Springtime Crappies

[BLACKJACK]

Thinking about getting the boat out this weekend, where are some good areas around Willmar to hit for spring crappies? I know that I've seen people fishing in the spring on Nest by the 71 bridge, and also on West Norway by Dilleys Resort. Any other spots?

[Roop-Dogg]

blackjack,
those can be good spots for numbers but not necessarily size. however, between those two, norway seems to have more size potential than nest. at least that seems to be my experience. another good place to try is lake andrew in front of the old como beach resort. there is a reed/catail barrier that forms kind of a protected little bay that seems to warm faster than the main lake. a good spot to catch nice crappies and nice sunnies. the drawback being that when they bite, there is usually plenty of company in the form of other boats and shore fishermen. but, that is the same anywhere this time of year if they're biting.

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Roopy

[GullGuide]

Hey all,
The bay on Nest by the highway is fine if you like catching fish the size of quarters. I would opt for Andrew or Norway. Try by the inlet on Andrew by the park. Another lake to think about would be Willmar, back by the walking bridge....really dark water and good numbers of crappie, not much competition either.
Good Luck,
GullGuide
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[Roop-Dogg]

Blackjack,
just looking for an update. Did you get out? How did you do?
Anybody else have a report on the area lakes???

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Roopy

[GullGuide]

Roop,
Have been spending a lot of time up north, but I'll try and find out some info for you.
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[BLACKJACK]

Roop, sorry to say, never got out around here, got busy, burnt some CRP, etc. Did make it up to Red Lake over the weekend - nice crappies!! Still have some minnows, hope to get out this week, after making nicey, nicey with the wife and doing another burn. Spring is great but too darn busy!!

[GullGuide]

BlackJack, question for you....
I probebly dont know what I'm talking about here, but can you burn CRP land? And why would you burn it?
Isnt this sposed to be when the Pheasants start to nest?
Just wondering
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[BLACKJACK]

You can burn CRP if you have a burn permit and you've talked to a local forester. He'll want to know whether you have fire breaks and some help.

Burning native prairie CRP land does three things 1) it helps kill off the cool season grasses, darkening the land and warming it up so that the warm season (native prairie) grasses can prosper with less competition. 2) It kills off invading tree and shrub species 3) Even in a stand of cool season grasses like brome, fire invigorates it, getting rid of the dead grasses and releasing the nutrients in the dead grass.

It IS the start of the pheasant and duck nesting season, but burning is a necessary evil to help establish better nesting cover for future years. At this point, if a nest is destroyed by fire, a hen can still renest. Timing of the fire is important, as I explained above so that the cool season grasses are knocked back so the warm season grasses can better establish themselves. Once the native prairie is established, it only needs to be burnt once every 3-4 years so I'm going to rotate my burns to different fields, so everything isn't burnt at once.

I have one more field that should have been burnt, but at this point I'm going to wait til next year because I'm concerned about the possibility of fawns being there.

Hope this helps. I'm sure typing in 'native prairie burns' in any search engine would give you more info about the reasoning behind burning.

[GullGuide]

I was kinda thinking it had something to do with rejuvenation. Thanks for the enlightenment!!
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[DARK30]

I BURN MY WILD FLOWERS AND GRASSES ABOUT EVERY OTHER SPRING AND THEY LOVE IT. SOME PEOPLE PANNICK AT THE SITE OF SMOKE THOUGH AND I'M IN CITY LIMITS SO I'VE GOTTEN YELLED AT A COUPLE OF TIMES.
I REMEMBER AS A LITTLE KID CATCHING NICE CRAPPIES ON NEST THROUGH THE ICE. I REMEMBER MY DADS UNCLE (THE FISHERMAN) WOULD QUICK HIDE ANY FISH SO NOBODY WOULD CATCH ON.
I HEAR THESE DAYS THAT FOOT LAKE IS GOOD FISHING? BACK BEFORE THEY DREDGED IT OUT (AND ROBINS ISLAND WAS AN ISLAND) IT WAS JUST FULL OF BULLHEADS.
WET NETS!

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cast,cast,cast,cast......

[GullGuide]

Yea, Foot is really good now, for crappie and walleye.
It used to be that all that was in there was big pike and bullheads. The pike are smaller now, and the bullhead population is very low. A far cry from when I was a kid. My dad still wont eat anything out of there because when he was a kid, thats where the sewage went...right into the lake!
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