What's working now - 2009

[Cyberfish]

No sportshow for me, the weather was too nice to be indoors!

[Cyberfish]

I got out for a bit of fishing after work, plenty of daylight thanks to daylight savings time! I met casey on the lake and he already had some holes drilled. The ice was a foot thick but starting to get pretty dark and soft, open water will soon be here!

he got a nice sunnie right away, and soon I had one too. I was using a flier spoon with maggots. Casey was having more action on a smaller jig. He was using a powerbnoodle rod and he let me try it, i really liked it! it was as sensitive as a spring on the tip, but still had the feel you tend to lose with a spring. i know it will be on my shopping list for next winter!

http://mtbucket.blogspot.com/2009/03/after-work-sunfishin.html

a perch double!!

[panfish11]

My strategies for fishing is if they are biting light go to small jigs with finesse plastics and just try to move the tail very slightly and the use of a spring bobber is a must! when they are active and biting hard i will use a small minnow or a few euro's tipped on the mediun sizes of genz worms or fat boys.

For a dead stick i always have a crappie minnow for those nice 10"+ bluegills.

good luck out there!

[tacklebox7FF]

nice!!!too bad they werent jumbos I've done that with bass during the open water. drop shotting

[panfish11]

hey cyberfish thats a nice double there! i love those mini flyers- thats what i nicknamed em. there one of my go to lures for perch and panfish and i use larger sizes for walleye and bass.

[tacklebox7FF]

gulp

[Cyberfish]

I got out Saturday for one last late ice fling in the metro area and the big slab sunfish came out to play! They were not biting fast and furious, but the size was pretty good! They were biting right under the ice 1 to 2 ft down, you could sight fish without a fishtrap just fine. i got my fish on fatboy jigs tipped with red maggots. Jack got some nice ones on plastics too. he also got a couple of good crappies.

http://mtbucket.blogspot.com/2009/03/last-shot-at-late-ice-big-gills-in.html

I love big bluegills very much, mabye too much!

[tobz]

Saturday we caught our limit of crappies in 2-4 feet of water about 18"-24" below surface. Hook and minnow, bite was sometimes light and sometimes aggressive. Started deeper (4' deep, 15' from reeds), moved shallower about 9AM (2', right next to reeds).

[carpmanjake]

i have been catching alot of crappies along pencil reeds, most of the fish were very close to shore. fishing a black tube under a float has been working best.

here is a result, a 12" male with huge shoulders!

[OnAFly]

Went out twice this weekend, both times caught 30-40 fish. Using a small jig and twistertail. In about 4-5 FOW I would just cast the jig out and hop it back. They would hit when the jig fell, so a stiff rod would help set the hook just on the hopping motion. If they felt any pressure at all, they would drop the jig.

I also picked up a few walleyes with this method. Gotta love spring!

[half-dutch]

The reeds...

They're starting to bed up. Find other such reed beds and the males should be in them, too. Their girl friends are usually bigger and will be laying off a bit probably concentrated in some very specific holding spots close by, just waiting their turns at the honeymoon suits the boys are fighting over right now. Once the boys get that sorted out, the girlfriends will be coming in to join the party.

Keep that camera close; some of the biggest crappies in the lake will be the most vulnerable during this process.

[ozzie]

went out last night and fought the wind and we were able to track down the crappies...most in 4-5 ft of water and we caught them trolling tube jigs behind the boat.....nothing huge but this lake doesn't produce many crappies over 10"......the females all had bellies full of eggs.......

[Foreverfish1]

This weekend I found them in about 3 feet of water mostly under docks. The docks that seemed to be best were near the reeds. Typical spring crappie I assume. Can't wait to get out tonight and see if there still there. Caught them on minnows this weekend but I'm going to try out some plastics tonight and see if they work too.

[Foreverfish1]

Hey guys! Well last friday night I tried out the plastics and to say they worked would be an understatement. I couldn't keep the crappies off. All the fish were in very shallow usually by emerging lily pads in about a foot of water. The interesting thing was none of them had eggs in them like they had just days before. Had they already spawned even though the water was in the low 60's or was it just the males in shallow getting ready to spawn?

Then things got weird. Tried saturday and today and couldn't get them to bite at all! Water temp was still in the low 60's so I don't think they've spawned yet. I'm wondering if maybe becuase of the colder windier weather they slid out deeper. The only problem is: where I was catching them was only a foot deep and it's in a bay that gets to about 11 feet but there's no real break, it's just a gradual slope to 11 feet with no real structure to concentrate them. So any ideas of where they are and how I should fish for them? Any help trying to figure these crappies out would be awsome! Thanks for any help!

[Drewski]

If they are nowhere to be found in the bay, I would try the first break out from the the bay on the main lake.

[ozzie]

try slow trolling tubes back from the boat and cover area looking on your graph for fish.....if you catch one slow down and work the area with a bobber set-up

[MNSUMuskieHunter]

Hey just went out for the first few times in the past couple of days and havent caught jack for crappies idk whats going on anything thats working really well??

[OnAFly]

Find a lake where the water is 58-63 degrees (don't know the exact range, just going off experience)and fish weed beds along the shore. Sometimes they are just on the edge, sometimes they are in the weeds. I've been using a small white jig with a spinner blade on it (not sure what they are called) and a twister tail. I just hop the thing through the weeds and they hit it when it drops.

This has been working for me the last couple of weeks. The water is warming pretty fast on the lake I've been going to so I might need to switch up my presentation/places soon...or look for another lake with the water temp where I want it.

[MNSUMuskieHunter]

ok cool thanks man ya i have been boucing numerous colored tubes with jig heads and havent caught jack squat!!!

[OnAFly]

I agree with Ozzie, search with something which can cover a lot of water. When you find one, go through the spot with a fine tooth comb and figure out what they want and how they want it. When you do, get ready for a lot of fun!

[Scott M]

Good advice given. It's like fishing a tournament...cover some water with search baits, then slow things down and go finesse or concentrate on areas where you know there are fish.

Good luck. I had 60 degree water today on Lake Tetonka in south central Minnesota. Still seeing some black headed males in the shallows.

[carpmanjake]

ozzie has the right idea! but you dont need a boat for that, if you fish from shore: fan casting is the way to go, cast as far as you can to cover more water.

i usually cast 8-10 times per spot (about every 10 degrees or so (as in degrees on a protractor just to clarify), if i dont get any hits, or see any signs of fish, i move on. usually about 50 feet down the shoreline, and i repeat the process

[south_metro_fish]

We had some good luck last night. We were just trying to catch fish and found a spot with water 6 to 20 feet within casting distance and were marking fish every where. We started with some red worms and some other plastics and were catching tiny bluegills till my friend got a crappie and we knew they were in the area. We had not been using a whole lot of tube jigs since right after ice out. We had a couple with and they liked the pink and white ones tipped with a waxie. Pulled in probably 30 or more pretty constant. So tube jigs still seem to be producing.

[Reaper8]

Was out last week and caught 10 to 12 with an average size of 9inches on lead heads with waxies or Gulp Alive waxies.

[CHM]

If you want some fun and larger than average fish, pick up a package of Yozuri Snap Beans and cast to the edge of the emerging weeds. These things should be illegal!