Today I was joined on the ice by my good friend Tom Nugent- Tom and I met up early this morning to try and put together successful pattern for early ice crappies on Lake Macbride, and boy did we ever!!
Tom and I share information pretty religiously in regards to ice fishing. Some spots are “his” some spots are “mine” and some spots we find together. Today was one of Tom’s spots that we started at. As most Iowans know, Macbride is at -8 feet from normal. The DNR is drawing down the lake to make some repairs and fish habitat improvements.
Tom and I began punching holes in a spot that normally has 22-25 feet of water. With the draw down, there is 14-17 in this particular area. We were looking for a specific tree that holds fish all winter. And boy did we find it!!!
This is where a quality flasher, like a Marcum LX-5 is key to your ice fishing success. I often find that the smaller fish stick tight to the structure, while your bigger, more aggresive/dominant fish roam around close to the structure. Sometimes you have to fish in the branches, and other times away from the branches. When you have to fish in the branches, utilizing Marcum’s NBT feature, and the SFL feature really enable the angler to distinguish fish from structure, and eliminate a lot of unnecessary clutter on your flasher screen. Thank you Marcum!!
The hot baits today were hands down, a firetiger diamond jig tipped with a few spikes, or a chartreuse ratso! These two baits accounted for all of our fish today. Bob, we need to get out again and have a contest with your Diamond Jigs!
I would really like to commend Paul Sleeper, Chris Mack, and the other DNR personnel who invest time and energy into making Macbride the quality fishery that it is. Along with that I would like to mention to everybody, that responsible harvest will continue helping improve the fishery at Macbride. Remember to release your bigger, breeding fish, so that those genetics can reproduce, and if you do keep some nicer fish, try to only keep as many as you need for a meal- A picture of a nice fish says a thousand words, and will outlast even the best tasting fresh iced fish!!
Tom and I each kept seven fish for a meal, and boy will they taste great! Tom it was great spending time with you on the ice as always!
Until next time- stay safe and we’ll see you on the hard water!
I even caught an “elusive” macbride walleye today! Here are pictures a the hot CJS baits on the ice today-
Picture 2- firetiger diamond jig
Picture 3- yellow chartreuse ratso
You can order online or check out CJS HERE
Luke,
Nice trip and report…
any black crappies, or are they all whites?? not many white crappies up here.
Keep’em coming..
Jack
Thanks Jack! Yes sir the majority of crappies down my way are whites-
Them white specks are cool
Great read and pics Luke
Nice fish Luke. I spent the morning on Brushy Creek, and suprisingly enough, I caught most of my fish on the diamond jig and ratso as well. Probably about 75% on the diamond jig, and the rest on a pink ratso. Ill put up a couple pics too, but I was alone so they arent the greatest.
Nice fish luke
Cool report Luke and Tom.
Good stuff when two guys team up and nail em down
great report Luke. Got to love those Diamond jigs and Ratsos. The Ratsos where hot for us today here in central MN. Was a little surprised the crappies wanted nothing to do with a diamond jig. Usually they will hit both. Cool hat. I need to get one of those.
Wasnt it a little warm out for that SnoSuit today.
Nice looking specks Luke.
Good report & pics also.
Awesome Report
Luke,
You weren’t kidding when you said they were some nice ones you caught. Too bad I was stuck “Nutcrackering” all weekend with the 3 Daughters ( all dancers). We’ll have to get out there very soon. I’m going into withdrawals!!!
Thanks for the report Luke. I am curious about the ice conditions on Macbribe. Was wondering if you could let us know what you saw.
We can fix the withdrawals Bob-
Jason, as of Saturday, there was 4″ of good solid ice- Today, that was not the case, it was scary ice maybe 3″ and was honeycombing. We did catch a few nice fish again today, but it was spooky on the ice. I would think anglers should wait a couple more days to let the cold snap heal the ice.
Thanks for the update on the ice!
Great photos Luke..keep up the great reports
Great Report! I have to say amen to the NBT and SFL on cribs and trees. I have seen all the other flashers in the same hole/same tree/same crib and none of them seem to be able to show the fish versus this structure versus fish as well as the LX-5. It is definitely takes a little practice to read/interpret but not overly difficult.
Nice report Luke. Those white crappies are fun to catch.
NICE FISH!!