Lake Zumbro Crappies

RHW and I went fishing on Lake Zumbro this afternoon and had a nice surprise – the crappies seem to have moved up to shallower water and were biting! We caught most of our crappies slow trolling. The most prodcutive depth was 8-10 ft. on a break to deeper water. They all came on mini-mite jigs tipped with a waxie. I’ll post a few pics of Ron with some of the fish. As you can see, we also got some nice bluegills. The bluegills bit very hard, but the crappies bit softly and were just felt as a little extra weight on the line.

Good Fishing,
Mike

A nice bluegill.

Another nice crappie.

Another nice gill.

Nice pannies

Nice fish guys. How far back behind the boat were the mini mites trolled? Were you trolling with the gas motor or the trolling motor? Great to see you back out on the water guys.
Thanks, Bill

Mike & Ron,

I was also out there this morning at what looks like the same spot. I did not get any crappies in that area but I was mostly deeper and did get a few nice sunfish with crawlers. The very slow trolling worked best for me also. Later in the morning the bite slowed for me at that place so I moved downstream to troll spinners over 30-40 feet of water and did catch some nice crappies and large sunfish. The bite was not as good for me today as past days, but the hungry ones really hit hard — some darn near took the rod out of my hand a few times.

Dave Gulczinski

Yes Mike it was a great day wasn’t it and man did we catch some nice fish. Bill, the trick today was to keep it as vertical as possible at 9 feet. When moving and if she swung up to 45 degrees, well you knew you where out of the strike zone. We did something today I normally don’t recommend, put a small split shoot about 6 inches above the jig to keep it down in the zone while drifting. We really drifted more that what I would actually call a troll. We could tell instantly what kind of a fish we had after setting the hook. The Bluegills would nibble, nibble but the Crappies were like dead weight. The Crappies are making their migration slowly back up into the shallow waters. Thanks again Mike for a great day.

Dave, Mike and I were talking about best times of the day to be out there. We both kind of agreed early morning, so-so, but as the day wore on, after 1:00, it seemed to pick up. I personally have never had much luck with Bluegills until after at least 10:00. They sleep in late. However, the Crappies, they are night owls and stay up until the whee hours of the morning, but then they seem to turn off about the time the Gills turn on. Then again, today, they did the exact opposite, Gills early, Crappies later. Go figure.

Here I have pictured both a Mini-Mite and a Flicktail that work so well on panfish. Mike out at Hooked On Fishing Bait and Tackle [HOF] carries both of these plastics and jigs. The name ”Tackle” in the business’s name is there for a good reason-he carries the tackle that catches fish in SE Mn. Mikes a diehard panfishing geru with 45 years of panfishing experience in the area and knows what works and carries those items.
Thanks, Bill

Here is alittle closer up pic that should show you the lures better. The tails on each plastic move and bob up and down with just the slightest movement of the rod tip or line. Very good crappie and bluegill plastics.

Thanks, Bill

This pic will show you the different sizes [thickness] in the plastic. You will notice a ”body” that is ribbed that will fit on the jig, a skinnier flat style ”tail” and finally at the ”end of that tail” there is a thicker bulkier part and its that weight that bobs the tail up and down so easily with the slightest move of the rod tip or line. This plastic has alot of ”causing interest and triggering fish to bite features” to it.
Thanks, Bill

This pic will show you how thin the tail is on the Flicktail. It is easy to understand from the pic just how easy it is to wiggle the tail on the plastic to ”cause interest and cause fish to bite.”
Thanks, Bill

I had so much fun yesterday, I just had to get back out there for a couple more hours this afternoon!
I found the fish a little deeper today – about 10-12 ft. and suspended over deep water. Once I found them, it was another great bite. Easily caught over 100+ fish in 2.5 hours. Released most of them but kept a meal. About half crappies and half bluegills. Crappies up to 12+ inches and gills up to 9+ inches. Really fun!

Good Fishing,
Mike