IDO TV – The best trophy crappie bite… ever!

Today’s show is by all accounts the best trophy crappie bite the IDO crew has ever experienced! The guys took a bit of a chance traveling to a destination they’ve never fished before but that risk payed off in a huge way with big white crappie coming topside from start to finish. If you like to catch giant crappie this one’s worth a look.

Video Details: Season 8 – Episode 9. Ice Fishing. Crappie. James Holst and In-Depth Outdoors Pro Staffer Cal Svihel fish Glen Elder Reservoir and ice giant white crappie in the 14″ – 15.5″ range from start to finish. If you like catching big crappie through the ice… put a trip to Glen Elder on the bucket list as one of the best trophy white crappie destinations in the Ice Belt.

To watch Season 8 – Episode 9, click on the video player above OR use this direct link >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy72DxA59zA

Don’t forget to set those DVRs or tune in next Sunday at 8AM on FSN to catch the show!

Those are some pigs!! Awesome!

I’ve honestly never seen anything like it. Both Cal and I easily caught 40 – 50 crappie over 14″ that day with our best fish respectively running right in that 15.5″ range. We literally caught fish from the first jig drop of the day until we flat ran out of steam around 4 PM. And the locals told us we missed the best bite by several weeks.

We’ll be back!!

Caught it this morning… nice fish guys and your short rods your using…sorry but I would have busted out seeing the locals using the 6 footers… did I hear Cal say that the 15″ were “too big” to clean ??? dude you need a bigger filet knife

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Caught it this morning… nice fish guys and your short rods your using…sorry but I would have busted out seeing the locals using the 6 footers… did I hear Cal say that the 15″ were “too big” to clean ??? dude you need a bigger filet knife

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I had a blast soaking up the methods the local anglers were using to catch their fish. Yup, they were using their summer rods and 1/8 – 1/4 oz. hair jigs river walleye guys use around here.

In the AM when the bite was red hot the guys with the long rods and the big baits held their own. I’ll give them this, their approach is very efficient. Hook a fish… lift with the long rod… fish is on the ice. Unhook the fish and the lure falls right back to the proper depth because the angler never touched the reel handle.

Now once the sun came up the bite slowed Cal and I kept catching while the long rods and big baits went cold. It wasn’t long and we had dug out every spare MarCum and short rod we could find to let the locals experiment.

It was a good show. Those days a far too few. I,m glad I get to do it up my way.

I am betting you guys may have converted a few to our crazy ways of fishing ! Little rods and flashers You guys did put the pound on them… you know a bite is good when you have 2 sticks sharing a single hole

Great show guys in the land I wouldn’t think for ice fishing.
Except maybe for this year.
Enjoyed so much the shared techniques by the locals and yourselves. Now that is what fishing is about.
Curious how thick the ice was. Saw the 4 wheeler in the background. Crazy

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I am betting you guys may have converted a few to our crazy ways of fishing ! Little rods and flashers You guys did put the pound on them… you know a bite is good when you have 2 sticks sharing a single hole

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I’m told 2 LX digi-units were ordered the following Monday and were sent on their way to Kansas. They had been using open water graphs up to that point but once they saw what a true ice unit could do it was all over.

And what I learned from them is that during peak bite periods I need to depart from my finesse presentations and throw down some larger baits when targeting crappie. I’ve moved some of my smaller river bucktails to my ice fishing arsenal for this purpose and plan to give it a try up here in northern waters just as soon as I get an opportunity.

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Great show guys in the land I wouldn’t think for ice fishing.
Except maybe for this year.
Enjoyed so much the shared techniques by the locals and yourselves. Now that is what fishing is about.
Curious how thick the ice was. Saw the 4 wheeler in the background. Crazy

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The ice was 8″ – 12″ in most areas. Of course there was open water anywhere there was current.

James,glad you had fun in my home state. Not everyone fishes long rods here,and have you ever heard of Kirwin?

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James,glad you had fun in my home state. Not everyone fishes long rods here,and have you ever heard of Kirwin?

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Kirwin? Sure have. In fact it was a topic of conversation during our time on the ice. We don’t know a lot but what we know has all been positive, to put it mildly. Some we talked to went as far to say that Kirwin was better than Glen Elder. Not sure how that’s possible but I do know I hope to find out for myself in coming seasons.

Very good show again.

As somebody who has been fishing down there for the last 5 years, I’m a little disappointed that the lake name had to be mentioned… This seems to buck the trend of not naming your fishing locations. This isn’t a 140,000 acre Devils Lake, 130,000 acre Mille Lacs, or a 900,000 acre LOW.

I’m probably going to get roasted for this post, but go ahead.

Andy

I don’t know if it’s better,but in the same class.I think you would enjoy it.

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Very good show again.

As somebody who has been fishing down there for the last 5 years, I’m a little disappointed that the lake name had to be mentioned… This seems to buck the trend of not naming your fishing locations. This isn’t a 140,000 acre Devils Lake, 130,000 acre Mille Lacs, or a 900,000 acre LOW.

I’m probably going to get roasted for this post, but go ahead.

Andy

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No roasting coming from me… we asked the locals what they thought and to a man they basically giggled at the thought of harming this particular fishery due to any increased pressure that might come from our show. They explained it like this…. with nobody fishing 90% of the total acreage on the main lake and a very short ice season they didn’t feel added pressure would have any impact at all.

