Locating winter panfish on deep lake with very little weed growth

Hello All,

So, I’ve been on the search for crappies on a lake in northern Minnesota that is mainly known for its walleyes. I can find huge schools of them in the spring and summer (possibly on a few brush piles I dropped). From late fall through ice out I cannot find one panshish, or even a large mouth bass for that matter. I can’t even find green standing weeds. All standing weeds fall to the bottom of lake by first ice. I feel like I’ve searched the entire region of the lake where I catch them on open water. See screenshot of contour map attached. Red arrows indicates where they are caught on open water. Yellow dots indicate the areas I’ve searched in winter without ANY luck. I’m almost to the point where I feel like I should head out to search the large deep basin, 45-65 fow. Every winter I try early ice, mid winter, and late ice. I’m stumped. I’m open to any and all thoughts/suggestions for locations to try. I just can’t let myself give up. Thank you in advance for your responses.

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They might be pushing baitfish right up to the bottom of the ice in shallower water? Just my first thought. Shallow doesn’t look like it’s been tried much at all. Just a thought.

I had good luck on a lake with similar steep breaks over deep holes suspended about 15 feet off bottom. I had to drill a bunch of holes as they were just roaming but if I could stay on them they were pretty active. This lake gets hardly any pressure in winter and I had marked them in the fall in the same spots

People think walleyes can be mysterious, crappies can be at least as mysterious(IMHO) Read an artical from a pro angler who said about the same thing as you-spanked them in the spring and summer-winter? Nothing. Heard recently that rising barometric pressure makes them suspend yhat would be the best time to look for them (maybe not the best time to catch them though)

suspended. Keep a close eye on your flasher. If you see a quick blip in the middle of the water column, reel up to where you saw it and go to town, there’s a good chance it wasn’t interference. I would start in the 30-35′ area and work my way out, slowly watching for suspended fish.

Have you checked the 10-12′ flat towards the bottom right early in the ice season? depends on the weed line, I could see that being very good, pending the lake structure.

I would also try some rippin rap #3 and #4… They seem to attract the fish. They may not hit it, but they seem to always come to see what the noise is. Tie it up on 6# if there are walleye in there. You just might tie into something that 3# isn’t ready to deal with.

Yep, I agree with Turkey. Go shallower. Find a weed line transition, even if they aren’t green weeds. In the shallower water the crappie will cruse along the transition.
I fish Clear Lake, Iowa quite a bit, my best crappie spots are in the middle of the bull weeds. Don’t be afraid to go shallow. Work your way up from the base of the break line to 4-6 ft. When you get that shallow sight fishing is a lot of fun.

Thanks guys for all the feedback. I guess I haven’t thought about trying the shallower flats. This lake is about as sandy as they come. You really only find good weeds on the break lines in 9-18 fow, and once the lake freezes these weeds are laying on the bottom. If you move into 8ft and shallower you find a clean sandy bottom, around the entire lake. I’ll give the shallow stuff a shot though, and I’ll try again out near the deep area that transitions from 30-50 ft, near that 65 ft hole. “When” I find them this winter I will definitely post the results on this page. My motive behind all of this is to have that secret panfish spot on a lake where everyone targets walleyes. If my dream comes true I think I’ll have to spray paint my portable in all white. Thanks again!
–Tight Lines–

I don’t know if it’s legal but you could try a little chumming. But from what I’ve been told, mid winter panfish concentrate over the deepest basin in any particular body of water.

I hit a couple lakes that are similar to what your desribing with no to very little weeds, and a pretty deep basin Max 82′. We get no fish shallow all winter. Its a matter of low or how high in the column they are. Some days (earlier ice season) they can be 5 feet beneath the ice in 60′ of water. Other days I find them 38′ down in 42 fow. I have no idea what the scale is on the map, so making swiss cheese out of the ice may or may not be an option. I would do a buddy system with 2 or 3 guys spread out and comb the water. Don’t be afraid to spend a few minutes fishing to odd marks just beneath the ice

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I’d have to agree with Randy. If I’m after winter crappies I generally assume they will be suspended over deep water. I’d maybe start at that inside turn around 46 feet of water in the north east section next to the 29 foot hump. I often find fish at what’s usually a bottom composition change where theres a transition from sharp break to deep flat or gradual deep break. Anything over 30 feet of water is where I’d look. For me I’d really exhaust searching that deep water before I started searching shallower stuff. Even more so if there isn’t much for weed growth.

Just remember that crappies coming from more than 20 feet down may have delayed mortality issues so I don’t make it a point to sit over deep riding fish and catch and release them all day. Sometimes you can work an agressive school higher in the water column if you fish several feet above them.

Great ideas there. Also remember that your sonar is cone shaped and you wont pick up as many suspended fish as you will the bottom dwellers. In my experience the suspended Crappie are more active when suspended. The bottom dwellers are easier to ID on sonar but may often be neutral or negative fish.

There is a new product out called panoptics made by Garmin looks like it would be a good tool to find suspended fish anywhere you can look it up on YouTube and see for yourself I don’t know if a person could rent one of these at a bait shop