Found crappies, nice walleye

The daughters are consuming most of my time this weekend, but I did manage to get out fishing
this afternoon for a few hours. I got a dozen crappie and a couple “accidental” walleye (more on that
later).
The water temp was upper 40’s everywhere I went. But I didn’t get back into bays or very far up
creek channels. Last week I found 54 degrees in moon bay but didn’t get back there today to check.

As usual I jig – starting out with a 1/16 + tube at about 6-10 ft and 1/8 + Gulp minnow just off the bottom. Also as usual, after seeing some fish come up as much as 10 ft from the bottom to investigate the tube, I decided to just jig both close to the bottom. I never see crappie suspend in Wissota, though I know they do – just not under my boat. ;^)
All the fish I caught were in 15 to 25 ft. I tried casting a crankbait and slip bobber’ing in shallower
water but that was dead.
Since the fish were clinging to the bottom and scattered about, I was basically dragging the jigs really slow. Of course I’d spend more time in a small spot when I came across a crib or brush pile. I’d go along until I saw thick red objects on the bottom. My LCX-27C does a great job of seperating targets from the bottom. Sometimes the fish would come up and take the jig and other times just go back down. It’s just like ice fishing – only slightly more challenging when it’s windy.

I kept four that measured 10.5″ to 12′”, plus one just under 10″ because it wouldn’t swim away.
When I cleaned the fish, I was surprised that none of them had eggs. Could 11″ and 12″ be males??
I don’t know how to tell gender but I thought that size crappie would be females.

Finally at the end of the day, I finished up near the boat landing so I could fish right up til dark. At
7:30pm just as the sun dipped below the horizon, I (accidentally) caught a fat 20″ walleye. While
20″ isn’t a trophy, it was cool to see how big around it was. That one for sure had a nice batch of
eggs.

Hopefully I can get out for 3 or 4 hours tomorrow and check out some more areas…

Wissota does have some nice crappies. Well done!

ET

The fish on that lake will be staging in the 10-20′ range, the next few days should be prime for slip bobbers and minnows a few feet of the bottom. I have done very well in front of the state park this time of year. We have not had any warm rain so the water temp has not warmed up as fast as you would think and the nights have been cold. Afternoon into evening should be the best Thanks for the report!

Nothin wrong with that!

Great in-depth report!

The water temps should be on the rise this week.

Sully

Quote:

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The fish on that lake will be staging in the 10-20′ range, the next few days should be prime for slip bobbers and minnows a few feet of the bottom. I have done very well in front of the state park this time of year. We have not had any warm rain so the water temp has not warmed up as fast as you would think and the nights have been cold. Afternoon into evening should be the best Thanks for the report!

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bigpike, you’re pretty generous offering a productive location. I give
hints, but I’m not as specific. I expected crappies to be staging more which
usually has them bunched up at the bottom of the first dropoff. They’re
still quite scattered. Nights will be cool all week but maybe warm rains
will help get things going.

Nobody answered my question about if it’s reasonable to expect 11″ and 12″
crappie to be males. Someone give me a biology lesson.

John

Maybe another question to consider – They probably have a little time yet before they spawn, maybe two months or so. Is it possible that the eggs have not yet developed in the females (which might explain your finding when fileting the ones you caught)

??

Anyway, thanks for the reports, guys!!

Mike

Without a doubt male crappies on Wissota run in that size. Females run a size bigger than that up to 14-15″ I prefer gils and perch

The female crappies start producing eggs in the late fall for the spring.

I got on the water Sunday with high sun and little to no wind. I started shallow in the trees and did not get as much as a look. After moving out to some deeper water 17-22ft I was able to pick up a few slab crappies in the 13 inch range. These were all males and they were stacked up in all different depths. I had slips set deep and some as shallow as 10ft. Small ice jig and minnow is what they wanted. Color did not matter much. Water temps in the low 50’s.

I didn’t fare too well either this weekend, Aaron. We got some really nice slabs, but not big numbers of them. We got em on floating jig heads about a foot and a half off the bottom. Also a couple incidental slot eyes.

Really have the itch to get back out there, was going to this afternoon, but by the time I was done helping the kid with her French project the sky looked pretty gloomy. Hoping for tomorrow…..

I fished it this am/afternoon.Zero,notta!!! I got a small walleye and that was it! I tried 4 spots in the Yellow River and a couple off the main lake. The other people I talked to had the same action as I did…Paul