So we did give it some serious consideration and bounced it off the locals for their input. You might not like the decision but do trust that we did put some serious thought into it and in the end we went with input from the locals as to how best to handle it.

I think the locals would like the increased dollars coming into the community.

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I don’t know if it’s better,but in the same class.I think you would enjoy it.

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We were told it was more structure / brush pile fishing with schools of fish localized in very small spots versus the “channel edge chase” we did on Glen Elder. If Kirwin is in the same class as Glen Elder that’s pretty rare company in my book.

A show that goes to mystery lakes and pull fish after fish in, gives little credibility to me (they are in canadian shield lakes) If you watch the show, IDO always gives you good useable info, including the lakes. There are plenty of other lakes mentioned other weeks, for those who “hop” right in their vacant holes after filming. I say buck the trend

must say another great show. thanks for all of them so far and making my winter somewhat enjoyable since I haven’t been able to get out due to a ruptured Achilles tendon in the end of oct. duck hunting. hopefully be hitting hard ice in a few weeks here.

First… crappie fishing is my favorite. Enjoy it all… but crappie fishing is always high on the list.

Excellent show… and it was cool seeing the look on the local fisherman’s face as he played with the Marcum…. like we all should be, excited like a little kid.

I have been going to Kentucky Lake in spring as possible, as ice season dies down here, and open water isn’t ready (not living close to a pool 4 type of area). This sure looks like it could be a great place to visit that time of the year. Can’t imagine how much fun it would be to target crappie fishing like that on open water.

Love the push to release those fish as well. Just having a chance to fish that type of water would be fantastic.

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First… crappie fishing is my favorite. Enjoy it all… but crappie fishing is always high on the list.

Excellent show… and it was cool seeing the look on the local fisherman’s face as he played with the Marcum…. like we all should be, excited like a little kid.

I have been going to Kentucky Lake in spring as possible, as ice season dies down here, and open water isn’t ready (not living close to a pool 4 type of area). This sure looks like it could be a great place to visit that time of the year. Can’t imagine how much fun it would be to target crappie fishing like that on open water.

Love the push to release those fish as well. Just having a chance to fish that type of water would be fantastic.

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We were told late open water fishing was the best bite of the season, not that it could get much better than what we had last week through the ice. In the fall we’re told the crappie bite is strong and you get walleye and hybrids mixed in.

Maybe I missed it, but why doesn’t anyone fish the main lake? Thin ice?

Correct. Ice on the main lake is very treacherous. The locals told us it was an absolute no fly zone and upon inspection from some higher ground overlooking the main lake we could see many areas of open water.

Not sure if you mentioned it in the show but what types of lures did you guys stick to? Where the pies aggressively chasing baits or more of a hold and wait? Got to love it if those big pies where chasing baits. Where you able to stick to typical panfish rods and line with those bigger pies? Do most of my pie fishing with 2 pound test.

Great show. Fun to watch. Got a neighbor of mine that heads down that way for the spring crappie run. Might have to take him up on his offer to tag along. Seem to remember he is heading that way about the time we are heading north to the rainy.

I think I could say this episode might possibly be my favorite!

Nice show and really impressive crappies! Just one question on the measuring of the fish. It looked like you guys were measuring them with the mouth stretched open and not with the mouth closed. This is what I have found to make at least a 3/4″ to an 1″ difference. I have measured a lot of big crappies on a board, and I have a lot of respect for an legitimate 15″ crappie measured with the mouth closed all the way. Regardless, they are very nice fish…good job.

James If i heard You correct were you using the tuned up qt?

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Nice show and really impressive crappies! Just one question on the measuring of the fish. It looked like you guys were measuring them with the mouth stretched open and not with the mouth closed. This is what I have found to make at least a 3/4″ to an 1″ difference. I have measured a lot of big crappies on a board, and I have a lot of respect for an legitimate 15″ crappie measured with the mouth closed all the way. Regardless, they are very nice fish…good job.

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We know to measure crappie with the mouth closed when we’re looking to get an official measurement. A lot of the fish were so similar we were doing sloppy “close enough” bumps just to get in the ballpark. On this trip we had a good 8 – 10 fish that were legit 15.5″ in length… with the mouth closed. Not that it matters much though. Anything over 12″ puts a smile on this big kid’s face.

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James If i heard You correct were you using the tuned up qt?

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Yeah, I think both Cal and I were using Quick Tips. They handled those big crappie quite nicely and made for a heck of a fun fight on those thick-bodied fish.

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Not sure if you mentioned it in the show but what types of lures did you guys stick to? Where the pies aggressively chasing baits or more of a hold and wait? Got to love it if those big pies where chasing baits. Where you able to stick to typical panfish rods and line with those bigger pies? Do most of my pie fishing with 2 pound test.

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Honestly right away in the AM for the first 45 minutes or so it didn’t matter what you used. If it moved and you put it in front of their faces they ate it. Once the sun got up the fish actually got a bit picky and we found that the Trigger X Nymph in orange chartreuse rigged on the largest pug bug in orange chartreuse, pink glow or red glow was the ticket. Not that it was the only combo you could catch fish on but it was definitely the go-to bait after about an hour of switching up baits by the group.

As for rods and reels we used our standard crappie rods (TUCR QT’s) with 3# line. I never did break off a fish but I knew I was rigged a little light so I took it easy with the fish around the hole. If I had it to do over again I would jump to 4# line as the water clarity was pretty poor so the fish wouldn’t have noticed.