Crappies Pool 8 March 9th 08 Ice Report

Second weekend into March and we are still standing on a good 18 inches of ice in the La Crosse area, it just doesn’t get any better than that for an ice fishing junky unless, it includes a hot crappie bite
Mike C, his brother in-law (Mike), neutron and myself hit some deep back water looking for crappies in hopes of finding some slabs cruising the edge of drop offs. To save some time we split up and hit two different areas searching for the specks. It wasn’t long and neutron gave out the signal letting us know he had hit the jack pot Within a minute or so the rest of us packed up to join neutron

These crappies where hanging out were crappies seem to like it best this time of year. We were along an edge that dropped off sharply into 22fow and the crappies were using the water column anywhere from 8-14 feet below the ice.
The crappies were schooled up but on the move, the StrikeMaster was fired up to make a series of holes along the edge for a 50 yard span. By hole hopping back and forth we were able to keep ourselves on a consistent bite. First thing in the morning it wasn’t necessary to move much, but as the morning wore on hopping around became a must to stay with the fish.

First light had minnows producing some quality fish. The mini mert from B Fish N Tackle tipped with a minnow head was my favorite. Mike C was taking fish with a forage minnow and minnow head while neutron tagged some dandy’s with a slip bobber and plain hook.
As the sun came out it seemed the crappies became a little more on the fussy side with more lookers showing up than takers. This is when I put on another one of my favorite crappie baits, a Ratso with no meat
After finding the Pink/White 1/50oz Ratso was too much for the crappies to ignore Mike C and Mike were armed with the same jigs, neutron was already on his way home at that time. After changing to the Ratso my UL St.Croix Legend spent more time doubled over than being straight

Dropping the Ratso down would pull targets immediately. At times the specks would come up fast enough to the bait that they would put slack in the line indicating it was time to set the hook. If a target showed up without taking the bait all you needed to do was start a slow lift and they would charge to strike the plastic bait. If there was not a mark when the bait hit 14fow it was time to head to the next hole.
We caught countless numbers of good crappies with the average being 10.5-11 inches. There were also a good number of 12-12.5 inch crappies caught by the group.
Weather in the 20’s and another day on a piece of ice we found to ourselves made for a great time. And to think, the best bite is yet too come
I had a blast guys, thanks for the company

Good Luck Fishing People

Bret