Nice fish gimruis. Well done.

We had 55 degree water this morning and 57 this afternoon. The fish still had not spawned where we fished here in the Twin Cities metro, but must be close as the males are definitely getting darker and the females were all robust and full of eggs.

Yesterday, under rainy, cloudy, cool, windy conditions the fish wanted a jig swimming steadily. Today, under sunny, calm, and warm conditions they wouldn’t touch the same jig, preferring the bobber presentation instead. Weird how they flip like that, but we’ve learned not to fight City Hall and just embrace what is working.

Also, we finally got some bigger individual fish, with three yesterday and three today between 14″ and 14.5″. Prior to this weekend, there have been at least 1200 crappies in our boat over the past month and I don’t think a single one hit 14″ until now – and this is on water that historically produces them on a consistent basis. Maybe someone can explain that??

Took the survey. Thanks gimruis for posting the link!

New smallie PB’s in Door Co yesterday: largest individual fish and largest 5-bass limit for the boat. One of the windiest days ever spent on the water but another example of the truth in the saying ‘big weather, big fish’.

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_0763-scaled.jpeg
   

2. 

   FullSizeRender-scaled.jpeg
   

Another 275 fish this weekend, but the bite was off due to a 7 degree drop in water temp, from 47 to 40 in five days. The crappies were definitely more sluggish and far less willing to chase than the prior weekend (same location).

A few observations that may be of interest to crappie-heads out there. I’ve written about fall rate being so important, particularly early in the spring. The crappies often seem to want that bait floating slowly over their head. So, I experimented swimming a jig with 6 pound fluorocarbon and 6 pound monofilament. As everyone knows, monofilament floats and fluorocarbon sinks due to greater density. The monofilament floated that 1/32 ounce jig much better than the fluorocarbon leader I was using. The fluorocarbon drove that jig to the bottom like it was attached to a ball and chain! Lol So, one lesson learned is that in trying to reduce the fall rate and increase the ‘float’ of a very light jig use monofilament.

Another observation was that the crappie bite started to tail off in the late afternoon, particularly for larger fish. I wondered what was happening, when I heard a boat parked across the bay start regularly hooting and hollering over fish they were catching. They were parked right on shore. That turned the lightbulb on for me and I went right to the bank where I found the motherload. The next morning and the next afternoon in those same locations with the wind blowing in there were zero fish. This was after a very cold night. So, the next time you lose track of your fish in the late afternoon or evening, move in close to the bank where the fish will likely be trying to warn themselves in the surface water that is accumulating on the windy shoreline. They obviously leave those super shallow areas as the night air cools the water beyond their tolerance level for change.

These fish never cease to amaze me with their daily movements. The distances they can travel in a short time in order to take advantage of warmer water or water temperature stability are pretty amazing. They certainly have a nose for warmer water!

I had some other thoughts that might be of interest but this reply is getting too lengthy already.

I had a ‘Jimmy Jones’ type day on Saturday. Set a new personal best for numbers of crappies in the boat on a solo trip…375. All were released. There were no giants in the bunch, though a lot of fish in the 11″ to 13 1/2″ category.

The bite was literally nonstop from morning till evening. The most efficient presentation for me was swimming a 1/32 ounce jig and a baby shad in Orange/chartruese. More specifically, the jig was a UV pattern moon eye. I tend to think the large eye and the UV paint makes a difference.

What did I learn or re-learn on this day? A few things come to mind. Fall rate is so underappreciated as a factor to consider. Being windy, I tried a 1/16 ounce jig to aid in casting, but the fall rate and forward progress needed to keep the bait at the right depth were too fast – and the catch rate dropped significantly. Hovering that light little 1/32 oz jig in their face was the key and the difference between a 75 fish day and a 375 fish day.

Also, having missed the first few bites, I bent the hook up and out 15° which immediayely helped a ton – though only for a while. After a few catches, the missed fish became a problem again. Time to problem solve! Those baby shad are very soft baits. What became apparent is that omce that soft plastic got ripped up a little with usage the bait would very easily slide past the wire plastic keeper. Once in this condition, the fish would bite and basically release themselves instantly upon the hook set. With lips closed tight around the bait, the plastic would slide down the shank with rhe hookset and acted as a built-in hook extractor. A sliding plastic is no bueno! While I don’t particularly like doing this, gluing the plastic to the jighead solved the problem and improved the hook-up rate significantly. Back to catching instead of missing!

I also tried a bobber rig during this frenzy and got bit but that presentation was just too slow compared to casting when the fish were on such a tear. So, I set the bobber to the side and “rode the wave” of swimming that little jig.

I hope these tips help somebody exploit a strong bite in the future! It was fun.

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_3735-scaled.jpeg
   

What was the preferred presentation?

Jimmy Jones wrote:

When I am on structure, especially vertical structure, I fish shallow then work my way down. Often times smaller fish are deeper and the larger ones higher up and if a guy is dragging all those struggling dinks up thru where the larger fish are hanging it’ll disturb them enough that they’ll shut off or move

Interesting observation and something to be aware of next time we’re fishing heavy cover.

