crappies at Lake Pepin

Ron and I got out yesterday for several hours of crappie fishing on Lake Pepin. The bite is very good! The crappies tended to be near the bottom in 15-20 ft. and wanted small jigs. We used mini-mites, flick tails, and hair jigs – all in the 1/32 oz. size. Light line (4 lb.) on an Okuma Metaloid reel and a 9 ft. UL St. Croix custom rod were the tools used.
The crappies seem to be present in good numbers and the size is also good, but we did catch a number of smaller fish as well.
The picture is Ron with the 2 largest fish – about 12-13 inches.

Good Fishing,
Mike

Yes, Mike another good time was had and lots of fish caught. We also learned a little something didn’t we?
When in Rome, do as the Romans. There were a few people fishing down there and we could not help but notice the majority were not catching much if anything, however, there were three gentlemen who could do no wrong and were very successful at catching old Paper Mouth. The traditional bobber set at many different depths was not doing the trick.
I watched this one guy who was knocking em dead and decided to watch him closely and see if couldn’t learn a little something. He would cast out about 20 yards with no bobber and close the bail, but not reel for the longest time. Then retrieve and get a nice crappie. So the next time he did this, I started counting, you know, one thousand one, one thousand two, all the way up to 12 when he would start reeling. So I could tell that his jig was about the same size as mine and in weight, decided to start counting. Bingo, on the first retrieve, I too was the proud owner of a nice dinner fish. Well Mike and I did as we were taught and consequently the lesson paid off quite nicely for both of us.

WOW!!! Very nice fish guys. Must be nice playin hooky and going fishin.
Thanks, Bill

Were you fishing from a boat or shore fishing? Darker or lighter colors best?
Thanks, Bill

Bill shore fishing, but boaters could have gotten in on the action as well. Didn’t really seem to matter what color? Lighter is what produced for me, but Mike and the others experimented with success. The key was depth. Getting down to where they were at. One thousand twelve is where I got em. Mike was counting one thousand twenty and could connect. Slow steady retrieve for me, very slow. Mike would reel a whole turn and stop for a few seconds, then repeat it. Between the two of us, I think it was a tie.

Ron, not asking for where, but were you fishing rock or deep weeds, or a hump? Anything you can share without giving the spot away would help put anglers on fish on similar structure without giving away location so the area doesn’t get fish out.

Thanks, Bill