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Tonka Rpt 2/3/08


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Went to the west side for some crappie and walleye action, but more so crappies.

Setup @ 18' on the weedline or just off and marked fish right away. Right away 2 crappies came up the hole and I thought I was in for a treat. But they didn't want the jigging spoon anymore. I switched to a lil Hali and waxie and bam - bam - bam went the afternoon. 20 sunnies and 20 crappies later = no more waxies. Once dusk hit a 2lb pike, perch and 16" walter made their way to the buckshot and crappie minnow head. A few more crappies and it was time to watch the last half of the superbowl.

Not a bad outing as far as #'s. All fish released. It pays to switch up until you find what they want. Which changes all the time and I don't do too often - D'oh

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The Crappie ice fishing has been very good on Tonka this year. Mostly small ice jigs w/waxies, Berkley Crappie Nibbles, and small crappie minnows produced.

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Last night they wanted bigger plastics or minnows. Ignored waxies. This tells me the late winter/early spring feeding binge is just about to get into gear. Going to need to move shallower like Ebass noted and concentrate on breaks around spring spawning areas. I didn't get anything over 10" last night but a lot of chunky 9" showed up - I might have been too deep as I was fishing in mid 20s depth in a basin area. A lot of fish though. Couldn't even use a deadstick as I seldom got the jig down before getting hit. The crappies were zooming up to meet it on the drop.

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I need to learn Tonka better so I can get into some of those slabs. I'm tired of the Lotus lake 8" crappies...I'd sure like to find something bigger!

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Going out tonight to the same spot. No waxies this time - only minnows. Will rpt tomorrow

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    • mulefarm
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    • LakeofthewoodsMN
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