With some surprise visitors showing up to help me celebrate my birthday the other day, I figured the best thing to do was to try and find some late ice crappies and perch with the guys!
We started the day on a break in the 20 to 30 ft range, and after several holes cut up and down the break, we located what looked to be submerged trees in 28 to 35 feet of water. The crappie bite was really good up until about noon, then things started to slow down, so we went in search of perch. It didn’t take long to locate some big schools of really aggressive perch over a mud flat. They weren’t the jumbos we hoped for but there were some 9 to 11 inch fish if you were willing to sort. Most of my fish I caught on a Pug Bug teamed up with a Trigger X Nymph, or a Wax Tail jig.
The lake we were on should have good ice with easy access for a while still. There was no open water by shore and there were no slush pockets or standing water on the ice. I did see trucks still on the ice but we felt safer using the 4-wheelers. With the cold front that hit today, I am confident and optimistic about not having any trouble accessing most of the lakes around west central Wisconsin for the next week or so. Besides, the bite is just going to keep getting better!
