Wife and I went to the Waterloo area. Beautiful day to be out. Some sun, no wind, 26 degrees, 8-10" of good ice, a little snow on top so not too slippery. But too often fish don't seem to bite with this kind of weather. Our first lake we marked fish but no bites. Moved to another lake and still slow, but I got a gill over 9 inches and a few other keepers.
I was just starting to think it's getting late and there's not enough for a meal so we'll release these and go home. Then my wife starts whooping and I turn around to see her holding up the biggest crappie I have ever seen. She hooked it in 5 fow using a 4mm tungsten jig with a spike. It tore out drag, doubled over her pole, and she thought it was a bass until it passed under the hole and she saw the specks. It was so big she was worried she couldn't get it up through the hole. She thought she could lose it so didn't do any hollering until she had it out. Then she was crazy happy!
I love the greenish gold coloring on these things when they are fresh out of the water. I'll put a tape measure on it tomorrow, but I'm guessing it will be 15". Perfect ending for a great day on the ice.
Good crappie! I caught one like that a couple years ago 15.5"s and had it mounted on a piece of driftwood. I think crappies look cool when you have them mounted.
Curious, I've been having a tough time this winter locating them in the lake I fish. I've been from 10'-35' and drilled more holes than I care to admit with very limited success. "They" say to find them in the "deep basin" this time of year due to forage and oxygen levels.....that hasn't panned out for me and my typical 12-16' around weeds has only produced a couple of fish, mostly after dark each time out. Have used jigging raps, twisters/glow heads, glow tear drops and waxies, minnows on glow drops, minnows on plain treble's....been trying many set ups.
You said your wife caught this one in 5' of water during the day? Is this an anomaly or do you find them that shallow often?
They seem to only bite for like an hour or maybe a bit more on the lakes I've been to. I always go in the afternoons though. But right.before dark. And its chaos when they do. Got 19 in 40min, probably the most fun I've had on the ice. But have a headlamp ready. I was in about 12 FOW and weeds nearby. Havent had much luck 30 mins after dark, would love to find a lake to catch some nighttime winter crappie.
Thank you! She hooked it at 4:45 pm on Feb 19. I don't pay attention to those solunar tables that you follow, but it would be interesting to learn how this fits in with those.
The app is “Fishing Points” available at Google play
Major.Period is when the moon is at the highest (Zenith) and its lowest (Nadir). This approx 2.5 to 3 hours Major.Period occurs twice each day at about 12.5 hrs apart. It has the greatest effect on the whole food chain.
The Minor.Periods are the moon rise and set and last approximately less than 2 hours. This time frame is a secondary trigger not having the greater effect of the Major.Periods.
Both lunar periods shift forward each day at about 1 hour. the Lull.Periods are inbetween the Major.periods and Minor.Periods with very little fish activity.
Then come the solar.periods … sunrise and sunset … less of a trigger than major or Minor Lunar periods. Best time to fish the solar periods are when the lunar periods overlap sunrise sunset… a double trigger.
These are intraday (happening within the day periods).
Then comes intra-month periods full moon and new moon are the best days to fish each month at a near 100% level these days combined occur twice a month 2 weeks apart approx. midway between full and new moon gets the lowest FAL (fish activity level) rating for the month incrementally accelerates or decelerates as it approaches or departs from the new or full moon by day.
Weather then comes into play either enhancing or dulling the solunar periods.
... basics... hope this helps
Curious, I've been having a tough time this winter locating them in the lake I fish. I've been from 10'-35' and drilled more holes than I care to admit with very limited success. "They" say to find them in the "deep basin" this time of year due to forage and oxygen levels.....that hasn't panned out for me and my typical 12-16' around weeds has only produced a couple of fish, mostly after dark each time out. Have used jigging raps, twisters/glow heads, glow tear drops and waxies, minnows on glow drops, minnows on plain treble's....been trying many set ups.
You said your wife caught this one in 5' of water during the day? Is this an anomaly or do you find them that shallow often?
when i first started fishing, every fishing show and online article told me to fish deep basins for crappie. It didn't help me, never did well. I've caught most of my fish around the outter weed edges. I've just learned to fish different lakes differently.
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