I’m going up to the angle in March on my annual trip and have heard that the crappies that we target in the deep holes are no longer there. People have came back from that area and cant find them and heard that they were netted out? Wondering if anybody else this year had the same experience as I’m hearing or have heard the same that they were netted out.
Our group of six were up in the NW Angle and fished out of Sunset Lodge January 28 and 29. We planned on 1 day for crappies on the Canada side and 1 day for walleyes on the US side.
We did the same trip last year and hit some really nice crappies…most were in the 11-14 inch range. Not great numbers but enough to call it a good day.
When we arrived at Sunset Lodge this year we were told the crappie fishing had been poor all year. We decided to give is a shot anyway on Day 1. We ended up fishing the first morning for 4-5 hours and had 4 crappies between all 6 of us and the guide offered to move us to another spot in the afternoon for walleyes. Fortunately the walleye bite was good and we salvaged the day.
For whatever reason (netting/over fishing) the crappie bite in the NW Angle this year has been poor.
Hopefully it’s just an off year!
I wouldn’t blame nets. Those fish have been exploited for years by ice fisherman. Small populations concentrated in deep holes with constant pressure all winter. Between buckets and barotrauma they are being exterminated.
I wouldn’t blame nets. Those fish have been exploited for years by ice fisherman. Small populations concentrated in deep holes with constant pressure all winter. Between buckets and barotrauma they are being exterminated.
X2. Well said, grubson
It is (was) a limited population concentrated in a relatively small area. Add in a couple of resorts pimping it out for a quick payday – and the current state of the fishery is the only result possible. Thousands upon thousands of 10-fish limits making the one way trip back to the resorts over several years has taken its toll.
Fish grow slowly up there too.
Fish grow slowly up there too.
Yes they do. Those lakes (lotw, rainy, kab, namakan) are very different than the crappie lakes in more southern regions of mn and elsewhere. They grow slow and in very limited numbers. They also unfortunately concentrate in small deep holes where they are very vulnerable. IMO those lakes should have special regulations.
I can’t speak to the “why” but can confirm there was really no bite up there this year. We were just up at Flag Island and they weren’t running crappie trips at all. The walleye fishing on the Canada was apparently quite good.
The resort blamed netting but I don’t know where the truth lies. I did catch a 15” crappie on the us side, though. That was a fun surprise.
Time to shut it down, via strict regulation. Guys should just go down to Kentucky or Tennessee, it’s warmer and man are there a ton of huge crappie in those reservoirs.
I love crappie fishing but too many people keep too many, and the wrong size fish to eat. Needs to be a shift in the way a lot of people think about panfish if something like that is ever going to be sustained.
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