Lanterns = Crappies

[looperhunter]

Just posting a question/comment.
Last week me and some bud's hit up a wisconsin crappie lake, for the night bit we drilled 4 holes around out portable before the night bite took off. We drilled the holes only about 20-24 inchs down, then placed the good old coleman lanterns in them. Not only did the lanterns light up the ice makeing it easy to see your hole, but they also seemed to bring the crappies in and off the bottom a ways. We were in 25 feet of water catching crappies 4 feet under the ice. I believe the light brings bait fish in the area and so the crappies follow. Is this a legal fishing tactic in minnesota and has anyone else tried it or had success with it?

[badluck,noluck]

It does work very well! When I lived in Texas, they have actual crappie lights!! Waterproof and hang about 2 feet apart. Like you said, at night the light brings in the bait fish and shortly after..... SLABS!! I am not sure if it legal in MN. I have had very good luck with this tactic down south.

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wiggle it...jiggle it... just do what it takes!

[kslipsinker]

Not legal in Minnesota.

[kelly-p]

I've seen that tried 4 times on URL. It stopped the bite each time.

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Waskish Minnow Station
218-647-8652

[Guest]

Two weekends it worked well for us on URL. The bite was slow for the other groups, but I believe this helped us. We didn't go down that far though, only about 15 inches.

[LABS4ME]

Lundprov...Don't get caught by the CO's doing that. That's a ticket in the making. You can have your lantern on the ice but if you drill it in, it is an artificial light source, which is illegal in our fine state.

Ken

[united jigsticker]

The strangest thing.

I had a hot hole one night..The only hole with biting fish. As soon as I just moved the lantern away from the hole a foot, the fish QUIT!

Maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe it was the triangle

[Guest]

On the ice or in the ice, it does not matter. It would never hold up in court, I know I have already been checked.

[PP Angler]

Won't hold up in court... I wonder if OJ said the same thing... fricken shame!!!

[Guest]

We were on Red last weekend, the guys that hung their lantern from the ceiling of there portable out fished everyone else....hummm

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If the women don't find you handsom, they should at least find you handy.

[Guest]

Seems to be alot of conflicting info here. Kelly, who knows this lake as well as anyone, says it's a no-go technique, but others testify to it's effectiveness. Some say it's illegal, others say they've been checked on it with no consequence. Would be nice to know what others have to say. I moved up from Texas years ago as well and can testify it works great down there.

[kelly-p]

It looks like it all gets back to being in the right place at the right time and what ever you do it works.

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Waskish Minnow Station
218-647-8652

[Surface Tension]

I would say enough light to find your beer and not enough light for someone to see your extension would be perfect.

[Guest]

Kelly hit it on the head!!!!
If your in the right spot at any given time your there, if not.. oh well! A lantern outside or in the house is not going to matter that much! (In my opinion) You could drill 100 holes and put lanterns in all of them and i don't think it would matter.(other than the rest of us could find you easier!) I've tried both and the only time i pulled out the lantern thing is when they were not biting... has not helped at all! I have seen it work though... but the other guy I was with had it out from the start. So was it from the lantern??? or because we were in the right spot at the right time?
Dang these questions...

[Brett Meyer]

The simple fact is that it's illegal in Minnesota. If for some reason someone got caught doing this by a CO in MN. The CO was probably in a very good mood, and didn't feel like getting his pen out for some ignorant out of state fisherman, and just gave a warning. Ever since I can remeber it's been ILLEGAL, but if you do want to make donation$ to the DNR, go right ahead and do what pleases ya.

[Guest]

I was fishing one night with a light shinning down one hole and not the other. 8:30 PM I was still cathching northerns in lit hole and skunked in other. I moved he light to a neutral corner and started catching eye's. I now make sure the light doesn't shine straight down the hole. For what it's worth.

[Guest]

I think it comes down to the co who checks you. In the case that I had he believed that on the ice or in the ice did not matter as long as there was no open water underneath it. There is just too much of a gray area in court to start bothering the system with on or in the ice. If there was open water and you are dangling a light in the water then there is a problem. It all goes back to checking the livewell for fish or not, is it invasion of privacy or not? Should a DNR be able to check a fish house? The point is that it would be hard to get a fine over this. Also, I'm not the only person that has done this. In fact URl is where I learned about this trick..

[tightlines]

The 2003 Minnesota regs are very clear on the subject of lites. Page 14 paragraph 4 states "Using an artificial light to lure or attract fish, or to see fish when spearing, is unlawful.Exception: While angling, a person may affix to the end of a fishing line a lighted artificial bait with hooks attached".

[This message has been edited by tightlines (edited 03-01-2003).]

[united jigsticker]

Yes, it is illegal.

If you choose to break the law, please don't come here after you're fined or other sportsmen give you a hard time about it and start whining.

This is my opinion: This site is not the place to come and post about being successful while using methods that are unlawful, nor is it the place to discuss ways around the law for purposes of delibrate wrongdoing to improve your fishing odds.

There are so many options and methods of legal angling that dramtically increase your odds of success these days that resorting to ways defined illegal by the State DNR shouldn't even be an issue.

