Finally, some warm weather!

[Rick G]

Weatherman says upper 40s today and rain tomorrow. Looks like a few 50 degree days next week too let the melting begin.

[noska]

Hey rick....hit long lake in grey eagle today caught a lot...had to sift through lots of little ones....mainly sight fishing ... thinking of hitting Clearwater or sugar....what do u think ? Where would u go? Thanks in advance.

[Rick G]

Sugar, look to the crappie flats close to the cord 7 access. Clearwater, in front of Bj's always has fish or look around Bungalow island. Both theese lakes set up in a similar way durring late ice. Start in the 20ft depths working shallower as you go, if you are not marking any fish deep, try the shallow bullrush beds in the 5-7ft range.

[noska]

I want to release one of those 15's. 14 biggest I have ever caught.....you think on clearwater I have a chance? Ty rick

[JeremyCampbell]

Boy, A fifteen incher .Nice fishing!

[Rick G]

I want to release one of those 15's. 14 biggest I have ever caught.....you think on clearwater I have a chance? Ty rick

If you put yourself in the right location it is. Try sight fishing if you find them shallow enough, water clarity is pretty good right now.

[NELS-BELLS]

Hey rick....hit long lake in grey eagle today caught a lot...had to sift through lots of little ones....mainly sight fishing ... thinking of hitting Clearwater or sugar....what do u think ? Where would u go? Thanks in advance.

My son and I got to Sugar about 10:30 yesterday. We fished out from the reeds straight across from the Cty 7 access. We caught a few small Sunnies and noticed the others around us doing about the same.

We then went to Clearwater about 1. We found fish in about 20' off the bullrushes near an island. We had plenty of action but only one quality fish. (a nice 9" gill) We punched holes all the way up to 5', but only marked fish suspended in the deeper holes. We left about 4 PM with an empty bucket.

We finally ended up on a lake closer to home and found some better quality fish suspended in about 20'. After some sorting, we up with enough decent sized Crappies and Sunnies for a meal.

All in all, a great day to be out. I think I even got sunburned.

Nels

[Rick G]

What a great day to be on the ice. Started out driving out to the spot, within an hour of beeing there we decided it was a good idea to drive the truck up to the access as conditions were going south quickley . When we drove out there was 6-8in of water at the access, when we pulled off to park on shore there was 12-14in of standing water and some holes big enough for Horseshoe Don's dog to swim in

The bite for crappies was pretty crazy in the spot we chose, if we moved 20yds in either direction the fish wouldn't bite. I can't explain what was going on in this small area to make the fish so active there and not very active at all just yds away. All I can say is I'm happy they where they were and we were where we were Got a mix of sizes, from big ones to tiny little buggers, must have caught 150-200 between my buddie and myself. I'm just glad there was a witness from here to back my story up.

[Horseshoe_Don]

3 witnesses since I was there with a buddy also. He may have caught more than that. It was my best Crappie day also. My biggest was about 12-13"

Don

[silverbulletguy]

I debated on bringing the little guy out one last time for the year. Probably made the right decision not going as I'm sure he wouldn't have enjoyed being that wet.

Just heard grandpa is getting some new toys put on his boat so I guess we will have to wait for that.

Good luck and stay safe !

[CrewJones]

got a sunburn yesterday with a hat outline... that was exiting.

Really hit the large sunnies on a lake east of town. Im also very impressed with myself im using strictly plastics and having good success.

I caught 6 bass 2 over 4 lbs when they get in the 2.5 feet of ice there heads clunck against the sides of the hole all the way up its very amusing.

1 break off and 1 slimy critter most fish seem to be in 8-14 feet off the deep hole near the flats

a couple of the holes i drilled became big drains there was 8" of foam in the hole and a vortech of water I tried fishing in one with no luck the transducer was like a propeller in the hole

[JeremyCampbell]

It was not warm on long lake in Richmond,The wind was face slappin uncomfortable.

[Rick G]

I found a nice little spot on the Chain that had hardly any wind at all, fishing wasn't too bad either

[Horseshoe_Don]

I was on that same spot earlier if it the same spot we were on the other day. Quite comfortable and lots of crappies.

