March Patterns

[irishwalleye]

With this being my first real attempt at march hardwater, where do I start, what to look for?

I dont need specifics, just generalities will do.

Thanks

[SlamNFish]

LOL Pattern other fisherman Lots of fishermen usually means somethings going on. Get in them crowds on a nice day you will meet alot of people mostly friendly.

Ok seriously green weeds like deitz said! actually cover of several types will attract panfish submerged trees "pine trees", sunken boats, rocks, humps bumps,and don't forget main lake basins. Even artificial weeds as green christmas tinsel weighted at one end and hung down holes around where you are fishing will all attract fish not just panfish. Bass, northern, walleye.Get a flasher and an underwater camera so you can find this structure.Learn jigging techniques play with the fish see what they like always be willing to change what you are doing or move sometimes alot before you will locate active fish.

Oh ya fishermen attract other fishermen and sometimes thats the place to be plus you can learn alot fishing around some of these guys. We all learn from some one at some time. So Good Luck and slam some fish. Be versatile there are lots of variables to fishing. As there is in life. Good Luck.

[Deitz Dittrich]

With the lack of snow on the ice.. green weeds are starting... Find green weeds.. you usually have found fish...

Listen to one of the last podcast with Matt Johnson.. we talked about late season fish migrations!

[SlamNFish]

irishwalleye? I assume your an irishman? same here! then you probably have a good sense of humor.Yep those fishing experts on here will steer ya in the right direction.

[Deitz Dittrich]

here is a link to that last podcast.. has a lot of great information.

http://hotspotoutdoors.com/podcast/hsopodcast030208.mp3

[Shack]

SlamNfish,

You are correct. They will steer you in the right direction. I would trade all of my fishing gear to have Matt and Deitz with me every time. These guys know their stuff.

I am heading on one of the single most biggest crappie trip’s I have ever been on in the morning and I will have the information and know how from FM and the Crappie-Panfish forum on my side, in more ways than one.

Good luck..

[SlamNFish]

Hey,shackbash

I'm not sure where your coming from exactly but no need to defend them i wasn't joking.Ive read alot of what they write and yes they do sound very knowledgeable.Have fun on your trip tomorrow i'm sure you will catch lots of fish. Nice weather forecasted for tomorrow also. It sounds like slammin time.

Your a lucky guy to get to fish with them. Good Luck!

I'll be going for some nice pannies myself tomorrow 40 degrees open ice fishing weather no being stuck in a fish house i love it. it's time to play hooky in more ways then one

[Matt Johnson]

March is one of my favorite times to fish. The fish are making food migrations and you can bet if you locate the school then you're going to get bit. This is the time of year when the weather starts to warm up and its more and more comfortable to be out on the ice. Take advantage of it and chase down the fish, don't be happy with sitting in one spot if the fish are not active. I promise you there are active fish out there, you just have to stay mobile and find them.

During March I also like to upsize my presentations. This not only allows me to get down to the school quicker, but it really focuses in on the aggressive fish. Larger baits this time of year will attract and trigger, a very deadly combination.

My locational patterns right now would consist of a first break into the shallows migration. Look for fish still holding out on the basin out from the shallow bays. Those fish are in transition. Also look to the shallow bays right now, especially as snow melts and light penetration increases. This creates oxygen and green weeds... the fish will follow

[SlamNFish]

Hey Matt, Thanks for the info.

I have a question do you think there is more probability of the lake area that gets the most intense sunlight through out the day which will cause quicker melting as a spot that would attract the first fish? I assume it would do to weed growth?

Thanks Matt

I hope to meet ya someday it sounds like you are a true panfish hunter.We could fish a couple lakes i know about.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I'm not Matt.. but yes, areas that get more sunlight do hold fish.. these fish are prespawn and have the feed bags, they use the weed growth for ambush areas as well as oxy...Find these areas and plug a bunch of holes... one tip.. try and walk as quietly as you can, in shallow water you can turn fish off by making too much noise.. slamming car doors, dropping stuff on the ice..even loud talking or yelling...

[Matt Johnson]

Like Deitz said, the sunlight will melt the snow cover which will increase light penetration (and then in turn causes weed growth and oxygen), and it will also cause the ice to melt which will later then produce an influx of water which again in turn increases the amount of oxygen into that area. All of those things will absolutely result in more fish using the area.

Spots where you have an influx of water can be very productive at late ice. Think of spots where water is running into the lake. However, use caution as those areas can produce weak ice.

What you're essentially looking for are areas where green weeds are present and starting to grow. Those areas are rapidly becoming oxygen rich and will draw fish in like white on rice

Water temp also plays a role and those areas will experience a boost in water temp. Sometimes that boost is only a degree or two, but we're dealing with fish that are looking for the warmest water in the area. This also holds true once the ice melts... those northern most bays with a dark bottom will warm up the fastest and you can expect those bays to hold fish early on...

[SlamNFish]

Hey Thanks Deitz and Matt Great info!

What a Great day for fishing today!

I spent the day exploring a little lake i like i found some new spots i didn't even know held fish. Cut alot of holes but i love it i wouldn't want it any other way I love searching for new spots.

Thanks again.

[Shack]

SlamNfish,

I was just agreeing with what you said. The info these guys put out is great stuff.

Nice to see you got out yesterday.

This time of year, also look in and around weed lines to the main basin's/ shallow bays.

Good luck..

[Northlander]

Great advice Matt and Dietz. I was out yesterday punching a ton of holes. Believe me my Nils and I got a serious workout.

I didnt find any fish of size but a few agressive fish.

