Crappie quest.

[limeyangler]

Hi All,

 

 

Finally got out fishing after more than a week, not been doing many reports cuz i aint had anything to report but blanks....not even exciting or informative blanking sessions...had a couple of trout on and snapped off (one real hog....typical).

 

Decided to head to a lake today with my buddy Lew. Lew was running late so i headed off to start drilling cuz i expected to be drilling lots today......we were searching for the numerous Crappie that inhabit this particular lake. I had a couple off sessions when the bite was on fire as they headed to the shallows to spawn last spring, but after the spawn they dissappeared...could not find them all summer or fall. So we decided a while back to come and try finding them on the ice.

 

I read all i could about catching crappie on the ice, and decided given the characteristics of the lake to try around structure in the deep water and look for them suspended. I must have drilled 200 holes today, and we moved locations about 4 times, trying different deep water structure locations (there are only 4 prominent locations like that on this small lake). We did not find or see any crappie at all!

 

In fact we only saw perch, very small perch in all but the first location i drilled. We ended up catching some whitefish....which i'm pretty excited about cuz this lake is pretty close to my house and although i only got 2 i had 2 get off, and many more chasers in a half hour period. Lew caught one on opening weekend last year and we put it down to luck as although they are obviously in the Wabigoon chain of Lakes....they are not so far as i can tell a common or plentiful species to catch...so to see some numbers of them is a pretty cool thing really. There were also a ton of small jackfish caught, and even more small perch...with one nice one at 11".

 

 

The whitefish were even being very picky today.......we had lots on screen for about half an hour, all suspended around half way up the water column to 5 feet below the ice.

 

I got my biggest one on a plain 1/4 orange/chartreuse jig and minnow, although we tried all the whitefish favourite lures with no takers. I was about to try a jiggin rap in perch pattern when the bite turned off so never got the chance...will definitely try it next time out because when i was cleaning the fish its belly was full of the usual grubs/larvae and snails they eat on Wabigoon but also loads of perch minnows.....check this out...took a pic of one of the perch minnows alongside my jiggin rap.....

 

 

TALK ABOUT MATCH THE HATCH!!!

 

 

 

So a very slow, and tiring day....we did not get what we set out for, but we eliminated some starting points and will try a different approach next time, thats not to say i wont ever try the deep water suspended theory again on this lake....but i'll try something else next time.

 

 

 

Here's some video and pics from the day......................

 

 

 

 

TEAM 5 ON THE BOARD!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gonna hopefully get out for walleye tomorrow...if not some small trout on Thunder Lake.

 

 

Tight lines all.

[redneck666]

tell me that isnt a perch sittin beside your lure...... must be some kinda alien fish! haha, good report though!

[TDunn]

tell me that isnt a perch sittin beside your lure...... must be some kinda alien fish! haha, good report though!

 

its an atlantic......lol...j/k definitly perch!

 

 

Nice report Simon...

Look forward to a crappie filled report from you

 

 

TDunn

Edited February 8, 2010 by TDunn

[redneck666]

i knew that.........

[ciscokid]

Nice whitefish.

[Musky or Specks]

Look for a bay with nice spawning habitat all the way around it. Find the deepest break fish around it. First place we always start when trying to find crappie on a new lake.

[limeyangler]

Look for a bay with nice spawning habitat all the way around it. Find the deepest break fish around it. First place we always start when trying to find crappie on a new lake.

 

 

Thanks Musky or specks, the bay i pointed the camera at is where they spawn in the spring, we were in the deepest part of the bay in front of that just as you say....i will try a bit shallower next time....i'll give the 15' section a lesson in hole drilling next time!