Clearwater ice.....

[anyfishwilldo]

I got out Sat at about 4, and had 7 crappies iced by the time the sun went down, then nothing. Just getting ready to go back out right now. I have a group of people going out today, and we want to get there by noon.

[anyfishwilldo]

Well, not much for luck today. I got a 2 1/2" perch. Lost of lookers, no takers.

[Farley]

anyfishwilldo-

did you mount that monster?

Thanks for the reports. I havent been out there yet, too busy fishing other lakes closer to home to give a report on Clearwater, maybee in a couple weeks though.

[runtille]

A group of us were out on Clearwater on Saturday. We fished about 5 hours on Saturday and managed about 8 keeper gills and a couple crappies in the community spot next to the reeds in front of BJ's. We also managed one 13" and one 4" walleye on a 20' flat in the west basin.

On Sunday, myself and another buddy fished deep for crappies (35' to 45') and found a small school of them. This was also in the west basin. We were using euro larvae as the bait of choice and smaller than normal jigs, basically a bluegill setup. We ended up catching about 25 or so crappies, some of them being real slabbers. One big guy measured the tape at 12.5", definitely my biggest crappie to date this year, although I haven't made the trek to Red. Most were in the 8.5" to 10" range. They were still biting when we left, though not as aggressive (if you can call it that). We didn't want to pull any more out of the depths as it causes considerable stress on them. It was our first time this year "getting in to them", so next time we'll only catch enough for a couple meals and leave them be.

The crappies were very finicky and you had to work hard for them. You really had to watch your line and trust your eyes. Sometimes I used the method of "dropping my line" when I thought one had it, and if slack line resulted, I gave it a pull. Another method was to let the wind take the line. When you saw an "out of ordinary" movement, you pulled. I jigged very aggressively to "pull" them in then slowed down the presentation when they got close.

Crappie minnows may have worked, but we didn't have any with so I can't report on thier effectiveness. It was good to see the crappies coming around and to have a good day on the lake, but then again fishing always is.

BackHerUp - Have you fished that community spot next to the reeds lately? Looking at your picture I think I may have talked to you a few times there, but not sure.