Very Suspended Crappies

Was fishing last night over a familiar 24′ basin and couldn’t mark decent schools no matter where we moved. We’d find 1 or 2 crappies down 16-17′ and the occasional one a bit higher up at 12′ but for the most part there didn’t seem to be any real schools.

I kept seeing what I thought was interference just below the ice but after failing to convert any of the very negative fish down at more traditional suspending depths, I decided to reel up and check it out. Much to my surprise there were crappies literally right under the ice and they were much more willing to bite. I’ve heard that they could hold “right under the ice” before but always figured that was more a turn of phrase reminding you to fish high in the water column. These things were so high up I couldn’t hardly even mark them on the flasher. They were darn near even with my ducer. No reeling required once hooked up; just pull ’em right outta the hole.

Anyone fished a bite like this before?

I fish tullibee like that a lot, in deep water they’ll be right underneath the ice and you can sight fish them. I’ve had a few pike a couple feet under as well, but I’ve never seen crappie like that though!

Every year, when the ice starts melting it brings in oxygen, later on, towards the end of the ice I have caught fish so shallow and weedy that you swear they have to swim sideways.

moustachesteve wrote:

Much to my surprise there were crappies literally right under the ice and they were much more willing to bite. I’ve heard that they could hold “right under the ice” before but always figured that was more a turn of phrase reminding you to fish high in the water column. These things were so high up I couldn’t hardly even mark them on the flasher. They were darn near even with my ducer. No reeling required once hooked up; just pull ’em right outta the hole.

I’ve seen it myself several times before. I’ve even seen them literally rubbing their backs on the ice. Not sure exactly what causes this. Maybe more oxygenated water directly below the ice due to runoff? Maybe food washing through the ice from runoff???

catmando wrote:

Every year, when the ice starts melting it brings in oxygen, later on, towards the end of the ice I have caught fish so shallow and weedy that you swear they have to swim sideways.

You beat me to the punch.

Have caught crappies like that many times.More so late in the season as the snow starts to melt off the ice (like it is now) and continuing rite thru ice out.

Yeah the oxygenated runoff was our theory last night too. Like you guys mentioned, these fish had to be scraping their backs on the ice!

Higher they are the more active they tend to be. Lots of times bigger fish to. Used to like to fish 5 to 10 feet above schools of smaller fish. Jig the heck out of the lures to bring more aggressive fish in.

I had a fishing log entry from a couple years ago where I experienced this. Fishing with about 4′ of line in 25′ of water. Similarly the flasher unit wouldn’t pick up the fish. It was in the middle of January so the melting/runoff/oxygen theory likely wasn’t the cause. It was however a very dark, tannic stained lake. I was wondering if it had to do with the amount of light penetration due to snow cover. The best visibility would have been right under the ice so maybe the more aggressive feeding fish were there?

I have found some HUGE schools right under the ice very late in the season. Fished with a guy with a camera and we were amazed how many were in the school and so close to the ice. My problem is that I could not get them to bite. I think the oxygen was so low they were just hanging on. This was a year that the ice was on the lake for a very long time so that is my guess.

This late in the year there’s often a lot of junk that’s floated up off bottom and has gathered under the ice. Lots of bugs and small minnows like to pluck away at this stuff and in doing so draws the attention of the crappies. And has already been mentioned, quite often the really large crappies are literally right under your feet all day long. Fun times when you find them like this.

We’ve been seeing this on some lakes since early January. Normally on these lakes we see them a 3-5 feet off bottom. This year for some reason the oxygen was low and brought them up right under the ice.

Definitely noticed it late ice with crappies. As others have said I’ve heard that the oxygen is richer higher up in the water column which drives fish up right below the ice.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

This late in the year there’s often a lot of junk that’s floated up off bottom and has gathered under the ice. Lots of bugs and small minnows like to pluck away at this stuff and in doing so draws the attention of the crappies. And has already been mentioned, quite often the really large crappies are literally right under your feet all day long. Fun times when you find them like this.

I tend to agree with you once the snow cover gets thinner and more light comes thru the ice, once that happens life starts to get more active.