favorite Power Tubes/Minnows with a small jighead.

If the lake got stirred up the fish could be over deep water waiting for things to settle down. Here's where I'd probably go a little smaller on the jigs and keep things more subtle. Again I'd start with the Ratso's but possibly switch over to a Ratso tipped with a couple spikes. A lively minnow on a plain hook could also trigger some Crappies that are looking for a bigger meal.

The best advice I can give is to get out and do some trial and error. Not all things are the same from year to year so be versatile in your approach till you pin down a pattern.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[rockman]

I concur in saying a lot of variables dictate when,where, and how for crappies.I am thinking of a eastern MN lake I used to fish at first ice,where a fairly large bay had the water bottom out at 16 feet.The weedline ended at 11 feet, and the water clarity was 2.5 feet.I would target bluegills and crappies in the deepest depressions of the bottom of this basin,using Marmooska jigs(size 12 or 14) with Eurolarvae(maggots).The crappies were mixed in with the 'gills,so it made for a nice catch.The keys in my example are: deeper water in a relatively shallow bay,not far from weeds,using zooplankton looking jigs/bait.I was solely jigging.I am sure a minnow under a bobber set up would have worked, but I was moving too often to set up such a rig.Being mobile was a big factor to staying on the fish. This was basin fishing,not fishing structure such as a point,or an inside turn,etc.I really depends on the lake you're on, and the conditions.You will have to experiment a bit to find the pattern,and then give 'em what they want to bite on.