I found that in my area the weedy areas really arent holding fish yet. Where I found the biggest and most agressive fish was on the break where the deep channel entering a bay meets the shallow rock sand areas on island shorelines. Just didnt seem like the Gills and Crappies were too far into their spring migration yet.

Matt and or Dietz does this sound typical for this time of year or is this because Im so far north and we have 3' of ice and about 4-8" of snow cover yet?

Another question. I have a very big lake with some very nice crappies in it. Its way to big to try to fish the hole thing. My question is would you start where the river inlets come and dump out into deep holes or would you concentrate on the Northern most area of the lake where there are some nice small bays with deep water access just outside of them. The midlake stuff just doesnt seem to be "On" at this point.

[Deitz Dittrich]

SlamN--Please describe the areas that you caught the fish in.. please dont mention the lake or anything like that.. just the location. Would be fun to hear what presentation you got them on too..

N'Lander Its beena weird year. The clearer lakes that I fish seem further along into what I would consider pre-spawn locations, but they seem like they are on their way. I fished a lake yesterday afternoon. The crappies I was looking for took me a while to find as they, like you said, were not where I thought they would be. Maybe only 100 yards out suspending over a 60 foot deep hole. But the spawning area is not far...

On your lake Lander the moving water thing on the south end of the lakes would tend to group them up, giving you a better chance of running into a school of fish. However, those northern shallower bays may give you a better chance of running into a mixed bag of gills and crappies.. and those crappies could be larger...

Good luck and let us know what you come up with!

[Northlander]

Thanks Dietz. Ya most of our lakes up here are stained. I did fish a clear water lake the other day and wanted to hole hop but it was cold and the wind was terrible. Man those fish were deep and on bottom.

What can be coming off bottom at different times of the day and just slowly moving up the water colomn? It never came up the holes like a bug/shrimp deal. Just some air bubbles? I have never seen this like I did on this lake. Maybe a spring?

It didnt matter if it was bright sunshine or pitch black dark out so I dont think it was micro organisms of any sort.

[SlamNFish]

Good morning Deitz,

Let me start out by saying my knees and back are letting me know i worked hard yesterday looking for these fish.

What i did was go into the northwestern corner of this lake where i see very few people fish.The ones that do never stay long but i knew there had to be fish in there so i worked my way around the whole end systemactically cutting holes deep and shallow and look with the flasher and even though i didn't see fish i dropped my jig down each hole to see if anything was close and would move in , then i would move 20 to 30 yards or so and do the same thing. When i got in the northeast corner of this area i finally hit fish in 28 to 30 ft of water the drop off from shore there was very fast it went from 10 ft my shallowest hole to 40 ft in about 20 to 30 yds once i found fish i saturated the area with holes and started working them , the crappies where much nicer in this area being mostly female most where 10" to 12" and i lost a couple larger ones at the hole.Sunfish were mixed in they were nice also being 8" to 8.5" on average. They were definitely more aggressive and actively feeding and moving because after a couple fish they would move so i would jump over to another whole and there they would be. The fish appeared to be keyed on this depth because i would go shallow they weren't there.I cut holes in varying depths all the way to shore. This went on for about 3 hours in the warmest part of the day. My presentation was keep it simple a smallish white moon glow tipped with a waxie And 2 pound test trilene micro ice steel. No sinker! When i found fish they would come up fast and slam it.This particular group of fish were more aggresive then fish in other areas of the lake. Alot of times they were coming up before the jig even got down to them. I never let my jig sit still i move it up slowly to get them to chase or shiver the jig with a spastic motion of the rod tip. I tried upsizing my presentation with a feather jig but they did not like it, Yet? They will soon. I'm sure what i found here is these fish are relating to this area to move up in when the ice is gone. I had a blast! No one was there in this area all day. Later in the day when some guys were coming into the area i quit fishing and walked around like i was looking for fish. Then i left and went to another area i already knew and watched to see if they would discover my spot which they never did. Sorry i wrote a book. It was fun.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Awesome post , thanks for sharing!

N'Lander- I too ran into the exact same thing yesterday... I would guess gasses from the bottom...

[rangerforme]

My wife complains about gasses from my bottom every now and then too.....

[SlamNFish]

LOL

[Ruegs23]

On Sunday we fished a lake up near Battle Lake. We were on a shallow lake no deeper than 17' at the deepest. We started along a break into the 17' hole looking for crappies. It was tough going to start with only little perch. We decided to drill in shallow water and we found some crappies. We hit about the 7' mark on a gradual slope and the crappies would come through but one at a time. We tried moving up and down the break looking for the school with no luck. I think with the colder winter, lot's of snow and ice, the March bite is going to take a little bit of time to kick in. Now with the last three days of spring like temps, the fish should start to school up and look for the food. I hope to get out this weekend and see what happens!

[Deitz Dittrich]

With what you are describing, I agree.. just may have to wait these fish out.. but if it were me, I would head back to the first drop and turn the lake into a golf course... they have to be there somewhere.

I drilled about 20 holes and never marked a fish... hole number 21 had so many fish I didn't know what to do.. and it was only about 10 yards from the last hole.

Fish are down there... just harder to search for them with this much darn ice!

[FishinChad]

Ive noticed the lake I have been fishing this past week has had more crappies deep than shallow. Fish have been suspended at about 14 feet down in 22 fow, and when I move up to 14fow the fish are on the bottom, they seem to be sticking to 14ft down no matter the depth. Marked a lot more fish at the deeper depths, but I think the 14ft depth has more potential for bigger fish and is right outside a big weedflat. These fish may be waiting to invade the shallows at some point. 6fow on the edge of this weedflat has produced only perch so far.