Another good year of crappie fishing?

[Bigred70]

Since the walleyes seem to be coming back so strongly, do you guys think that we will have another good year of crappie fishin' on the ice? I sure hope so. I made it out to Red 3 times last winter, and only got into them THICK once. Any general tactics for the upcoming season that will improve my odds? I understand the fact that it is imperitave to put distance between yourself and others, but are there any other tips? Thanks guys!

[cluelessfisherman]

Well, I hope to finally find a school of crappie this winter. I went up to Red 6 times last year and never caught more than 2 crappie a trip - no matter how many were in my party, we always caught 2 crappie. We tried everything - moving around, staying put, in the crowd, outside the crowd, letting the bait sit, jigging, from an inch off the bottom to a foot under the hole. Maybe I'm just bad luck!?

Well, whatever the case, I hope those perch are big enough this year to take a few home for the pan if nothing else.

See ya on the ice SOON!!

Clueless - -

[Rick]

Stay away from the crowds and keep moving every 15 minutes until you hit fish (especially early morning and at sunset/dark).

20 yards can make a big difference. If you're on em, they will usually be biting.

Oh yeah and use the Angel Eye Jr's - pink/Glow or Hot Red Glow.

[Steve Foss]

I've been up to URL the last two winters, and also seem only to have luck when I'm away from the crowds. Most of the folks who come up there, not knowing where the fish will be, look to locate near but not on top of other fishermen. That's how ice cities are born. Most of that water is about the same depth, and the fish move around, so you're about as likely to find fish anywhere out on the flats. But the more houses and activity, the shyer the fish become. I'm convinced of that. If there are schools of fish wandering through under the city, I think they're shy unless they find of pocket without much activity -- hole drilling, trucks driving, etc. So we either find an area in the city with few residents or avoid the city altogether.

Not that we've set 'em on fire that way, but we have pulled limits, and even quit before dark last time.

As for the perch getting bigger, I'm told by folks at URL that, when the perch get a certain size, they tend to migrate to Lower Red, where there's deeper water. So the ones in URL apparently are always the youngsters.

[swamptiger]

The way this weather is shaping up, we'll be on the ice early this year.

[upnorth]

I am certainly no expert on fishing URL, but we did finally figure out how to catch Crappies on URL. The 1st 2 times we went out, we got out a couple of hours before dark and moved several hundred yards from the crowds drilled our 4 holes put up the ice house and jigged and jigged and jigged and caught about 6 fish for 2 of us. Not very good by URL standards.

The next 4 times we didn't even get out on the ice until the sun was going down. We didn't bother with the ice house until we found fish and then put it up, as a matter of fact the last 2 times we didn't bother with the ice house at all. We would move after about 20 minutes to 1/2 hour, or if we got into perch or walleye. In most cases we weren't fishing for more than 45 minutes after we did find them, and we would limit out and have to leave Once you find them it is usually fast and furious, two rods become impossible to fish at times.

[kupcho]

Hey everyone, listen to rick on his advice. If you don't find the fish by dark or so, move. Every 10 to 15 minutes until you find some fish. You will usually pick up 6 - 10 crappies, and then they will pass through and then move again. sometimes 100 feet is enough to move to change no fish into a limit of fish.
Good luck
This year should be another excellent year for crappies.

------------------
Kupcho's Guide Service
Upper Red, Winnie, Blackduck Area
http://fishingminnesota.com/blackduck/
Phone:(651) 426-1545
E-mail: [email protected]

[Katoman]

I've been to URL five times in the last two years. I have always caught a lot of fish. We went up in the spring and fished out of a boat. We weighed each fish and found most running from 1 lb. to 1 3/4 lb. We did catch some smaller. I do believe that would represent more than one year class. We caught many perch and agree they had grown considrably from one year to the next. They were borderline keepers last year. We were thinking that the next great bite would be the perch. We did decide one thing, we want to be there, when the walleye ban comes off!!!!!

[GullGuide]

When I attended college in Bemidji back in the early 90's I can remember catching true Jumbo Perch. I'm talking 12-14 inchers as fast as you could get your line down. It will take some time for these fish to come back, but the conditions are there for it to happen again. I agree that the perch fishery might fill a small void between a decline in the crappie to when walleye can be caught.
I also agree that THE place to be will be Waskish the night of the walleye opener. Can you say PARTY!!!!

[This message has been edited by GullGuide (edited 10-23-2002).]