South Center

Braved the cold temps today up on South Center and was rewarded for my efforts. Did a little moving around from around 20′ down to where I found the crappies in 45-50′. Got on the ice about 10am and stayed til 3pm. Silver pimples and euros seemed to be the ticket. I took a couple on the same lure with a minnow head. All the fish were in the 8-10″ range. Once I had the heater going good I stayed put and waited for the fish to come to me. Not a great bite, but pretty well considering the bright sun and cooold temperature. Brought home seven for the frying pan. I suppose I had 12-13 fish over the 5 hours. I may give it another shot this weekend sometime if I finish the honeydoo list.

Sounds like the same bite we found on wensday. We found them around the deep hole just north west of needle point. The mid afternoon had some larger fish showing up but still the bigggest might of went 10″. We had plenty of action on the eurolarve also. Must of caught 30 my self. Just keep looking arount the hole we the flasher until you find the suspended schools. It seemed to me that pulling the bait away from the fish would trigger them to strike.

I’m going to try and get out there tomorrow. I’ll post any results we get.

Rootski

You’re right Mike, if I kept the bait above the fish a foot or two and made them chase it I got better strikes. I also just figured out I put this post in the wrong spot, should have gone in the Chisago area spot! Next time I guess.
Rootski, I may be out there as well. Stop by and say Hi. I am in a red S-10 with firefighter plates and either a fishtrap guide or clam 6800.

Good to hear you guys are catching them. This is what I love to see, guys taking info from the site and putting it to good use. Sounds like most of you guys are sticking to the north end. Don’t be afraid to venture to the deep water futher south. There are less anglers, but usually bigger fish.

After looking at a map of the lake you are right Mike. Those holes towards the south end of the lake look interisting. I would of never guessed that south center had a 100′ deep hole in it. Have you ever tryed fishing the shallower water between the holes? Looks pretty fishey to me.
How about any driving concerns on the lake? Not sure if I would want to venture over that 100′ hole. Most deep lakes like that take a while to freeze up.

The shallower water and saddles are good places to go after the fish in the evenings. You can also get a few walleyes if you can find some rocks. There is a lot more deep water further south, thus it takes more time to find fish, but this I think is the reason they run larger. Some of the biggest fish I see spawning in the spring are on the south end of the lake as well. I think more numbers and smaller fish spawn in the shallow east part of the lake.
“Normally” the ice is very similar over the rest of the ice further south as that north area is. I use my ATV and have never had an issue. Early in the ice season the lake is one of the last to freeze over due to that deep water.

Thanks for the help Mike. It looks like we will be checking out some of those saddles on monday. It sounds like a few of us IDA guys will be out there on monday. There is plenty of room if anyone else is looking for company to fish with on monday.

I ran up on Fri morning for a while when the snow started. The crappies went nuts until about noon. Still caught them after then, but not near the numbers. Size ran samll with most 8-9″. The biggest one I lost down the hole, and it was a good 12″. It came suspended 10′ down while the rest of the fish were at 20′. Normally I see this later in the year. These higher fish are usually always larger and more aggressive. Don’t be suprised if there are some gills there as well.