crappies 1′ under the ice

Just thought I would pass on some info that has been working for me lately.

I have been getting some nice crappies (13″ average) at night on a local lake positioned at 16′. The only place I could catch these fish was 1′ under the ice. they would come up and just smack the minnow. I have caught crappies like this b4 but it is rare. I feel that with the good clear ice, no snow cover and the light of the full moon magnifying through it that this is the reason the bait was up so high, and thus so were the crappies. A word of caution though if you use a flasher, chances are pretty good that you will not be able to see fish coming through at this depth do to the cone angle being so small at this depth. I found that the best technique to use was using a #12 grubmaster from baitrigs tipped with a very small crappie minnow and deadsticking it (no bobber) then jigging it slowly about 1x a minute and letting it rest. When you feel a bite, drop your line to the hole and set the hook!! Give this a try and let me know how it works for you. Also interested in anyone else that has been catching crappies at this depth. This might be the big ticket this winter at certain times due to the clear ice and lack of snow cover we are having. Most people that I am talking to on this lake are having tough luck catching crappies and are fishing the traditional depth of 13’ which in years past is where they catch fish.

Here is a picture of a couple of the crappie we caught.

Holy smokes! I know you had said you were going to post a pic of some of the “small ones” you kept for dinner and that you got some piggie slabs but WOW! Nice fish there. I would love to see a shot of those 15″ – 16″ slabs you’ve been letting swim free.

Excellent photo and info walleyefinder. Might have change your name to “fishfinder” as it’s obvious you can do multiple species.

I’ve seen that, but usually in the spring as the ice melts. I wish we had more slabs like that around the metro.

I’ve always said that the cities has quantity, but we have quality. the leech lake area has beautiful crappies and sunfish but up here you don’t go out and catch 30-50 crappies a day like i used to in the cities, you may only catch 10 or 12 but on certian lakes those (like in the picture) can be the average. It is amazing how thick the crappies are in this area compared to other areas in the state, if you are on the right lake.

You just have to remember to practice selective harvest while you are out fishing them so that we can continue to have crappies like that be the average

That is why I keep a meal every now and then, but let most of the bigger fish go so other people can catch a fish of there lifetime for years to come

~h20~
I sure will post some of those bigger crappies for people to see, now that I am starting to learn how to use this digital camera.

Walleye Finder,
Is this lake one of the spots we’ll be hittin in Feb?
You can blind fold me and use duct tape if you feel it’s needed.
Actually I can keep my mouth shut, promise!

Terry H

Terry,

I don’t know if duck tape alone would be enough, even though i use it on almost every repair. I may have to top it off with a tube or 2 of silcone as well. I hope that we can get onto this lake when we get together. If not I know of plenty of other honey holes that we can hit

Nice crappies Dan!! Those are some beauties~
Show us mo!