Crappie

[Mike Stark]

well with the eye season ending soon....im looking to get into some crappies...what lakes are producing crappies? any info would be great. you can pm me the lake if you dont want everyone to see. im only one guy. not going to share it with the world.

thanks!

mike

[Northlander]

No PM on FM.

My advice would be to get out on some local lakes that have a good # of crappies according to DNR reports and put in some time.

Island, Little Island, Sturgeon,Whiteface, Pike, Island north of Duluth, Fish, Boulder, St. Louis River, Amicon, Rice all have a good number of crappies.

[Capt.Blaine]

Try fishing the main basin of the lake. Especially if the lake isn’t very deep. The crappies seem to move into the deeper holes in winter. If you can find these spots close to your summer spots you will find crappies.

[caseymcq]

You are pretty close to some good crappie water. Birch Lake has big crappies if you can find them.

I can give you some more options if you drop me an email. My email address is listed in my profile.

[Mike Stark]

casey,

i sent you an email.

mike

[caseymcq]

Mike -

I just replied to your email. I hope what I sent you helps.

[Mike Stark]

how deep are people finding crappie at this time of year?

if there is deep basin(50 feet) out from a river, that is the deepest part of the lake, would this be a good place to fish?

thanks

[Surface Tension]

mark, come late ice my attention is focused on crappie.

Its also a time I like to find new, untouched crappie lakes.

I'll put those new crappie lakes into 3 categories.

Small lakes with one main hole.

Large lakes with a lot of deep water and structure.

Large and small dish pan lakes with no holes.

You go about finding crappies in these lakes differently.

The easiest to locate crappies in is the small lakes with one deep hole. Its a no brainer, hop around that deep water with sounder till you start finding suspended crappies. I'm not saying that other parts of the lake won't have crappies because they will but that hole is your starting point. They'll be there. If you want to become even more familiar with that lake and explore other areas more power to you.

Large and small dish pans. IMO these are the hardest to pattern. Knowing bottom content and where those transitions are helps. Unless you fish these in the summer and have those spots marked that info is useless. Drilling a ton of holes and moving is about all you can do to locate fish. On larger lakes looking for jumble ice is what I do. That jumble ice catches algae and dead plant matter which attracts bugs which in turn attracts crappies. If you drill a hole and crud comes up you've found the spot. I also know there is a insect that needs that rough ice to fulfill its life's cycle.

Large lakes with a lot of deep water: We have a lake like that just North of Duluth. I like to dedicate at least one day during late ice to find the large crappies that lake is known for. Moving around those deep holes has paid off but it takes a lot of moving around. Finding a break close by helps but those crappies can and do roam the large open water.

I won't give you a spot but will say, reduce that lake size by looking for deep holes adjacent to spawning grounds The more isolated to a large expanse of water not unnecessarily deep water but with a hole and that spawning grounds is what I look for.

[Northlander]

Break the big lake down. Lately I have found all my crappies in 12-23' of water. Seems like around here they are relating more to island breaks and channels going into back bays than mid lake holes/humps. Although there are a few midlake fish they are not as numerous as the shoreline breaks.

Once the ice starts going melting I will start looking shallower. It will be a while for that though. Thats when hole hopping is fun on those warm late winter days.

[Mike Stark]

is anyone catching crappie in the area????

i know a lot of folks are fishing for them.

thanks,

mike

[GAP]

I've been getting a few off of bass lake and low lake over like 25ft to 35ft

[gritsnham]

One lake i was catching crappies in 35 feet suspended and the next day at another lake 10-12 feet was where I found the best bite...this is my first year ice fishing the Duluth area and the onyl way to find these tasty fish is to spend some time on the ice nd figure them out...best of luck out there

[Doerf]

I have to agree with grits. I found a lot in around 35' and when they weren't there, they were in the 10-15' range. Lately I haven't been finding them in either range... I'm on the hunt again this weekend though. Thinking about going up to Vermillion. Anyone iced any slabs up there this year?