Marking crappies, but theyre not interested in live bait

[WillieMN]

over the weekend I fished a lake in Wisconsin. marked fish in every hole I drilled but they weren't biting on live bait. I tried plastics and gulp bait. I had a dead stick with a plain hook and a minnow, I did manage to pick up a few crappies off of the dead stick. but that was it. what kind of plastics are good and reliable?

 

25 FOW, marking fish at 10-15FOW.

Edited March 7, 2016 by WillieMN

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Did you try wax worms or spikes on a small jig?

Sounds like they were really in a neutral mood! Usually going to a very small presentation or the dead stick like you did will get a few to go.

Even a very small presentation usually requires that you stop all bait/lure movement once the fish get close to the hook when they are that neutral.

Cliff

[JP Z]

Honestly they may not even be crappies.  Granted probably were, but this past weekend I had a situation where I was fishing over 44 had fish up at 35 and figured crappies as that is my spot and their depth.....NOPE  3-4" perch.  Little buggers

[WillieMN]

well I had a minnow head on a Swedish pimple all the way at the bottom and caught 1 crappie right away. then I started to catch perch on the bottom. but I would bring my bait up to where I could see the suspended fish, but only pulled a couple crappies. but through out a 10 hour period on the ice, I marked fish and couldn't get them to bite on live bait or plastics.

 

[ZachD]

VMC wax tail is my go to plastic.... I hardly ever switch it out when fishing panfish, I seem to catch the same if not more everytime I am with someone else. I will tip it with wax worms sometimes or tear a couple balls off to make it smaller every once in awhile too.

 

Sometimes you just cant get them to bite no matter what I've had days where you try everything and nothing. I usually move and find some active fish when that happens. Sometimes the smallest move will put you on hungry fish.

[WillieMN]

yea, I can usually use the same jig set up all day and just hammer pan fish. but Saturday they weren't into what I had. a guy pulled up about 20 yards from me and he was just slaying the crappies, just using a bobber and a crappie minnow. very frustrating.

[jgrimmz]

I've had that situation more than I care to admit. This ice fishing season I've had the most luck switching to a plain hook with the smallest spoon I have on top of it when I can't get them to bite. 

[Sculpin]

Sometimes I like to drop different baits down on neutral fish in very rapid succession, its' a bit like hole hopping only you don't necessarily move. I like to have at least three rods, all rigged with something different, maybe a larva, a jig and small minnow head, and a plastic of some sort. I find that neutral fish will often times respond to very aggressive jigging, sometimes stationary baits, or often times live baits.  Invariably there seems to be a couple in the pack that will rush up and smack  something, in this case your Swedish Pimple. 

The guy with  the bobber and minnows may have had the right color, the right line diameter, and the right depth,, it had to be some correct combination.

Keep working it, good luck

Edited March 8, 2016 by Sculpin
spelling

[WillieMN]

yea, that is true. im going to give the ice all I have this weekend in a last shot effort for some crappies. hoping the warm weather don't kill the ice too bad.

larva is different then a wax worm, right?

[gunner55]

Yeah, they are a lot smaller & will be a lot of different colors. They are usually kept in a cooler / fridge as they like it colder than waxies

[WillieMN]

hmm, I guess ill have to pick some up for this weekend.

[gunner55]

About 1/2 the crappies we got yesterday came on larvae

[WillieMN]

when ever I caught them, I was using a minnow head, or a live minnow on a plain hook. I think I caught 3 crappies this year on waxies. but I def. will pick some up for this weekend.

[gunner55]

Kind of funny as we have been targeting crappies too all winter & haven't even bought any minnows but we haven't used spoons very much either. Mostly waxies for us but have always had larvae with & never got shut out. Not much action on the spikes until this last trip.  I wondered a couple of times if we might have done better with minnows but we're usually not looking to get our limit, just a meal or 2. Good luck fishin! Hope you have some ice as it's going pretty fast up here, Winnie area

Edited March 8, 2016 by gunner55

[WillieMN]

yea, this is the first year ive tried to target crappies. usually its sunnies.

 

im by big sandy in Mcgregor. hopefully ill be able to ride my wheeler out on the ice Saturday and sunday.

[Bob/Mn]

On 3/7/2016 at 7:44 AM, WillieMN said:

over the weekend I fished a lake in Wisconsin. marked fish in every hole I drilled but they weren't biting on live bait. I tried plastics and gulp bait. I had a dead stick with a plain hook and a minnow, I did manage to pick up a few crappies off of the dead stick. but that was it. what kind of plastics are good and reliable?25 FOW, marking fish at 10-15FOW.

