Good crappie lake overall. Best bite this spring thus far for quality and numbers has been on the main Osage arm with most reports preferring the areas in and around Hurricane Deck which is approximately mile marker 40. It will change a lot between now and the end of the month. Lake O is a brush pile pattern pure and simple unless you just happen to catch the fish shallow during spawn and then they are capable of being anywhere in skinny water. Most brush piles are associated with boat docks on that lake. If its pre or during the spawn plastic body baits are just fine, if its post spawn sometimes minnows might actually be better although I’m not a live bait expert. Good luck.

Upper end of 18 for parts of two days the last week and upper end of 19 for half a day as well. Bite has toughened up since Thanksgiving when it was about as good as it gets in these parts in my opinion. Water temp had come up 3-4 degrees yesterday from the previous weekend, no ice anywhere. Current flow is up a good bit and what fish I found were in different places than before. I managed to catch a few on plastics Friday and Sunday but had to put it to them slow and methodical. Good luck, let us know how you do.

I got an 02 new which now has 75K on it. Used Shell Rotella since day one with no regrets thus far. My mileage averages 18-19 highway at 65-70 mph, 16 at 70+, and 15-16 pulling a boat at speed limit. One thing I’ve noticed, the fuel economy isn’t as good during cold weather. Haven’t tried the bio diesel yet so no opinion. One other thing, I put a chip in mine when it was new and now think I probably wasted the time and money. It doesn’t need a crutch to pull what I do. I once hooked two 20 ft. glass fishing boats in tandem and it didn’t even breath hard.

What a shame. I don’t ice fish, too busy generally during the winter but be safe everyone. A family in NE Iowa is going to have a Christmas to remember for all the wrong reasons.