Washington morning bite

[harvey lee]

I hit the lake today in search of some gills. Started out in 7-9fow with no fish marked after 30 minutes.

Moved to 16fow and the results were the same. So, thinking that this cold front moved in last night, I moved out to 26fow and it was game on.

The deadstick was set up with a plain hook and a crappie minnow and I jigged the other line with a Little Atom jig and a red spike. Nothing would hit and if I jigged the bait, they would all scatter.

Since they seemed so negative, I downsized to the smallest Bro bug I had in white, pink and green with 1 sopike and it was game on.

The first 3 fish were crappie from 11-13 inches and then 2 walleyes hit the jig with the spike and they were 14 and 17 inches.

So, since they wanted a smaller profile horizontal jig, I took the minnow of the deadstick and rigged it up with another Bro bug and a red spike.

The bite lasted for another hour with a total of 2 eyes, 24 crappie and 16 gills. Kept the 2 eyes for a meal and 6 crappie for another.

Tough bite but it was good enough to ice a nice mess of fish.

Very suprised to see all the full sized trucks on the ice this am. I fished in 5 different locations and the thickest ice I found was 11". The ice would really bang and crack when a truck went by. Water would go up and down in the holes also.

[highlife4me]

I thought that was you with the wheeler and CC portable. I had the same bite going on. Small presentation was key. Kept enough crappies for supper and let a bunch go to catch another day.

[smnduck]

Thanks for the report guys!

[GrizzlyAdams]

Sounds like a fun day. Glad you found them.

[harvey lee]

I thought that was you with the wheeler and CC portable. I had the same bite going on. Small presentation was key. Kept enough crappies for supper and let a bunch go to catch another day.

Yep, that be me. Next time, stop in and say hi. Seems every time I go to the lake, people know where I am. Must be the red cat wheeler.

Fish were a bit negative but they sure did do well yesterday.

Did the CO stop by your house? I saw they were walking around the area after they checked me.

[ripnlips99]

say harvey thanks for the info ijust dont say much but i have been having luck out there as well by grassy and mud bay and wanted to fish bakers tommorow morning im just curious if thats where you were fishing ?? i was fishing mud bay last tuesday and was sitting in an inch of water on top of ten inches of ice too much weight out there or something has anyone else had that happen to them ?? i cant beleive all the ppl driving with only that much ice and i noticed from two weeks ago till last wknd no more ice was made out there whats the deal with that its been cold too ?? Anyway fished grassy two weeks ago on ten inches of ice 18 fow and had a dozen 9 inch gills and 5 nice crappies. Then tuesday new years day fished mud bays hole 13 fow 10 inches of ice yet only and the water we sat in but had 20 nice sunnys and one 11 inch white crappie. I will still be using my wheeler and portable till we get a lil more ice honda rincon with a hitched up clam x2

[ripnlips99]

after that cold snap i too noticed the fish were negative and i did almost like you i switched to a small horizontal gentz bug red with two waxes on and for me too it was game on !! even the crappies would smash it but boy it did take a lil coaxing

[simple1]

Harvey,

Im going to steal you away from your family one of these weekends and you can educate me on the finer details of catching Gills. I catch walleye, crappie, and other fish, but decent gills.. I guess I have a lot to learn.

Simple1

[harvey lee]

say harvey thanks for the info ijust dont say much but i have been having luck out there as well by grassy and mud bay and wanted to fish bakers tommorow morning im just curious if thats where you were fishing ?? i was fishing mud bay last tuesday and was sitting in an inch of water on top of ten inches of ice too much weight out there or something has anyone else had that happen to them ?? i cant beleive all the ppl driving with only that much ice and i noticed from two weeks ago till last wknd no more ice was made out there whats the deal with that its been cold too ?? Anyway fished grassy two weeks ago on ten inches of ice 18 fow and had a dozen 9 inch gills and 5 nice crappies. Then tuesday new years day fished mud bays hole 13 fow 10 inches of ice yet only and the water we sat in but had 20 nice sunnys and one 11 inch white crappie. I will still be using my wheeler and portable till we get a lil more ice honda rincon with a hitched up clam x2

I was fishing out of the north access between Grassy and 3rd point. Fished a few different areas. Good to hear u iced some nicer fish..

[harvey lee]

Harvey,

Im going to steal you away from your family one of these weekends and you can educate me on the finer details of catching Gills. I catch walleye, crappie, and other fish, but decent gills.. I guess I have a lot to learn.

Simple1

Be hard to steal me away as I typically do not fish on the weekends. Too much traffic on the lake and I have the luxury of fishing during the week when the traffic is far less.

Don't quite know if I could educate anyone of catching gills but I would be happy to go out with you sometime. You may not be fishing lakes with the nicer gills in them.

If you want to go to Washington sometime on the weekends, let me know a few days in advance and If I have nothing else planned, yes, we can go.

I was going to go tomorrow but the boss said we are going to the cities in the am. may go tomorrow aft but cannot say yet. I will be going out next week Wednesday probably if that would work for u. Mant times when I go, I decide the night before or when I get up in the am.

[harvey lee]

What a crowd on Washington this aft. Hit the lake about 1:30 and it was a tough bite to say the least.

1st I broke the recoil line for the auger and then the heater decided to have a fire and burn a smaller hole in the tent on the portable. Can be fixed so no real biggie.

Stayed till dark and ended up with 14 gills and 5 crappie but the size was not as good as the other day but I salvaged soemthing out of a very negative bite.

Nice seeing you truth. The gills turn on just a tad for about 40 minutes and a few crappie came through suspended so it did not turen out the worst as I had feared a few hours before.

Never seen so many houses on this lake, but I typically never fish the weekends either.

[TruthWalleyes]

Good to meet you too. I found a lake not too far from washington SUnday that has seen almost NO fisherman since the last snow. Much more enjoyable to have the lake to yourself!

[Scott K]

Good to meet you too. I found a lake not too far from washington SUnday that has seen almost NO fisherman since the last snow. Much more enjoyable to have the lake to yourself!

I would much rather set my house up in the middle of a corn field and not catch anything, then park it in the middle of these popular lakes. This is why I go from little small lake to little small lake. Or I will hit up some back bay, or hidden reef on big lakes, that no one else is around. I may not hit fish everytime out, but when I do, I usually do very well, and I get the gratification of finding them on my own.

[harvey lee]

That's why I typically fish during the week on those busy weekend lakes.

One can still catch fish on the busy lakes even if the bite is slower. If the fishing is a bit slower, so be it. Something beats nothing every time out. One never knows when a pig or 2 may swim by and decide to eat. I do not need to have a constant bite when the lake is slow, few fish for a meal is fine with me.

I have found that if the bite is negative due to alot of noise or traffic on the lake, a change as little downsizing to 1 spike from 2 can turen them on a going to a verticla jig instead of a horizontial profile. They will hit if you find the right combo.

One can ice fish on the busy lakes, as with any other lake, get away from the crowd. I did ok for the gills only 75 yards away from the big group.

Beats sitting in the house anyday.

[TruthWalleyes]

Not within 200yds of another house yesterday on a very popular lake and did well with the walleyes at sunset on a break. They were a little skiddish but fun to find them away from everyone.

[harvey lee]

Good to hear. Yes, it's always more rewarding to locate the fish on your own.