 I start out with a vertical flutter spoon tipped with power bait. If that doesn't work I switch to a small home tied jig tipped with power bait or last resort tipped with one spike.

 Work the lures very slowly if the fish are in a neutral mode.

[WillieMN]

I tried almost everything in my tackle bax. small spoons, small jigs, live bait, gulp haha everything!

[Sculpin]

My preference is red euro larva, there are white, blue, green, etc.  But I like red.  Just nick them on from the fat end, don't try to thread them on, they blow up.  Still ATV's on Mille Lacs today.  

[gunner55]

Like Bob said jiggin slow & if you get 1 interested but won't bite we found if we would raise the jig slowly 6" -1' or 2 while jiggin would get some to go. Even holding it still like a deadstick after they followed it up would get some to go. A Northland Helix Fly (1/16) with either a eurolarva or waxie seemed to work best for us the last couple of times out

[WillieMN]

Ok, thanks for the tips! I will have to pick some larva up for the weekend. im really excited for spring open water crappie fishing.

I should be able to get larva at any bait store right? I think vados bait in blaine has them. I could pick them up on my way up north this weekend. do I need to keep them cold or room temp?

[Cliff Wagenbach]

3 hours ago, WillieMN said:

Ok, thanks for the tips! I will have to pick some larva up for the weekend. im really excited for spring open water crappie fishing.

I should be able to get larva at any bait store right? I think vados bait in blaine has them. I could pick them up on my way up north this weekend. do I need to keep them cold or room temp?

Keep them cool.

Cliff

[Surface Tension]

 We've all seen where your working a hole and crappies come in but didn't like what they see and are spooked off.  
 Jigging them in was good but sometimes you have to stop all movement was to finish the deal.

 Then there are times when you have crappies on you and you have to make them react.  A slow lift often peels a lone crappie from the pack.   When you see that let them catch you if they can.

Sometimes thats enough and sometimes you can finish. Down sizing is usually what I do considering I started out with a lure that is more for search mode and is larger and heavier on the drop.  I'll go from full crappie minnow, half crappie minnow, waxie, and maggie. 

Next are the crappies that act like they;re sleeping under your hole,  those ones that you can't get to do anything.

That is a good time to hole hop.  Look for active fish but most important a new audience that hasn't become bored with what your offering.  That drop down can also trigger a strike to a crappie that didn't know its hungry.

Pay attention and considerate when times get tough.  Its great when the bite is hot and you can't do anything wrong.  Sometimes you have to do everything right.

Thats what keeps us going back.

 

 

 

[WillieMN]

I feel like im addicted to fishing right now haha this winter, even though its been a odd winter, but it has treated me awesome. crappies, not so much. but gills and walleyes have been great.

cant wait for this weekend. I will pick up some more lures tonight.

 

cant wait for open water crappie fishing.

[WillieMN]

well i did it. i got into a mess of crappies this past weekend. if it wasnt for a northern pike, i probably would have caught over 100 crappies in 2 days. just a small jig with waxies. im going to attempt to make it back up north for my final weekend of ice fishing. and hopefully get back on the crappies.

 

lost a big crappie at the hole, was probably my biggest of the weekend, im guessing it was a 13-14" but i was excited just to find them.

Edited March 15, 2016 by WillieMN

[gunner55]

Seen it more than once, catch a pike or 2, maybe even just get bit off & the crappies disappear. We've had our best luck in the basin type areas. With the rain today our season may be over here.

[DLD24]

X2 on still finding them in the deep basins...This has been awesome late ice for me, I don't want it to end...I'm hoping to hit a small Grand Rapids area lake this weekend for big gills, but idk with this weather...

[WillieMN]

my dad texted me and told me it was raining pretty good up there today. i guess i will see how bad the ice looks when i go up friday morning. 

 

that lake is full of small pike, once and a while you get a nice one. it was a nice little fight for 2lb test line and a light action rod. but id rather catch more crappies and a no norhterns

7 minutes ago, DLD24 said:

X2 on still finding them in the deep basins...This has been awesome late ice for me, I don't want it to end...I'm hoping to hit a small Grand Rapids area lake this weekend for big gills, but idk with this weather...

i hope it lasts through this weekend. it is suppose to get cooler here on out for the rest of the week. im not giving up yet! but now with the cooler weather, im sure my crappie spot will be pretty quiet and im sure the crappies moved back out into deeper water. 

a deep basin is a deep hole, right?