Say Tom (Or anyone else with an interest), I’ve been thinking about casting crappie jigs with monofilament versus fluorocarbon in order to reduce the fall rate and hang my jig in their face a little better. Since monofilament floats and Fluorocarbon sinks it stands to reason that monofilament would hold the jig up a bit more due to its buoyancy. Have you experimented with mono vs. fluoro? Does it make any difference?

Got out yesterday and caught about 75 nice ones, nothing huge though, maybe 13″??

Couple of notable observations… First, we caught probably 50 of our fish out of a single tree that had fallen in the water. They were very tight to the wood and a slip bobber presentation got them.

Second, a glow orange and chartreuse Baby Shad was the ticket on this day, noticeably outproducing the other colors we soaked. That seemed odd since the conditions were bright and sunny. We also tried a little hair jig under a bobber, and caught some fish, but they proved over and over that a baby shad was what they wanted.

My wife and I set up a trust with our three kids as equal beneficiaries. Also did a will and health care directive. Get a good lawyer! Couple of things to add to what’s already been discussed.

While morbid, our lawyer had us write a letter to our children/heirs explaining in greater detail how we wished for our assets to be divided (e.g. two want to keep the family cabin, while one lives on the west coast and will almost never use it) and other issues that heirs might have questions about post-mortem. The letter accompanies our will and tries to make our wishes very clear in areas that might be murky.

Also, having been through this and experienced firsthand the incredible amount of time and work involved, we left extra $$$ for the child who has been designated ‘Executor’ to liquidate our estate. Doing so will be no easy task and is deserving of extra compensation for their time and effort. We were generous here, knowing that the liquidating our estate could be a year or more of massive hassles to get everything sold and squared away.

Great intel Tom! As usual…

Tom, during the spawn, do these little cranks produce better than mainstay presentations, such as casting and slow floating a jig/plastic past the fish’s face? Or suspending a jig/plastic under a shallow bobber? Casting micro crankbaits is not something I have done. Can’t help but think that if you are using them, then they must be ‘the deal’ at times.

Mike W wrote:

Maple syrup.

Mike, it probably goes without saying but you mean REAL maple syrup – from the trees – correct? Some people think Aunt Jemima is Maple Syrup.

Ripjiggen wrote:

I honestly never see a correlation with rain and skeeters. I know how they breed and I’m sure it’s worse when wet but damn things always seem bad no matter what. Horrible at times up north last year and was dry dry dry.

Blame ‘White Nose Syndrome’ which has almost completely wiped out the bat population up North and elsewhere.

My, this is an old thread…but okay.

Years ago, we rented an old log cabin in northern WI to do some late fall musky fishing. Early one morning, well before sun-up, I was sleeping soundly and awaken by what I at first thought was my buddy trying to nudge me awake on my shoulder. I layed there and tried to gather myself, wondering who was trying to wake me in the pitch darkness on such a cold morning. I soon realized an animal was tucking itself in with me up against my bare chest. Flipping the covers and the beast off of me, I turned on the lamp and found the culprit flying silently around the room – a bat. We dispatched it with a tennis racket the cabin owners kept there for just such occasions.

Back in my college days, a buddy and I were float tube fishing on Lake Fuqua OK in shorts and t-shirts. Right around dusk, we were fishing a small bay, floating and fishing within 10′ of each other, when a beaver popped its head up right between us. I could have easily touched it with my 6′ rod, except my buddy freaked out causing the beaver to tail-slap in panic. We went into panic mode ourselves, thus ending our evening of fishing.

Yes, that’s the actual asking price. Kind of dumb I know since I spent $250 getting this motor serviced before putting it up for sale.

47 degree water yesterday and none of the fish we caught had spawned. So, at least some are holding off for now. Can’t be long though as the fish looked like they were going to bust.

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_5593-scaled.jpeg
   

I have – and have fished with – the original Shadzilla, Mag Shadzilla, and Shadzilla X. Of these, the original Shadzilla has proven the most productive. The mag version was a little sluggish due to greater bulk and didn’t sink fast enough for my liking. Same with the X version. All would/have produced for others, but mine have been left in the garage in favor of the beaver and the (weighted) Poseidon which I can fish faster at depth and get to those depths quicker. These are important attributes for how I fish. All of us imbecilic musky fisherman know that speed kills when it comes to these crazy fish. So, I want to fish big rubber baits at bucktail speeds, even when running them 15-20′ down. A weighted Poseidon and the lake edition beaver are just better for doing that IMO.

#1 Beaver Baits Lake Edition Beaver XL in all black or all white
#2 Chaos Tackle Posseidon 10″ in a cisco pattern
#3 MuskyFrenzy Lures – Stagger Blade IC7 – Green Lightning or black/black

My other 300 musky baits are for sale.

Brian

Tom, great post above. Appreciate you sharing these insights to help all of us up the learning curve quicker.

