Crappie Tom and I had some time to head out to Lake Zumbro for a couple hours this morning. The cold weather we’ve been having for a couple weeks seemed to put the fish in a negative mood, but we thought today might not be bad because there was a front coming through the area.
The plan was to punch several holes and move around staying on active fish. Our Marcum’s let us know quickly when fish were present and ready to take a look at our jigs. The majority of active fish are anywhere from 1-6 ft. off the bottom. There is lots of fish activity right on the bottom, but those fish seem to be much less interested in biting.
We used Diamond jigs and some custom painted jigging spoons that Tom made. Red spikes seem to be a very good choice to add to the lures providing both scent and attraction. Most of the area we fished was 22-24 FOW with the active fish off the bottom. A slight jiggle of the lure seemed to be the trigger to get a bite once the fish showed an interest in the lure, but there were lots of lookers that swam away without taking a bite. Overall, the fish were fairly active today.
When the wind came up and the temp started to drop, we decided hole hopping had come to an end. It was a little too chilly to stay outside. Tom kept a good meal of fish. Sure was fun to be back out on Zumbro slamming those nice panfish! Thanks for the good company Tom. Let’s do it again soon. Hope you all have a chance to get out and enjoy some fishing soon.
Back at on the company thing Mike.
Yup….the wind got bitter. Doing the shack thing would have hindered our approach. When we first hit the ice the wind was tolerable and out of a direction that didn’t pose any problems. Within an hour of catching the first fish the wind changed directions, the temp dropped a few degrees and the clouds began to thin…..and the fish got tenetive. It was pretty obvious that the front had arrived and the fishing went south from that point. I think we iced only two after the weather changed.
The fish that we caught hit well, none of this peck, peck stuff. I think the fish that were deep and simply content to look were perch. Even that sunfish drilled the jigging spooon and I had four spikes on it.
Something we have notice all winter is that a jig or spoon dressed to kill with a bunch of bait does much better than a single spike or waxie and waxies are not as good for the crappie bite as are the red spikes.
The purple-on-gold still is the dominant color combo. Mike stayed with the diamond while I went to the jigging spoon after a couple fish told me they were hitting without reservation. The “headlight” being charged really helped me out today and I had it freshly charged just before each fish I got hit.
Great job guys
That fish fry looks good to me
Nice fish!!
Looks like you guys had fun once again
Great Report Guys