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Attracting Crappies with Gusto
by Cory Schmidt

Spent a few hours this evening on a small clear water lake near Pequot Lakes for a little crappie action. Even though this lake's crappie population has over the years largely been exploited by anglers and habitat degredation, a fair number of real dinnerplates still exist.

I felt going in (even though I hadn't ice fished this lake for years) that by setting up just outside the lake's lone weedy bay I could intercept available fish on their way shallow to feed.

For several seasons I've fished with a guy who continually stuns me with his catches of big crappies on swimming lures. Swimming lures, in this case refer to Jigging Rapalas and Nils Master Jiggershads.

These images fresh in mind, I decided this evening to fish a Nils Master Baby Jiggershad. Meanwhile a float rod sat in a holder near the shallow edge rigged with a small shiner. In a hole adjacent to my jigging hole, as I often do, I'd positioned an underwater camera to face my lure.

In this case the lens faced away from the bay, signaling any crappies moving shallow to feed. Within ten minutes of active jigging, I had two large crappies circling the Jiggershad, seemingly drawn into the area by the vibration of the lure.

Although neither of these fish bit the swimming lure, within fifteen minutes three more big crappies moved in to take a look. This time one peeled off and ate the shiner affixed to my float rod-- a beautiful fish nearly 14-inches in length.

Soon, I had another small group of large crappies inspecting the Jiggershad, though still, fish opted to eat the live minnow. The outing ended with a tally of four large crappies iced, all between 12 and 14".

Couple points to review. We've talked a bit about the 'Judas Principle' in ice fishing in the past. That is, attracting fish with gusto by putting something down there large or otherwise noticeable.

Sometimes the Judas bait is simply a super jumbo minnow, sometimes it's a gaudy spoon or swimming lure worked aggressively. The point's not always so much to catch fish on the Judas bait, but rather to fool them into moving in for a closer look. At which point anglers offer these fish something they're more likely to eat.

The underwater camera becomes a key link in this approach, for it immediately alerts you when fish enter the area. Finally, regarding livebait for crappies, in super clear water lakes containing slabs, small shiners (up to 2-1/2") often outproduce the universal fathead.

We'll talk more a bit about other things we can do to attract fish with gusto, but for now, we'll let the ice continue to build out there. Enjoy your fishing.

-a friend called Toad

[Editors note]: If you'd like to view an Underwater camera click here.

Red Pine Resort
Ice Fishing on Kabetogama.