Couple of thoughts…

Sickle hook jigheads: I liked the sickle concept and bought a bunch of packs of them. Had some real-world problems with hook-ups though once I began using them. Too many missed fish.

The problem is solved by bending the hook point up about 15 degrees and to one side another 15 degrees. Actually, I do this on all round bend hooks too. Makes huge difference in the number of missed fish. No one would ever buy a hook off the shelf that looks like that, but don’t let that fool you. When you lose four fish in a row, try yourself and see.

I think that hook points being perfectly in-line with the jig line tie and perfectly parallel to the jig shank give an optical illusion of superior design, but they also give an advantage to the fish in my experience. Never have seen a case when bending that point up and out to the side didn’t result in better hook-ups.

Do you ever modify your hooks in any way to improve hook-ups?

Scents: I believe in certain scents, though often too lazy to apply them religiously until my partners start kicking my butt using them. As a side note, a Gulp minnow under a bobber has accounted for all of my crappies 16″+ except for one.

Speaking of scent, I’m wondering if you ever use superglue or gel to hold your plastics in place? One thing I have noticed both ice fishing and an open water is that my productivity declined when using glue. Not just once, but lots of times. I now view superglue as almost a repellent of sorts and try to find jig heads that will hold plastics in place without it.

Do you have any thoughts or experience about using superglue?

Jimmy Jones wrote:

Do-It Molds also makes a 1.5″ Paddletail that beats a Brewer hands down. Much smaller and thinner tail button, plus the web between the button and the body of the bait is also very thin which means that tail button moves with hardly a twitch. Current alone will move that tail.

Now you tell us…

I’ve got dozens of packs of Charlie Brewer 1.5″ paddletails. Black/Glo tail catches everything that swims! If the Do-It molds are even equally as good, then that’s high praise.

Baby Shads and Brewers are a mainstay on my crappie rods. Those Baby Shads pair well with a 1/16 or 1/32 Mooneye. I like the large eye and the UV colors available on those jigheads and have seen instances where it made a huge difference.

Tom, tell us what you believe re. crappies and color. Clearly, you’re a believer in a chartreuse tail, among other color schemes, but there has to be a reason for that.

What has been your experience relative to crappie color preferences? I’ve seen very strong color preferences for the same bait with smallmouth bass but don’t experiment with color much when crappie fishing. Mistake?

Just posted a 60″ Minn Kota Fortrex 80lb if that is of interest. Was a spare I kept in the garage. Just had $250 of work done to it…new bushings and cable jacket.

Gimruis, you nailed the issue which isn’t just ‘your $.02’ but are the facts as told to me directly by the house majority leader when I was communicating with him about sponsoring a bill to allow a year round C&R season a few years back.

Minnesota…Land of 10,000 Regs. Gotta keep all of us fishing law-breakers under control!

Got 110 crapps in a couple hours yesterday on open water in the twin cities metro. Nothing huge…8″ to 13″ but was just what the doctor ordered.

Looking at the extended forecast, will the March 11th ice-out date for Minnetonka get broken?

The forums of old I used to frequent:

Musky Nut forum. Died…RIP

LongTale Tackle. Died…RIP

MuskieFirst. The site is still active though traffic seems way down from the peak and heard it was sold not too long ago for a very modest number. I still check it once every couple months, though quit posting there years ago.

FishingMN. I only look at/post in the ‘Lake Vermilion’ section which is still alive, though on life support.

IDO…self-explanatory.

About five years ago, I got on Facebook and Instagram to keep in touch with the fishing world. I ‘friended’ and signed-up for every Fishing page that was a relevant to me. I lasted for probably a year and then deleted all my accounts, having found that following guys who fished for a living was making me – a desk-bound weekend warrior – feel jealous, envious, and inferior as an angler. Figured it was best not to expose myself to it.

So many bogus ‘records’.

I used to live and fish in Oklahoma where the state ‘record’ northern Pike was 36 pounds. This behemoth was allegedly caught by a migrant farm worker at 2:30 in the morning while fishing off the bank. Here’s a photo of the fish.

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_3190.jpeg
   

The water/slush on top the ice is firming-up with the falling temps. Not much for snow on top so if planning to ride a sled, consider using your scratchers. For what it’s worth, I haven’t seen a soul out on the lake all day.

I just arrived at the lake and the WebCam images were not wrong. The lake is a sloppy, soupy mess.

I drilled a hole and had 13 inches on my tape measure, with the top 2 inches being white and soft. There is a layer of watery slush on top of the ice and puddles about an inch or two deep just about as far as the eye could see. It’s raining and 37° as I write this. The weather is supposed to turn colder this weekend, though I wonder if it will freeze the top layer of water and slush in the next couple days. I sort of doubt it?? I definitely don’t plan to run my snowmobile until things firm up. This could be a very quick trip!

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_3086-scaled.jpeg
   

2. 

   IMG_3088-scaled.jpeg
   

Will do. The resort webcams make it look like a sloppy mess.