Fisher Dave’s Secret Spot for ‘gills and Crappies!

Thought I would tag along with Fisher Dave and Gary, PierBridge today to pick up a meal of gills and crappies from Fisher Daves secret spot.

Now, I’m going to state this right up front. This is a secret spot and please don’t send me emails, private messages or call me, because I’m not telling! It’s the least I can do for the guy that put me on some dandy crappies and gills. The backgrounds in the pictures have all been changed to protect this spot. Can’t be bribed either. Nuff said.

So when we arrived at the Rush Lake Tackle Shop and Resort, we paid our $3. “launch” fee’s and off we went.

Fisher Dave is known for finding bites away from the crowds and today was no exception. There were 8 to 10 houses/portables fishing what looked like a break directly in front of Rush Lake Resort…but we headed away from them.

We set up in 20 feet of water and in very short order we were pulling up some very short perch. Way to go Fisher Dave! With the number of two inch perch along with the occasional 4 to 5 incher, we could have won a European fishing contest!

Thought it was time to move as the bigger crappies and gills didn’t seem to want to move into this area. Fisher Dave moved us over about 75 feet and said…this is the spot. A few minutes later, splash and plop. Nice eater gill laying on the ice next to Fisher Dave. Found’em!

PierBridge always wanted a picture taken with his fish held right out to the camera. Should have told him to move his hands I guess!

Dave was using a yellow Ratzo and I changed to my favorite purple Ratzo…’cause that’s the only one I had (thanks HOF!) Gary joined us after a few more gills were iced. We tipped them with a euro larva or a wax worm and pulled in fish after fish. At times the MarCum Lx-5 had two feet of red on the bottom as fish moved through.

My hands were getting a bit cold so I started the Mr. Cooker up to warm them up a bit. After landing my next gill a notice the line got too close to the heater and I lost my ONLY RATZO! No fear, it had to be in the ice/snow right next to me….but that’s about the time I notice this funny plastic smell and then the greenish yellow flame coming from the Mr. Cooker. Yup! You guest it..burnt that puppy up good! I switch to a tear drop style my bite slowed noticeably.

Photo of Fisher Dave. Please don’t make fun of Dave’s fishing hat. He’s a very sensitive kinda guy!

My wife called and informed us that it started snowing in the metro area. Ten minutes later we were starting to see the white flakes come down too and the decision was make to pack up. Nothing worse than to be out on a lake when a good snow storm hit’s. PierBridge had his hand held Lowrance GPS along. Although we didn’t need it, it sure was comforting to know we had one if we needed it. PierBridge felt they were a must have for unexpected bad weather and for lakes like Mille Lacs. I just ordered a handheld Lowrance GPS from Jolly Ann Marine today for those very reasons.

We ended the day with 9 nice size crappies and 14 gills for the hot olive oil. The largest crappie was 10 ¼ inchs and the largest gill was 8 ¼ inch. Not wall hangers but certainly good eating!

Thanks for the good time and fishing Fisher Dave and PierBridge!

And don’t worry, your secret spot is safe with me!

Fisher Dave and PierBridge.

Nice fish guys!!!

You couldn’t tell by the grumpy look on my face but I sure had a good time putting a hurt on you two…

I can’t speak for FD but I don’t think he likes being photograghed with anything less then a 30 pound Flathead.
Nice hat!

Ratso’s ordered……

How thick is the ice out there?
I was thinking of hitting West Rush soon.

Thanks,
Ferny

It was 8 plus inches Ferny. The fella at that Resort said we could go anywhere on a wheeler or sled. He didn’t recomend cars/trucks.

We didn’t see any on the ice…couple next to shore for parking.

Hey guys!!!! Whats with the battery and all the cables running from it???????? Are you hooking up some sort of explosives to catch those fish??? Or are you thinking of making instant fish patties BrianK????

Nice fish fellas…Good to see that people are using common sense when going out on a lake they are unsure of…check with the local bait shop…Some will know the ice conditions… (right BrianK)

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Hey guys!!!! Whats with the battery and all the cables running from it???????? Are you hooking up some sort of explosives to catch those fish??? Or are you thinking of making instant fish patties BrianK????

Nice fish fellas…Good to see that people are using common sense when going out on a lake they are unsure of…check with the local bait shop…Some will know the ice conditions… (right BrianK)

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The battery with the cables was a last minute source of light a couple weeks ago fishing with a few friends for an evening bite and nobody but me had any source of light?? It might look funny but a few side marker lights and some speaker wire can shed enough light on the subject to keep a fishing trip from being ruined.

There is more than 8″ of ice.. but not much. I would highly refrain from driving on rush, although there were 2 vehicles out this saturday, including a newer mid size chevy SUV, and a ford tempo(they were probably trying to lose that car).

There are a couple nasty pressure cracks on the lake. The ice is good for wheelers and snowmobiles, but leave your trucks in the parking lot.

I havent been to west rush, and I have no idea what the ice conditions are in the channel access between the lakes. The last I heard there was some open water. I have no problem paying $3 to know I am going to stay on top of the ice.

The only advice I an give anyone is to get away from the crowds and drill some holes. The fish were very finicky yesterday for some reason and the larger panfish were not wanting to eat anything. 11″-12″ crappies are not uncommon in numbers on east rush, and the fat perch can pile up fast if you get on them.

All in all it was a good time getting out. The fishing was far from fantastic… but it was nice to bring some fish up the hole with the bite seeming to be pretty spotty-difficult everywhere right now… and it didnt hurt my feelings one bit to only drive an hour for a decent fishing outing on good ice from the twin cities.

note to self.. put more winter caps in the vehicle for emergency use.

The hat is ugly, but its warmer than the baseball cap I was wearing when I hit the lake… Pier can make all the jokes about at will.. but it wont change the fact he watched myself and Brian catch fish until I donated a jig his way

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Pier can make all the jokes about at will.. but it wont change the fact he watched myself and Brian catch fish until I donated a jig his way

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Finishing 3rd in 3 team race behind you two was an honor.

It’s 2pm and I have Ratso’s in 4 colors and yes purple is one of the colors….

Thanks guys…

…everyone though I was selling Ratzo’s for HOF!

Don’t know what the differnce is…but they worked!

Dang it Fisher Dave! There you went and gave away the secret spot!

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I havent been to west rush

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Might as well put up a big red ball!

PS I didn’t think the battery and lights looked funny at all….since it made life “viewable” for me!

Glad you are putting that Clearwater Pro to work. Its better out on the lake than in my garage collecting dust.
Sounds like a good time had by all.

Ron

Brian..

Each of the rush lakes are about 1500 acres. that leaves about 1499.8 acres out there on my lake to fish. Probably 1470 acres of that in east rush a person can drill a hole and potentially catch fish(not a deep lake with a lot of structure). I think the secret spot is pretty safe!

We will have to get out there again soon and get into the better fish, and get some better pictures. I think I am going to fry up some fish for the *greater* family today.. so I will be in need of another bag of fillets.

Fish lake Bait has a good supply of panfish jigs at the Harris exit, and BIG scoops of crappie minnows for cheap. I know they have ratso’s.. but I dont remember seeing purple.

Hey Brian. Was it as good as my secret spot?

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Suzuki

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Sorry, I can’t talk about that.