Don

[Jaron_K]

Made it out tuesday night on a small lake near St Rosa. Nothing beats fishing on the ice, hole hopping with warm weather. Wind was a bit strong but tollerable if dressed right. Sunfish were hitting pretty good anywhere from 15-25 ft suspended off the weed flat. I tried the flat in about 7 ft of water and all i could catch was perch. The coolest thing was the sunfish i found out suspended were litterally 3 feet from the end of my transducer. Sight fishing big sunnies is quite a blast let me tell ya. So there i was with no fishouse, my head in the hole with 7 ft of line in my hand watching them bite it was pretty exciting. I caught a few small ones but most were around that 8" range with a couple had to be close to 9. Definately gunna try to get out a couple more times before ice out. There was a good 2 ft of ice out there yet but the top 6-8 inches the auger bit through pretty quick. Any idea where to look for crappies this time of year? Suspended? Deep weeds?

[Borch]

I've been finding them shallow, (6-10 fow) near shallow bays or points.

[Rick G]

On some of the lakes I have been on latley the sunfish are running right with the crappies. On others they will be in the same areas, just holding deeper. Look for shallow flats, large points and feeding bays to be holding fish right now. They might not be right in the bays or on top of the structure , but they will be close by.

Soon the ice will lift up from the lake bed and will be floating. This will triger the fish to make yet another move, they will be found in the shallow reeds and weeds that were freshly uprooted by the lifting ice. The fish will be taking advantage of the newly created buffet of insect life, this supper shallow bite will often last untill ice out. Sometimes the fish will be shallow enough to sight fish , this can be a blast when you locate some bigger fish .

[JeremyCampbell]

Should I head for the larger shallow flats when fishing on a small lake? It seems where I been drilling in the shallows are mostly perch now.I been getting sunfish the last month but I'm not finding the crappies as much.

[Borch]

If you find a shallow flat with some weed growth remain, especially if it's still green there will likely be some crappies/gills around it as well.

Every lake is different though.

[Guest]

Exactly what Borch said!! Something I like to do is space my holes out when fishing big shallow flats. This opens up a huge area to find fish. Something I also look for on my vex is weeds. If I dont mark weeds I dont fish it. If you are not marking fish drop off the the edges of the weed flat and work it hard. Alot of times fish will move up onto these flats in the morning to feed and eventually drop off the edges and roam for the day and slowly make there way back during the evening. Make sure you have a perfect presentation and start jigging it down the second it hits the water. In the shallow water gills will spook very easily especially the bulls. Now 9 times out of 10 you wont mark fish on your flasher but when I find the weeds I stay above them to call fish in because that is the name of the game.

[NELS-BELLS]

I went out yesterday evening on a lake near St. Joe. I drilled holes from 10' to 22'. I found a mixture of nice sized crappies and gills in about 20' and about 2 - 3' off the bottom. They weren't very aggressive either. I don't think I have ever found them shallow on this lake.

Strange thing is, I was on Upper Spunk last Sat and we found them deep on that lake also.

Nels

[Rick G]

Every lake is different though.

Yes it is

Nells brings up a valid point when he said he has never found the fish shallow on a certain lake. On some of the smaller bodies of water the fish don't have very far to migrate to get to their ice out locations, so they tend not to make the big move till almost ice out. If there is an ample supply of food in the area the fish are in they have no reason to go anywhere yet.

All fish make seasonal or even daily movements because of one or a combination of three things, food, cover or spawn. Right now the fish are making the movements because of the food source. Like Borch said " Every lake is different though" so you might have to do a little leg work to figure things out

[Horseshoe_Don]

But I just had my second knee replacement and can not jump around and find them.

Don

[Rick G]

But I just had my second knee replacement and can not jump around and find them.

Don

That's right, today was the day for the second one to get done. How did everything go?

Btw, with two knees needing rehab, I wouldn't recomend playing around on the ice anymore this year

[MikeH55343]

HS Don has had six "last day of fishing" days this winter. If there is still ice next weekend, he'll probably be out on the lake with his crutches again.

[Rick G]

he'll probably be out on the lake with his crutches again.

You don't see that very often, but yes, that sounds like Don

[JeremyCampbell]

I woke up at 4 am and almost went fishing.My open water fishing alarm kicked on

[bturck]

You might have to hit that snooze button for awhile yet. Temps next week won't make for a quick and fast thaw. When it happens it will probably jump right to 70 deg. Normal ice out on our lake has been April 14th, don't think that will be the case this year......

[Rick G]

Just steped outside and guess what? Yep, it's snowing again I like ice fishing and all but.... enough is enough! The good news is the forcast for the next week shows a warming trend

[IceHawk]

HAve to agree this weather bites to say Im sick of it is a understatement! Please can we get some nice weather soon I cant remeber a spring like this ever.