Crappie frustration

[Iambjm]

I have been fishing a small lake north of Grand Rapids for the last month and have caught 1 crappie. I can see fish suspended between 20-30 over 37-40 feet of water but can't get anything to bite. I even used my Aqua-Vu to try and see what they are but all I see is a milky white screen. I have used the camera in shallower water and it works there but not on the main portion of the lake. I sure would like to catch some fish.

[Sandmannd]

Have you tried euro larva? I have had real good luck with it. I also use a spring bobber for the light bite. Make sure you go small with your jigs as well.

[Ice Ranger]

What all have you tried for jig/bait combinations?

Some lakes are just like that. I know a guy who has a private lake... There are hundreds of crappies hanging around constantly, but you can rarely get one to bite. I don't know what it is... Just not feeding I guess.

[NCLaker]

I was having similar problems this past weekend. Just before packing up I thought I would try a charged up #3 glow chubby darter (despite never catching anything on a chubby darter before).

To my suprise fish came in pretty aggressively from all directions. Ended up catching quite a few in a short period of time. Lots of fun. I will be doing a lot more CD experementing in the future.

[magic_minnow]

I've been doing real well on finesse plastics! Any and all kinds!

Also had the pleasure of trying a chubby darter for the first time this past saturday. I actually managed one 15" walleye, four cigar dinks and 1 crappie! i'm SOLD!

[surewood]

My friends have good luck jigging light with a forageing minnow with a crappie minnow head or tail for the stubborn crappie. Not sure what size it was but they could catch about three to my one when I just used a glowing lure with a minnow.

[Matt Johnson]

You could be experiencing a few things...

Those marks you see on your flasher could be baitfish. Even larger baitfish like shad, shiners, cisco, etc, will school up and suspend out in the deeper water.

You could be experiencing a window bite, meaning that those fish are accustom to feeding at twilight periods, namely sunrise and sunset. Or they could be a late night pattern.

Or you could just be over negative/pressured fish and you need to look for a new, more active school of fish.

More than likely you're going to get at least a couple from the school to eat if they are at all active.

Do you see any of the fish rise to check out your bait? Or do they all just sit there as you drop it down?

[Iambjm]

Some background-61 year old lady whose husband dragged her kicking and screaming into the ice fishing world about 10 years ago, now he is partially disabled and can't always go out with me so I am searching on my own with the occasional help of a neighbor. I only have a Fishing Buddy locater (vexilar is on my wish list) an Aqua Vu Scout camera (useless so far) just got a 4 wheeler for mobility but no trailer yet to get to other lakes. I have tried waxies-minnows-glo jigs-plain hooks-almost everything in my tackle box. The lake I am fishing is Hanson in Itasca county, and have trying mostly the deeper end of the lake. Guess I am going to have to pop for a trailer so I can go over to Wabana.

[cRaPpiEMaN8265]

I like Matt's theory here of the window bite... is the lake a very clear one? sya 15 feet or more? if so i have the sam frustration and i have found they bite much better in twilight hours and into the night... you can puck off a fewduring the day but it is usually a very finicky bite on a clear lake...

Good Luck and keep at it you will be rewarded,

Ryan

[Northlander]

Change locations and find active fish.