New London Area Crappie Report

So a guy takes his sister, who won’t bait her own hook, his two nieces who are in grade school and afraid to touch a fish, and a foreign exchange student from the tropical country of Venezuela, who has never fished or walked on ice before, ice fishing………….Sounds like the makings of a “Grumpy Old Men” sequel huh? Well, who would have thought we would have the luck we did!

I had the pleasure of being the guide for this group of family and friends this past weekend. I had been doing fairly well with crappies on an area lake and this evening would be no different! After a brief stop at the bait shop to get Leo a license (easier than I thought being from Venezuela), we were off. When we arrived at the landing, I took two people at a time in my 4WD truck. Before we drove on the lake, I gave Leo and Averie, my niece, the speech about keeping your seatbelt off, unlock your door, roll your window down, know where the door handle is and so on….. Averie left indentations on my door handle! As we approached the house there was a patch of clear/bare ice. As I drove over it, I’m pretty sure Leo thought he was going to die! He didn’t say anything, but if you’ve never seen bare ice on the lake it scares the heck out of you, compared to driving on “snow covered” ice that looks like just that, snow! So after arriving to the fish house safely, we unpacked and I headed back to pick up the other two.

I drilled the holes and got everything set up. Leo was snapping pictures like crazy; I can only assume what he was thinking about the whole thing. He told me he had called his dad in Venezuela that day and told him he was going ice fishing and that they were going to DRIVE on the water! He said his dad told him to BE CAREFUL! Well after a brief “How To” of the rods and reels we were fishing. Everybody got in on the action, but Leo definitely out fished all of us by quite a margin! I started him off with a slip bobber set up, but quickly let him use a jigging rod with the flasher. We were in 30 feet of water and the flasher proved invaluable. Leo figured out the electronics in no time at all and was reeling up or dropping down to willing crappies for the next two hours. Soon he was baiting his own hook, taking his own fish off and running the flasher on his own. Awesome job Leo!

My nieces, Averie and Jade were bobber fishing and they both managed to catch a couple of crappies each. I’m not sure who had the biggest……..I’ll have to find out if they went to Pizza Ranch or Perkins for supper with Amie afterwards…….that was the reward for the biggest fish, choice of restaurant. From what I gathered from their conversation in the fish house, they probably had to go to both places! Even Amie got in on the action, but I still had to bait her hook! I may not have caught many fish this evening myself, but it sure was fun introducing new people to the great sport of ice fishing. As for tips and tricks……well, we were in 30 feet of water and the majority of the fish were caught 10-20 feet off the bottom. A flasher is not a “must”……but I really don’t like to fish without it in that deep of water. Those fish were all over the water column. If I had to set a bobber up, I would start about 10 feet of the bottom and adjust from there. We got em on glow ants with the bobbers, but the best was definitely the Glow, pink & white Demon jigging spoon from Custom Jigs and Spins! I love that one!!!!! From what I’m hearing, there is a pretty good crappie bite on many lakes in the area. Concentrate on the deeper water this time of year and don’t be fooled by the crowds. Don’t be afraid to venture out away from them and find your own fish. It makes it all that much more rewarding! Get out and enjoy the best action yet to come this ice season. Good Luck To All.