Crappies in the daytime

[Iambjm]

Well I have punched so many holes in the ice on the lake where I live it looks like swiss cheese. I can't even mark fish let alone catch any. Winter total 2 crappies 3 northerns, I was told by locals that this lake was hit very hard a few years ago, and I now believe them.

My dilemma, I would like to try some other lakes here in the Grand Rapids area (prefer smaller ones) but the hubby is not hot on the idea of being out there after dark alone (he can't always go out with me as he is partially disabled). Any suggestions would be appreciated. Should I spend the time looking during the day or pack my stuff up till ice out?

[Matt Johnson]

First off, make sure you're on a lake where you know the crappie population is good. Sounds a little obvious, but that would be one of the more important things to consider.

Next I would consider looking towards basin fish and not so much fish suspended over deeper water. Look towards fish relating out from the shallow spring-time bays. They will hold there until the shallows begin to flourish, which should be relatively soon...

[icefishing21]

yeah i would try the shallows. i was out fishing yesterday from 4 till dark and i was fishing in 6 feet of water. we caught about 6 crappies (one being a nice 11 incher) in those couple of hours and as soon as it was dark we didnt get one bite. i would try going shallow and fishing it while the sun is out.

[walleyeaddict]

I like the slope adjacent to shallow spawning areas. Seems to always produce fish this time of year!!

[redhooks]

Lowlight is usually better for me and some lakes are early morning and some are evening, mid day can be tough. There are lots of lakes in the area and your on your own to find some honey holes but log onto the DNR lakefinder or get a sportmans guide mapbook and concentrate on lakes that are generally shallower w/ a deep hole down to 30 feet,get a vex and fish the deeper holes, swiss cheese is usually good. Grand rapids, hill city, deer river all have good crappie lakes nearby and given enough time on the water you should be able to crack the codes. Good luck,

redhooks

[Shack]

All of what Matt said.

I would also look for weed lines in and to the main basin. If they are not out on the outter edges of these weed lines (deeper water), move into the weed bed a little further. I found them stacked up thick in a main basin weed line yeterday. It was a great day.

Doubles!

Keep punching holes untill you find the yellow, yellow/green to yellow/red bars on the flasher, suspended above the bottom about a 1 1/2 to 3 feet. I found these fish yesterday in 5' of water (from the the lower part of the ice to the lake bottom).

Also remember the sun block .

Good luck..

[lucky_nuggets]

Well that would certainly explain my recent slump. My thinking has been the opposite. I figured they would still be relating to deeper water for the oxygen. Not to sound to retarded but explain basins a little more. I imagine a dinner plate when you say basin.

[Iambjm]

Okay this is the lake I went to yesterday, the red areas are where I fished. The green circles are areas where the ice is visibly bad or open water exists. The areas where I fished had at least 24" of ice. I don't have a flasher, but I do have Fishing Buddy LCD locater. I was out from 2-8pm and never marked a fish. I must have drilled 20 holes before the old body petered out. I caught no crappies but did catch 3 keeper sized northerns-----but alas I couldn't keep them. I had decent luck on this lake last summer for northern and bass but never fished it much for crappies. A friend told me he catches some nice sunnies in the summer but can't find them in the winter. Move to another lake or give it another try?