Ice Fishing Crappie Report

Today was a wonderful day!! I was able to get off work early and get on the ice. I am fishing an oxbow on the Wapsipinicon river. I caught quite the array of fish this evening..

I first want to state, that river fishing this early in the year, can be extremely dangerous. I was checking ice with everystep. Safety must come first. I definitely will not be fishing this spot tomorrow with the highs in the 50’s.

I started off fishing a rock to sand transition with little to no current. This produced a few nice fish including bluegills, and largemouth bass. Earlier in the fall, I had caught a few smallmouth at this spot. I was anxious to catch my first smallie through the ice, but tonight was not the night. The bluegills and bass were on or near the bottom in twelve feet of water. Some bass were caught around the trees near the shore, and others were not relating to anything. The crappies were suspended around wood, in five feet over fifteen feet of water. All fish were caught using a genz worm with a waxworm.

Today I was able to use my reel weeds again. WOW, is all I can say. Before I even dropped a line down, I set a few of these up, dropped down my camera, and there were no fish around. I let them sit for about twenty minutes. I dropped the camera down again, and there were crappies, and bluegills hanging in the weeds. They WORK!! I can’t wait to use them, on Lake Macbride, once it becomes safe. I honestly believe they will hold roaming crappies and improve my catches.

I released all the bass and bluegills I caught, and kept a six of the many crappies I caught for dinner!! Mmmmm Good!!

I believe there is one more safe day of ice for us here in Eastern Iowa. I could be very wrong, and hope I am. I will for sure be on the ice all day tomorrow. I hope everyone gets a chance to get out tomorrow, enjoy the weather and ice some fish!!!

Good luck, and stay safe!!

See you on the hard water!!