Crappie Are Here!

[ozaibak1]

Well it's been a long time coming (August 08) but had my first soft water day since then. Conditions were somewhat extreme (0 degrees C, 40km/h wind gusts) but we were shore fishing, still quite tough, but I've been through worse.

 

(thankyou highschool rowing team for toughening me up in tough freezing conditions on lake O and others, um as well as the time I got caught on Pigeon Lake in a freak storm that was hell bent on eliminating us (in a rental motor boat) , as lightning came to our boat the rental motor shut! The fix? Flicking the stupid red on/off switch a few times, yes I'll say it screw you Mercury 2008 9.9 hop motors, you're very hard to start and could have killed us, but maybe you're cheaper for the rental spots!

 

(Luckily I was introduced to my first experience of boater's code, a jetskier was out on the lake during a brief reprieve in the thunder/lightning storm on the water (I thought we were going to fry) as we were rowing back to what I estimated was a 2 hour row back, took about 20 mins by jetski). Side fact: I enjoy walking in pouring rain and no longer use umbrellas because of the number of times I've experienced great fishing in bad conditions. The rain triggers a positive response in my brain due to association with FUN. )

 

Sorry for the side note,

 

Target of the day today was the sometimes elusive crappie. I've mentioned this in previous posts that I've caught these fish last year off well lit docks at night, they were much bigger than the crappie caught today, but it was still very satisfying. First time I caught them thought they were a deformed bass, but hit me within a few hrs wow thats prolly a crappie.

 

Fished in Keswick, from about 8am-12pm. First time I bobber-fished productively thanks to some helping guides, I eventually got it setup to detect the slightest bite.

 

I was using 1/16 oz white glow in the dark jigs, tipped with a 1" white/pink lil'hustler tube, as well as a berkley gulp maggot.

 

Really hard to cast out even 10 yards (with a 6'6 rod, others who had 9 ft rods didnt find it so tough ), the width of the inlet was about 25 ft. Most productive bites came in around 10:30 am.

 

The bigger crappie have not yet moved in, it was quite the cold front, I would say within 1-2 weeks you'll see much larger sized crappie in there (I hope). However numbers wise, they're moving into the shallows, just make sure you got a really light setup.

 

All in all got a mixed bag of about 15 keepers in 3 hrs fishing, the others were some niced sized blue gills and pumpkin seeds, they're gonna have an introduction to mr. mazola within several hrs.

 

I've heard it from others, and experienced it myself, I really like pink and/or white for these crappie, panfish, and fish in general. My PB bass was caught last summer on a 5" kuhuna pink kut tail worm, and the crappie about a pound size last year were caught on 2" mister twister white.

 

I think the pink / white tube w/ white glow jig excelled and outproduced others today due to the overcast conditions, providing better visibility / attraction to the fish.

 

Edited April 5, 2009 by Bass Killer

[JeffBornFishin]

Nice haul considering the conditions today

 

Good going and thanks for the post

[Terry]

nice going

[EC1]

awesome fish! The wind was howling and it was so loud even indoors!!

But with your good results, I congratulate you!

[BUSTER]

dinner! yep cant say i went outside for long today

[Joeytier]

Good report. I got down to Atherly narrows in hopes of landing some perch for sure, but the wind convinced to not to even bother. Good going.

[waterwolf]

absolutey way to go!! nice catch.

 

wind is the worst!! you can dress or plan for any other weather but wind,, hate the wind!

Edited April 5, 2009 by waterwolf

[Leecher]

Great report and pics Bass Killer

 

Beautiful crappie for sure!!! congratulations

Thanks for sharing

Leechman

[medmart]

Nice hull that will make for a nice meal

[crappieperchhunter]

The bigger crappie have not yet moved in, it was quite the cold front, I would say within 1-2 weeks you'll see much larger sized crappie in there (I hope). However numbers wise, they're moving into the shallows, just make sure you got a really light setup.

 

 

 

I admire your dedication to fish in the conditions we had today. Hats off to you. Typically though the best crappie fishing there is the first 3 days to a week that the ice has moved out. Past experience dictates that the bigger crappie have come and gone already. Wednesday night was good for bigger slabs. Many 10-12 inchers caught that evening. Those fish are long gone now.

[Skull.K]

Thanks for the report! it seems to rain again next week, hope my next time fishing wont turn to be "slow and small" again:)

[RuNnYoOzE]

excuse my ignorance (haven't fished in years) I am assuming crappie are fair game and always in season! I have never really knew or followed the reg's about in-season fish but thanks to this site ! Anyways crappie seem to be fair game and yes this site is cool..I hooked up with 2 gentleman and we hit oshawa Trib but the rain had made it murkyville!

Edited April 5, 2009 by fishinFanatic69

[Zubris21]

great stuff! thanks for sharing.

[ozaibak1]

excuse my ignorance (haven't fished in years) I am assuming crappie are fair game and always in season! I have never really knew or followed the reg's about in-season fish but thanks to this site ! Anyways crappie seem to be fair game and yes this site is cool..I hooked up with 2 gentleman and we hit oshawa Trib but the rain had made it murkyville!

 

Well they're always in season on Simcoe, but not in other areas you have to check the regulations for that.

[pipeguy]

Great job, must have been a good meal.