Getting away with something in the presence of a CO one time doesn't make it legal or right.

Fish On! Fish Off! ::Guzzle::

[tightlines]

I hear ya jigsticker, and aggree 100%. We have all the electonics,augers,GPS and the most up to date lures ever, and there are still those that simply can't abide with the rules . I get pissed off when I hear of people breaking the rules .I think anyone that is breaking the regs should be banned from fishing for a year or two. Money fines don't seem to be much of a deterant. Second offense,ban them for life

[Guest]

WELL PUT JIGSTICKER, TIGHTLINES, HANG EM HIGH .

[Crusher]

Yes, it is illegal to use artificial light to attract fish. A submersible light is the first thing that comes to mind. Let’s understand one thing. If you choose to fish after sundown, you’re going to have to use artificial light to light your house. There is no way around it, unless your using some night vision goggles. If you choose to set your lantern on the ice to illuminate your fishing shelter I don’t think that would constitute a violation. Yes, some of that light is penetrating the ice. Is it attracting fish? Who knows?
Also if you were to drill a partial hole in the ice to prevent your lantern from tipping over
and thus prevent a fire hazard I don’t think that would constitute a violation either, provided the hole your lantern was placed wasn’t 2 foot deep. Keep the mantels above water level and you should be o.k.

[moby1]

away from legalities. Stumbled on this thread. Was out with another FM'er last night. He was using a very bright propane lantern. I, on the other hand was trying out a new "tent light". It magnetizes through the canvas house to the wall, roof, ...etc. For 3 hours his vex was lit up like a christmas tree and mine was blank. Once in a while a fish would come through. I moved twice more (within a few feet) and didn't start catching fish until he took house down and left. Was it the light? Everything else was the same bait, hooks...etc. I'll take the lantern or 2 or three tent lights next time.

[kelly-p]

3 nights ago Twitter limited real fast. Every crappie out of one hole of his portable, The other hole all perch.

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Waskish Minnow Station
218-647-8652

[looperhunter]

Jig man united, when i proposed this question i was just asking to see if anyone had luck with this tenique, in knowing that red was a great fishery for crappies, i asked in this thread. It is a legal tenique in many states, and like the book states there isn't a fine line of discretion when using latterns. Like tightlines stated in his very "rational" way of solving rule breakers, "We have all the electonics,augers,GPS and the most up to date lures ever" Yes we do, why do we use all of that? because it catches fish, so why wouldn't we try the latern tenique? In almost any crappie book that i have ever read, the use of artifical light is always included in the crappie sections. Whats the difference between dropping a flashlight on a line down your hole, verus dropping your aqua view down the hole, which has a light tipped on the end so you can see at night? oh no, theres that not so clear line i talked about. Don't get me wrong, i will not use this tenique in minnesota, its not legal, i am a spotsman, and i do realize why they call the sport Fishing, and not Catching. But where the tenique is legal, i will try, becasue i am intrested is doing and practicing new teniques to catch more fish.

[Brett Meyer]

I agree!

Brett Meyer

[kelly-p]

Why are trying to catch MORE fish now when we should be concerned about having SOME fish in the future?
I stand with united in that getting away with something does not make it right nor does trying to exploit grey areas of the law. It has to be right or wrong or we will all pay the price in the future when we look at our empty buckets and remember the "good old days".

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Waskish Minnow Station
218-647-8652

[Willowmaker]

It is not good to get caught doing that on lakes where there is not alot of people and "the dnr boys" come to check you out. The first things you will hear are the illegalities of your actions. Hope they are in good moods and just tell you to shut it off. If not it could cost you your fishing for awhile and a fine.Before I was to understand that it is wrong in our fine state we use to sink a sealed beam halogen to the bottom and hook it to a battery. This not only brought in the baitfish but it would make it easy to see for about a thirty foot cicle around the house. This is what brought the DNR to me. Not a good thing. Thankfully he only took the lighting system not my stuff.
I do not do it in this state, but would say it does work.

[looperhunter]

Kelly i respect everything that you write and do for upper red fishing, but when you said, "Why are trying to catch MORE fish now when we should be concerned about having SOME fish in the future?" I found that hard to believe, should we all go back to the good old days when we didn't have GPS, vexilars, underwater cam's or any of that? I go fishing to have fun, i am happy whether i catch fish or just catch a buzz, its the same, but there are reasons we have all of this isn't there? Its a bouns to catch fish. Do i keep fish, NO very seldomly do i keep my catch. I am constantly looking at a empty bucket but i have a full album of fish and memories, all which have been caught legally.
I DO NOT USE THE LATERN TENIQUES IN MINNESOTA!
I agree kelly we should look to the future of our sport and fishery, and to do this it has to become OK to look at a empty bucket.

[Guest]

I suppose if one really wanted to be a stink, they could attach hooks to a large submersible light and drop it down on fishing line... that would be legal according to the regulations... LOL

"Using an artificial light to lure or attract fish, or to see fish when spearing, is unlawful.Exception: While angling, a person may affix to the end of a fishing line a lighted artificial bait with hooks attached".