Early Spring Crappies on Lake Wisconsin

On the last weekend of April, if you went fishing on Lake Wisconsin, chances are good that you were chasing crappies. Yes, there was a big bass tournament on Saturday, and a much smaller walleye tournament on Sunday, but for the average fisherman, catching some spring crappies was the main goal.

Saturday morning temperatures were a chilly 43 degrees at 8:00am as I headed for the lake with the boat in tow to meet Tom and Todd Pike for a half day of crappie fishing. Typically, I see the crappie bite improve dramatically as the day warms up on chilly mornings like this so we were in no hurry to hit the lake bright & early. And true to form, the first few hours of fishing was slow. But we did eventually see some active fish moving into the shallows as the day wore on and the water warmed up.

Surface waters in the main lake were at 55 degrees and the bays were not any warmer during the morning hours. With very sunny skies and strong, but warm westerly winds, we did see surface waters in the protected, shallower areas warm up to 59 degrees in the afternoon.

We tried the deeper water first but only managed to pull one or two fish from there. Around 11:00am, we headed to a shallow, well protected area and slowly, we saw a few more fish become active. It was a tough bite and we had to keep moving around and casting into lots of different shoreline areas to catch a few fish. Our best rig this morning was a medium fathead fished 2 to 3′ below a bobber on a gold hook. The other rig we used to take a few fish was a small jig/plastic combo tipped with a waxworm.

It appeared to me as though Todd and his dad, Tom were enjoying the chance to fish together more than anything. Fish stories flowed freely making the time between bites pass quickly. These two guys already knew how to fish, they just needed someone to show them around the lake.

Despite the tough bite, they did catch some very nice crappies. Todd bested his dad on this day with a beautiful 15 incher. Congrats on that really nice fish Todd.

It was a pleasure to share my boat with you two gentleman. I always enjoy the stories that people tell while fishing. Thanks again guys!

On Sunday, Dick Majcher and his daughter Pam jumped in the boat for a day of fishing. We decided to see if any walleyes would bite for us while we waited for the sun to warm things up a bit.

Early morning air temperatures started out at 53 degrees this morning, but main lake temperatures were still holding at 55 degrees. We tried several different spots, but by 10am the only thing we put in the boat was one large redhorse carp. Needless to say, thats not what we were looking for.

So we headed off to the shallow, protected area where the guys from yesterday did the best for crappies. Surface water temperatures ran at about 58 degrees here but quite a few other crappie fisherman and women seemed to have the same idea. Dick and Pam did pull one or two crappies from this first spot, but I really wanted to try a some different spots than yesterday so we pulled out and headed to another bay.

The bay we pulled into has deep water available in the middle and shallow spawning areas around the edges. We started by working the water in the 15′ depth range first. Lines with minnows and jig/plastic combo’s with waxworms went right over the side of the boat and the electric trolling motor was used to keep the wind from sending us flying back out into the middle of the lake. This produced a couple of nice crappies over the next hour or two. By then, the sun was starting to get down right hot and I was actually thankfull for the strong winds.

Surface waters in the bay were beginning to creep over the 60 degree mark, so I started to work closer and closer to the shorelines. This allowed us to keep our deep lines running right below the boat and at the same time, Dick and Pam could cast a minnow below a bobber into the shallower water.

Dick is a repeat customer, and he definitely has a knack for catching big fish. He used his experience to make some very nice, long cast into and around the piers and other shoreline areas where he caught several nice crappies. Pam struggled a bit with the open face spinning reels but did pretty good overall. The lines hanging directly over the side of the boat still produced a fish here and there and for the most part, those seemed to run a little larger than the shallow fish. We had to work to get them again today, but by the end of the afternoon, the lack of numbers was more than made up for with quality fish.

As always, it was pleasure fishing with you Dick! And it was a pleasure to meet and fish with you also Pam. It should be fun fishing with you again in a few weeks.

To me, it looks like the spring crappie run is really just starting here on Lake Wisconsin. If the weather holds out, the best should still be ahead of us.

I’ve included a picture of our three most productive lures and rigs. Colors especially can and will change on a day to day basis so don’t put out just one color. Try a few different colors and let the fish tell you which one they want!

Good luck!

Boog