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March "Slab" Madness

Steve Ellsworth

By Steve Ellsworth
in Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports - Hunting

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Steve Ellsworth Enthusiast

Steve Ellsworth

Posted
Posted

Jonny-We're coming up on March 1, 2, and 3. We'll be in your 6-man shack. We hope the crappies will become more active soon. What kind of depth will we be in this weekend? We have a couple of "rookies" to URL. We're hoping they can experience some "slab" crappies coming through their holes. Was there a particular lure/jig that worked best during Slabfest for crappies this past weekend? We're very eager to fish URL again.

Think positive! The crappies are going to bite this weekend!!

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Random guy Grand Master

Random guy

Posted
Posted

You should be sitting in twelve - eleven feet of water (remember the lake is low).

For jigs bring the glow everything, rattle evrything and maybe even give the power minnows a try.

I'm getting suited and firing up a "anonymous" truck to go scout right know and most likely will not stop until I find them or the ice melts.

I'll keep you all posted.

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hanson Grand Master

hanson

Posted
Posted

Those JB Lures Rattling Varmits are a pretty darn good weapon, I still prefer good ole Glow Red for my spoons. Tip with a minnow head and you are good to go.

I hate to let the cat out of the bag on the Berkley 2" Power Minnow plastics but the crappies destroyed those things during the Slabfest. Best color for 2 years now has been Glow/Chartreuse. Fish them on a 1/16oz (or less) jighead with no bait whatsoever and jig, jig, jig. We used the Power Minnows all last winter as well with very similar results.

The crappies we have been catching are suspended 1-4' off the bottom. They are up in the column eating and when those Power Minnows slow fall down to them, it is nothing to watch a mark on your flasher raise up to meet the bait halfway down.

The Power Minnows are a part of my auger til you drop routine. Auger 20 holes in a line, fish each for 2-3 minutes tops, repeat. It really does take awhile to gain confidence in them working. You have to trust that you are jigging them right and even though you just fished 50 holes without catching a fish, keep on doing it.

Even if you decide to sit in the house all day, I'd still jig one the entire time I was in there. I obviously would have my other line down as well with a jig & minnow or hook & minnow but that Power Minnow would be getting a workout on the jigging rod. Don't be afraid to jig 2-4' off the bottom with it either.

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Bobb-o Mentor

Bobb-o

Posted
Posted

hanson, where have you been finding the 2" power minnows at? i used to use them all the time for open water crappies but havent been able to find them in a couple years.

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hanson Grand Master

hanson

Posted
Posted

Bobb-o

They can be tough to find, ESPECIALLY at this time of year. They are obviously not an ice fishing specific product so they are usually not on the shelves now.

Gander Mountain "might" have them. It is hit or miss depending on which Gander you are looking in. Mills Fleet Farm usually has them but they are typically stocked early summer and then they disappear. Sportsman's Warehouse has been the best place to find them for me. I believe you can order direct from Berkley as well.

There are a lot of other similar plastics out there, but for some reason, that Glow/Chartreuse color works well. When the bite is good, I've even experimented with other color Power Minnows (Chartreuse, Smelt, etc) but have always reverted back to the Glow.

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Borch Grand Master

Borch

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators
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From my experience the power minnow colors that work on Red are the glow/chartuese is out in the lead by a sunstasntial margin. Followed by Chartruese shad, then chartruese and then smelt. If using smelt it seams you catch more walleyes than crappies though. ;\)

I've been finding them in the clearance bins in stores this time of year. So check those out as well. \:D

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wanger29 Experienced

wanger29

Posted
Posted

Pounding them? How many crappies had been caught altogether? Varmits, Angel eyes, pimples were next best thing to live bait I've seen. I'm not nearly as experienced as you atre. How more efficient, (Power minnow), than live bait were those?

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Quackaddict9 Veteran

Quackaddict9

Posted
Posted

I just looked at the power minnow on Berkley website in the ice fishing section under relastic live bait and they didnt say what size they were so I'm wondering if they are 2" like what you guys are using?

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Shoogs32 Enthusiast

Shoogs32

Posted
Posted

I just picked up two packs of the power minnows at Scheels in St. Cloud. It looks like they start off at 2" and get bigger from there. They were just starting to stock em today, so they might not be available everywhere yet.

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