Northern Minnesota State Forest Crappies

As many of you know this year has been difficult for early ice. This past weekend we went in search of early ice crappies. We found a small lake secluded from many main roads on state forest land.The ice conditions were around 4 inches and held up with the warm temps do to the small size and protection of trees. This year smaller lakes will be the route to success early in the year. As far as fishing it didn’t take long to locate fish. Snow in the early mornings kept fish activity low due to the water staining on this body of water. The closer to midday we got the fish increased with the sunlight. We had the most success with uv buckshots and tungsten jigs.

Find these smaller lakes that may be a little more work and success will follow. Reminder early ice is never 100% use safety equipment.

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These are some more pictures of the trip

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nice job gentleman. im jealous

Looks like fun… Nice work!

Nice job! It’s hard to read posts like these. I’ve got an itch that I can’t safely scratch right now. Fingers are crossed that I will find some walkable ice this weekend.

I’ve got a good buddy that is up north right now finding solid walkable ice in smaller lake/ponds like you were on. He called this evening and said he got into a really good crappie bite on a secluded lake he never even knew was there until looking at his maps. The lake doesn’t even have a name but he said it’s gonna be an early season destination for years to come, small lake/pond is fed by a stream that runs into a much larger well known body of water.. I’ll be heading that way in a few hours for my first ice excursion! FYI- the lake has a constant 6-7in of ice and is very protected by trees and only a 200 yard hike into it! Hope this helps someone find their own early season honey hole!