IceHawk wrote:

I just feel they are better used in shallow water because of there weight and slower fall time . Takes less time to get to the fish in say 10-15 foot vs 15-30 foot. But sometimes that slow wobble as with the leech flutter and slender spoons may be the ticket to fire them up so I won’t rule them out in deeper just a preference . If I’m fishing deeper basins I just prefer to fish the pinhead, small pea, buckshot and other weighted spoons. As I feel getting down fast to a active deep school is the key to picking off the most aggressive feeders before the school moves on. Kind of like when your on a school of active jumbo’s hence why we use the piggy back system on them. The quicker you get back the better down to them and keep them interested the better your odds of keeping a school in your hole or area.

great info brother. thank you

because of its slow fall??

IceHawk wrote:

Small spoons tipped with euro larvae or plastics can be deadly especially on Aggressive crappies. If the fish are real aggressive go without anything and just use the spoon itself. The Tingler is a great spoon for a shallow water presentation, now for getting down quick to deeper basin fish or very active pods cant beat a pinhead spoon. As far as what to use in this weather it all depends on the pod of fish you are sitting on finiky go small tungsten aggressive go with spoon. I will say this spoons useally get the bigger fish.

hey icehawk,
what makes the tingler spoon a “shallow water” presentation??

I would sure love to get out there this weekend but as any of us in the Midwest right now know, its fricken cold and windy. My pop up shanty wouldnt stand a chance in this stuff. So im left watching James on in-depth outdoors videos. watching him catch pike and walleye and it kinda makes me ready for spring time.

JasonP wrote:

This year the tingler and the tumbler became my go-to <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>crappie slayers. Love em.

I used a gold tumbler spoon last year on a different lake than what i fish now and had great luck with it. but one day i was out there and had a big hit, and i set the hook like a maniac and broke my line at my knot. I dont use a clinch knot anymore when i use such light line. I use a polomar knot now. or i tie my spoons with the ol rapala loop knot.

Bearcat89 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>C. Steele wrote:</div>
Man i hate to consider myself a “fair weather” fisherman, but -20 is cold no matter who ya are. and I live in the middle of Michigan

Oh 100 percent cant argue with that. Have to be prepared. If I wasn’t driving the truck out I wouldn’t be going

well good luck out there. im sitting inside today watching it blow snow around. might get out sunday. Hope you slam em’ brother.

Man i hate to consider myself a “fair weather” fisherman, but -20 is cold no matter who ya are. and I live in the middle of Michigan

I kept getting good bites last week on the old trusty Swedish pimple (small/silver) but I couldnt set the dang hook on anything. So either they were small or I just sucked. haha. I dont know what made me go with the Gold fish color but I felt like my buddy using an orange tungsten the other day was getting bit way more than me. And pink has been a hot color on the lake I fish.
When jigging a tingler spoon, what have you found to be the best action? jig it high and let it fall, or just jig it regular like a jig to give it some motion?

So i finally gave the gulp a good try tonight. Im in Michigan so i was trying to fish the tail end of the storm going through. Snow was falling but winding down when we got on the ice 1 1/2 hours before dark and we stayed until almost 8. By then the stars were out and the almost full moon shining. We stayed and fished it out but i knew the night was over with. I had 4 bites in however many hours. But…about the gulp minnows. I tried them two different ways..one nose hooked off the treble of a swedish pimple, and tore the head off of another and had it hooked on a white glow ratfinkee. The bite was so slow…but on the ratfinkee and gulp I had one really good crappie bite and of course I missed it being so sudden. Had fish stacked on the graph…but they didnt want anything. Gave the gulps a try…and they deserve a second chance, in my opinion.

Thanks for the info Gentleman. Im heading out to the ice now, matter of fact.

well, ill be honest. i spent the weekend on the ice and didnt trust the gulps to really give them the legitimate shot they deserved. walked off the ice with some good gills and had a wonderful dinner with the wife, but nothing on the gulps.
i was shy and didnt put in the effort. my fault.

Never heard of grouse called Pats, but im not much of a bird hunter. the monkeybutts usually just scare the hell out of me when they fly off as im walking to my bow stand haha

Man, Thank you all for your inputs. Ill be on the ice Saturday and ill give them a go and let you guys know how I do. I have more confidence just by having this conversation between us all.

Randy Wieland wrote:

I have more confidence in them than live bait. Bret Clark taught me a couple tricks that make a huge difference. Be creative in how you hook them and vary how you work them. Some days wiggle, some days falling, some days spiraling fall, and some days swimming up.

Thanks for the info Randy. ill keep an open mind and not get discouraged too quickly.

I figure ill give them a shot and see what happens. I will reply again with info on how they work for me. as we all know, every day is a different day and crappies (or “specks” as we call them in Michigan) are very fickle.