Today was a treat for me in more than one way. First, finally getting to shake hands with Jeff Jensen and TJ91 for the first time plus meeting up with Mike C, AmWatson, Cade and Justin for a crappie thon, second fishing an area that has been absent from my list for years making the place new scenery to look at 
Cade and Justin have been fishing the area for a few days which saved the rest of us some time searching out fish. That was a good thing due to a short time frame I was going to be able to fish, thanks guys!
The Strike Master Lazer Mag was lit on fire and a series of holes were made in a few different areas. Hopping holes was key to finding some bigger crappies just waiting for some food to drop in As far as baits everyone had something different working for them. Changing jigs kept the interest of some nice crappies. Clown Gill Pill, Purple Rat Finkee, Gold/Orange Slender Spoon and a Purple Cecil all tipped with a waxie is what attracted fish for me with the Rat Finkee doing the best job.
The flashers were a key tool for putting the bait in the strike zone. These crappies where suspended in 30fow cruising at different depths. The strikes were coming from 5- 9 feet below the ice with most coming closer to the 5 mark. With the group we had bending over and picking up MarCums to move from hole to hole….it would have been a great commercial for the MarCum flashers The water column at 12 foot below the ice to the bottom would light up with shad at times. The feeding crappies would come out of the shad up high in the water column to take our offerings.
After leaving early I’m sure the others iced more nice specks. The time spent playing catch and release made for a great ending to a great weekend of catching some quality pool 8 pan fish. It was a joy shaking hands and meeting members for the first time…..this place rocks with a lot of great people 
When I left the big fish awards were still in the hands of Jeff and Justin, nice fish guys 
Good luck fishing people 
Bret
Here are a couple release clips. Keep in mind while looking at these crappies, they are being release in an 8 inch hole.
The picture is of Cade with the average crappie being caught today.
Jeff’s release
Justin’s release
Go make baby’s
Great report and vid clips Bret! Sure wish I could have been out there with you guys.
Nice fish and great report!
Nice report Bret. I have to say, that was the most fun I’ve had on the ice on a rather tough day in a long time. The fish were biting and there were some nice fish caught as can be seen in the post, but it definitely took finesse and patience. I caught probably 15 or so in the 10-11″ range today..nothing real nice but we’ll take it. Jeff was definitely the master of the nicer sized crappies today.
and Justin’s white was a pretty fish. I wish I could have hooked into some of those ~12″ fish but at least they’ll be back for me another time! 
I didn’t take any more pictures today but I know Jeff had another picture of Justin’s white, and a couple of Jay, and Jay took a pic of one I had around 11-1/4″. It was a real blast, I just wish we could have had more time out there as a whole. The fish were coming through that 5-8 ft zone for me as well, but later on the sun came out and the shad vanished for quite some time, and we started catching some fish down further. Jay and I both caught some fish down to 18-19 ft at one point.
The marcum commercial comment..haha that is very true. we had the whole ice flasher line up..4 lx-5s, an Lx-3 and a Vx-1. Fun stuff.
The Lindy fat boy tipped with a lindy purple/bluefleck mini spade accounted for a lot of my fish today. it sure was a hot ticket in a river system where purple NEVER seems to work…
When the bite got slow, I snapped some in with a forage minnow and caught some more with a gill pill and half a red worm.
thanks again everyone, what a great group of guys to be around.
Great report, looked like you had fun. I only get out on the Ice about 3 times a year. I am up at Hayward, but only to do some more work on the garage, got the lights up.
Later
Boy that looks like fun. Great report.
It was great meeting Jeff and TJ91 for the first time this morning
,as well as fish with everybody else as well.
I struggled today and ended theday with 3 fish, 2 perch and an average crappie. I have been in a slump lately, but it happens
Again, nice fishing with you guys today
Oh yeah, thanks Bret and Cade for drilling all the holes, sure made life easier for the rest of us
Nice report Bret, wish I could have been there with you. Glad to see that Jeff was able to make the trip and get a chance to fish with you. Cade, nice fish, I bet it’s nice to have a set of wheels.
Later all.
JP
nice job guys, looks like you had a good time.
Here are some pics that I took. You’ve seen pictures of my Girl (first time ice-fishing) now you see our little boy!
The mess I brought home…..19 crappie, one gill. Some donated by Jeff and Cade!
I had decent luck with a silver forage minnow this afternoon. Kept me busy, but threw back many that were just too small to keep.
It was a fun day!
GREAT TO MEET YOU GUYS!
great job guys way to stay on ’em’
Looks like a lot of fun guys! Thanks for the report Bret!
By far,the most enjoyable day on the ice this year
TJ,it was fun watching you catch fire this afternoon and thanks much for driving-it was a LULU 
To start,the deep water crappie bite that is offered in the Lax area turned out to be everything that I was told it was. Being from pools 10 and 11 this type of slab searching is almost unheard of.Fishing in 30ft.plus today with a 50ft.hole not too far off? Now that’s intimidating
Bret,it was a pleasure finally meeting up,thanks for the hole punching,sharing your tactics and the great job with the camera, those release clips are sweet!I really don’t know what those guys were talking about but I didn’t think you were filled with B S at all
Great to meet Am Watson and Mike C as well,two guys who have earned the respect from the In-Depth family and as after today,myself included.Thanks guys!
Thank you Cade and Justin for the pre fishing that you put in,that is really appreciated.Jay and I were talking on the ride home on how enjoyable it was watching you two attack the ice,for a couple of young guys you fish way beyond your years.
Thanks again guys, and here’s a couple more pics from today.That was a nice white that you got Justin,worth another pic
Ok this thread is officially going into my favorites.
I’m kinda sad today is over, it was just flat out a fun time. But I’m sure we’ll all be back together somewhere again soon!
Cade
How big is that white crappie? It looks like a tanker!!!!!
according to Bret, Justin, and Jeff, it was a 12″er. I saw it from a pretty far distance and i could still tell it was a nice one so that definitely seems right on.
Thanks for the report and videos Bret. Is it legal to have as much fun on the ice as you 5 have down there???
Great team. Look forward to reading/seeing more reports from ”Icemen Five.” 
Thanks, Bill
ps. we have better ice and snow this year Bret cause my boats now ”white” [winter color,
] [private joke].
Another great report buddy Bret
and another great day on the ice with fellow IDA’ers. It was great meeting Jeff and Jay 
and nice fishing with Cade and Justin and Wats again 
. I think the best part, besides being with friends who share the same interest – ice fishing, is the sharing of ideas and experiences with a little BS 
mixed in – and the Packers won too, whoo hoo! 
Happy New Year everyone
Great job guys. It’s great that you were all able to get together and get on some nice fish. Jeff, that black crappie in the first photo is huge – how big? Way to go!
Not as big as it appears Andy 12-12 1\2 tops.I have to thank Mr.Clark for making that slab look bigger than what it was-he’s sneaky that way
It was fun reading your posts this morning. Nice fishing trip. I think Cade used to be our #1 reporter, at least for the Lacrosse area, missed his reports last fall but then saw where he was on the High School Football Roster so that probaby kept him busy. Maybe he should get a job writing for the Tribune they need all the help they can get. Keep up the posts and may all your fish be whoppers!!!
Nice report guys!
Sure does look like it would have been a great time to be there.
Congrats to all of you on a bunch of fine looking winter crappies!
Boog
Nice fish guys…not quite the whole lineup Cade. You guys gotta get me out there with my LX-2 and then you’ll be set!