Cooler than normal water temperatures mean that pre-spawn and spawning crappies remain available in the Hayward WI area. In this area that contains so many diverse bodies of water (in terms of clarity, fertility, color, bottom content, etc), it is important to be flexible if you are going to locate these spawning specks on your favorite Hayward area lake. With crappies, sunnies, perch and largemouth bass flooding the shallows (1-10 fow) and responsive to simple bobber techniques, this is a great time to get a kid hooked on fishing!
One of the lakes we fished this weekend is our early season ace-in-the-hole for crappies. Normally, this lake will put out shallow specks from ice out through Memorial Day. With water temperatures on this relatively shallow, fertile, weedy lake still hovering below 65, we were pleased to find a bunch of nice crappies and some incidental largemouth bass working the weedtops in about 3 feet of water. While crappie minnows did elicit a few looks, the vast majority of the crappies we bagged on this lake fell for 1″ white Berkley Power Tubes rigged on a 1/32 oz pink jig head, fished 18″ under a Thill Mini Super Shy Bite float. The key presentation was to cast into about 2 fow, then *slowly* retrieve the offering about 6 feet followed by a 10 second pause. Bites would come on the pause, and they would just barely tickle the float. In fact, only the smaller, more agressive fish would completely submerge the float….the nicer 11-12 inchers, like the ones shown in these first two pictures, would only twitch these sensitive floats, so vigilance and quick hooksets were the key for us.
The second lake we fished this weekend was, well, totally different. This is a clear body of water that currently offers about 9 feet of water clarity and beautiful emerging cabbage beds. Water temps on this lake are a few degrees cooler, in the 61-62 degree range. The sandy, relatively weed-free shallows on this lake are filling with sunnies getting ready to do their thing. We had to look to the deep edges (8-12 fow) of the emerging cabbage beds to find pre-spawn crappies here, and find them we did. The key presentation on this clear lake was to cast 1/16 oz green jigs tipped with small fatheads into and through the cabbage, working the shallow flat as well as the deep edge of the weeds. Crappies were generally relating to the deep edge. If the jig was worked too deep, you found perch. We found some smaller walleyes, largemouth and a sunny or two more shallow than the crappies. So, targeting the entirety of the edge provided numerous string-stretching opportunities.
With so many different species of fish plying shallow water and thus vulnerable to anglers, it is important to practice selective harvest. Of the many many fish we landed this weekend, we only kept 3 for the table (shown in the first picture), and I encourage you to consider doing the same. As the pictures will testify, this is a great time to get your child hooked on fishing. The young lady featured here is my nearly 4 year old daughter. She had a HOOT this weekend watching her bobber and cranking in fish. In fact, her phrase of choice after releasing her catch was, “Daddy, I wanna catch another one” (!). Keeping it low key is important when fishing with young kids. Don’t plan on doing any fishing yourself, devote all of your attention to the child. Make sure they have other things to hold their attention (Caroline enjoyed playing with worms and minnows, chasing fish in the well, and of course posing with nearly everything that came to hand). For a nearly 4-year old, she has a great fishing pose and has already mastered the standard lip hold for non-toothy critters. As important as anything else is finding some fast action to get some rapid rewards for the kid’s efforts. And believe me, this is the time for fast action in the shallows. So grab your kid and get out there!
Priceless photo!
Thanks for sharing a great report.
Sully