French Lake Fishing Reports

[JosMN]

Yes that pressure ridge is a bit scary, it made a lot of noise when I walked over it sunday morning also. The ice seems a bit noisy all the way out to that hole. And you will get a few scares in your house when a crack goes through between you feet and the ice seems like it gives a little. Should be pretty noisy out there with the cold weather!

[Eric_Kruger]

I think I might head out to my old haunt on French Friday morning or early afternoon, Other than the pressure ridge by hoys is there anything on the other end of the lake one should watch for? (closer to the dnr landing)

[JosMN]

I'm not sure where, but I know there was an open area on the south end of the lake. I think it says in this French lake thread somewhere. Not sure if it was the inlet or what, but from what I heard there were snowmobiles skipping is this past wkend or mid last week.

[lunkerlover]

As of Saturday, the open water on the south end of the lake was west of the 30' hole I believe. A guy could see it plain as day against the snow covered ice. If I recall correctly, there is a stick or two marking it. Be careful out there, the ice still isn't in the shape it should be for mid-January, but this cold weather is hopefully healing things nicely!

[bwack]

I have my small perm out of French in about 32 ft of water. The daytime bite is producing decent numbers of fish but as soon as 4:00 or 4:30 hits it completely turns off. Got one dink fish between 4:00 and 6:30 last night. Anyone out there having success after dark?

[stizoler]

Those fish seem to be moving to shallower water in the evening.

[Matt C]

Those fish seem to be moving to shallower water in the evening.

Jackpot!

[bwack]

Thanks for the tip guys. since most of the time i will not get out until dark i may have to think about moving the perm "in" a little bit

[Steeves]

Yeah I'm having the same problem, once it gets dark I can't catch anything. How deep should I be fishing at night for crappies

[Matt C]

I mark alot on the 20 to 26 FOW water mark after dark. Getting them to bite is a different story.....

[Matt C]

Spent a few hours this morning out with my kids. 37 FOW, marked and caught crappies suspended from 28 to 22 FOW.

Pink was the key, as they wouldn't bite any other color. Whole minnows.

Good 12 to 13 Inches of ice where I was at, lots of full sized trucks out.

I am taking the wife out there for the evening bite, and will be in shallower water off the DNR access this time.

[Crappielester]

Did u use a small presentation

[usmc0411]

was out today from 3-7 pm. 20 FOW from Hoys resort. Marked fish the whole time from 15-18 FOW but no takers. There was a lot of vehicles out there, but I still only measured 12" of ice.

[simple1]

I'm going out tomorrow to test my new tent some more. I'm surprised they are hitting whole minnows still. Usually in my experience I'm usually down to minnow pieces by now.

Simple1

[Matt C]

Did u use a small presentation

I did, and it caught fish over the 3 other holes in my shack.

On that note, I did drive the Tahoe out to my spot this evening. Zero ice cracking, and had no issues following the main road. Measured 13" where I fished this evening.

[usmc0411]

Simple1, I tried whole minns, minn heads, waxies, small tear drop, big tear drop (glow in the dark), forage minnow, lindy rattle jig, small swedish pimple = no bites. Lots of fish on the Marcum, but no bites.

[Matt C]

Simple1, I tried whole minns, minn heads, waxies, small tear drop, big tear drop (glow in the dark), forage minnow, lindy rattle jig, small swedish pimple = no bites. Lots of fish on the Marcum, but no bites.

Yes sir! I agree 100% It took alot of.. "Do I need to hook it for you!" yells down the hole.

By all means, don't take my posting as they where jumping up the hole. The bite has slowed WAY down. With all the marks and missed bites or not bites at all, i really wanted to cut a hole, dive down and bag the lil buggers!

[simple1]

I hope a couple will bite. My friends just called and said they're driving up from Iowa and will be here early morning to hit French. Usually when that happens your lucky to even see a fish.

Simple1

[Zelmsdawg]

Pink was the key, as they wouldn't bite any other color. Whole minnows.

I was out for 5 hrs yesterday and managed to scratch up 3 fish on red, but I suppose thats pretty close to pink. Definitely slow

[simple1]

It was slow today also. The fish seemed to be moving around a lot suspended in about 24FOW. They would hit for a little bit and then disappear. We moved a little and were able to locate them a few times. Definitely not holding in one spot.

Simple1

[Matt C]

Anyone else noticing the stained, chocolaty looking water the past few days? EWWWW.

I wonder if this is affecting the bite, as we have all experienced a slower bite.

When the water was clear.....the bite was HOT! ...now Stained....slow bite. hmmmm?

[blindlemon]

I think the heavy vehicle traffic is stirring the water a bit. I spent 5 hours on French this morning and caught 6 sad little crappies. Decided to go home and cook the walleyes I caught on mazaska yesterday.

[yipups]

has anyone tried fishing later into the night like from 8 on? is it the same story as it is at 4? marking fish but no bites? and if they do its tiny crappies? also has anyone tried the rock piles and or the bar on the north end of the lake that supposedly has rocks as well, (according to the map) that is.

[yipups]

Any one been out there lately? Has the bite picked up at all? water still so dirty looking?

[Matt C]

Got out for a little bit Tuesday morning.

The water has cleaned up, no more stained/brown water.

Ice is 10" everywhere I drilled, so the recent warm up only took off the top snow cover and ~ 2" of ice.

My vex looked like a Christmas tree with all the stacked crappies. Minnow heads and plastics were the ticket. Though lots of hits, misses and catches on whole crappie minnows and fatheads as well. Lots of short bites too, so you really had to watch the spring bobber and set the hook right away.

[JosMN]

I plan on getting out there saturday morning. Hopefully they dont shut off with this cold front moving in.......

[Brain_Melt]

HEADS UP open water on the south west corner of lake do to an ice heave.

[bwack]

Hit French this afternoon for about 4 hours. Never have i caught so many 4 inch craps. only 3 fish over 9 inches out of about 50 fish iced.

And once again they completly shut off at about 5:00. Where are the fish going after dark?

I was in about 25 ft of water.

[BoneCollector9]

From what I have read on the forum most people have been going shallower after dark but not sure how shallow. If I were you I would send a PM to Bundt2k and he may help to try to lead you in the right direction of his best knowledge.

[FishinFools]

Any one want to share some tips on getting those finicky fish to bite? We were out in the wind Saturday from 9-1 and marked many fish and several schools of fish. Tried everything we had, small, large, buck shot, tiny jigs, etc. Live minnows, heads and waxies. We were in 25-32FOW and had fish from the bottom up to about 10ft off the bottom. They would come in, take a sniff, hang around then leave. Caught a few, but there were a lot of colors stacked up on the FL18. Frustrating.