Washington Report

[eyepatrol]

I finally made it out this year and went after some crappies. Let me first say...WOW...what a nice day out there! Was nice to see the sun again.

Started fishing approx. 6:30a.m. with a glow jig & minnow combo in 28fow. Marked some fish about 5' up and caught a couple. Crappies would smack the minnow, but weren't taking it in well, nor taking my bobber down. Tried this for about 20 minutes, then the fish disappeared.

Decided to go shallower looking for more aggressive fish and drilled 3 holes from 19' to 21'. Marked fish in all three holes so I put down a #10 glow brite Ratso tipped with a waxie. Pinched off the tail of the waxie just like Team Otter had suggested. Downsized too as the fish weren't aggressively taking my jig/minnow combo. This setup was the ticket. Ended up catching a total of 19 crappies and kept my 10 along with 5 sunnies. Many different schools moved through at various depths. Some coming from right off the bottom, most were suspended at 4'-5' off the bottom, and some were cruising at 10'-12' off the bottom. Fish were going strong from about 7:00a.m. to 9:30a.m. when I decided to keep my last fish. Was still marking plenty of fish while I was packing up too, some schools came through that were stacked 5' thick. Ice was in that 6" - 8" range in the areas I fished. Also tried a pink/white #8 ratfinkee, but that didn't produce a thing. Fish looked at it, but wouldn't take it. The #10 glowbrite Ratso with waxie was the presentation the fish preferred.

Most of my fish were in that 10.5" - 11" range with one measuring at 13". Caught a number of 7" - 9" fish also. Had one get off about 5' down that really had some heft to it...man I wish I would have caught that one!

I must take a minute to thank those who developed this site, the pro-staffers like Team Otter, Crappie Tom and Matt Johnson, and all the others for the helpful information they've so generously provided me with. I've never had crappie action like that ever in my life. Oh, and I got to thank Marcum for the VXR. I can't believe I've ice fished all those years without a flasher unit. What was I thinkiing??? The combination of these people and the flasher unit is what I firmly believe made the difference in my outing today. I'm sure not all days will be like this, but it sure has boosted my confidence as an ice angler, and confidence plays a role in each outing.

What a great day...I can't say it enough times!

bc

[terytumawnnab]

sounds like a GREAT day! way to go always fun to catch some slabs, lucky me i got to spend the morning with the g/f oh well thats always good too, get more kitchen passes that way. Wanted to try madison tomorow for walleyes but with the sounds of it maybe we should get out and catch some slabs. What bay were you fishing if you dont mind me asking?

[TheWalleyeSlayer]

Sounds like a great day Basscatcher! I am not looking for any spots, just a little more on the ice info. Are there atv's on the lake? Do you use one or think it would be safe to use an atv? I probably would go the 3rd point area or bakers bay. Thanks for any info!

[jacobj12k]

Nice to hear someone was seeing fish. I was near third point fishing a couple hours before sunrise. I tried 31-34 for 3-4 hours and only caught one crappie. Didn't see many more than that. Moved over to 27-28 ft where we caught a few last week and had one very nice size crappie up to the bottom of the hole that got away, that was it in an hour.

Packed up and hit a another lake and had 4 decent crappies in the first 5 minutes. Caught and realased several crappie, a couple bluegil and a decent bass in about two hours. Had something big swim in low on the sonar and nail my jig, I pulled it up about five feet before it came off - it has some poundage to it.

Now I need a nap.

[eyepatrol]

tery___

Not to be too specific, but I was on what I would call the eastern half of the lake. My back is telling me that I did plenty of walking out there!

[eyepatrol]

TWS-

There were a number of 4-wheelers and snowmobiles out there today. If I had to guess, maybe 15 4-wheelers and a handful of snowmobiles. I myself don't own an atv, so I have to walk. Brought way too much gear for the day though. Didn't use the heater & propane tank, didn't use the aquaview, didn't need the minnow bucket although that's hindsight, and other things. I drilled probably a total of a dozen holes today. Each hole there was a few inches of frozen slush then between 6" - 8" of decent clear ice.

[TheWalleyeSlayer]

Thanks for info Basscatcher, might have to go out on Sunday!!

[katofishingguy]

Tried washington with the kids after spending the mourning on duck. Arrived around 4:30 I could not believe the zoo lucky I found a place to park decided to give it a try anyway. After a hike out to Bakers Bay we found quite a crowd but settled into a spot and had quite an aggressive bite for about an hour mostly sunnies kept a few threw a few back one nice crappie 10" after that they just shut off should have been there earlier I guess. Sleds and 4wheelers racing back and forth most of the time we where there made the evening a little less enjoyable but a good night with the kids none the less.

[Rip_Some_Lip]

I took my boy out to Washington today to try to get him on some fish since I cant even catch a cold on Loon. Well we ended up catching around 20-25 sunnies and one nice crappie. He was just tickled to death finnaly catching fish, as was I...lol. We kept the crappie and 15 sunnies. Some of the sunnies were real nice ones but the majority were a little small in my opinion. It is hard to get a 5 yr old to buy into the C & R theory, so I probably kept a few too many smaller ones.

I am not an avid panfisherman, so I have but one question. That question is, what size (in inches) is your guys perception of a "nice" sunny? After cleaning all the fish, I told him when we go back out there tomorrow, we are not going to keep as many of the smaller ones and he seemed to be ok with that. Hopefully tomorrow we can get into a few more of them crappies and some more of them nice sunnies.

[eyepatrol]

I'm not sure what others feel, but I generally keep sunnies from 8" on up. I too sometimes end up with a 6" or 7" sunnie, but mostly I try to keep the ones around 8"-9".

I think it also depends on what lake you're on and what it has to provide. Some lakes a good size sunnie might be 10" or so, other lakes a good sunnie might be 8", or possibly less. On Washington, I've caught them up to 9.5". On a smaller lake north of Hutchinson, the biggest I'll find is about 7".

That's just my opinion.

[harvey lee]

Fished Washington this a.m. and the bite was excellent. Both crappies and sunnies. I caught some of the nicest and the biggest crappies Ive ever took anywhere. Plenty of fish and fisherman.I also got a nice doe just south of Whiskey river with the truck,not bad a limit of fish and a doe to boot.

[Fishky06]

Hey thats good to hear Harvey. I'm heading out there this afternoon thinking about trying third point..keep catching em!

[harvey lee]

I was around third point in 30+ fow. They didnt want minnows,even the small ones I used. Ratso-yellow with red or white spike.

[efgh]

Hey all you guys who plan to attend next sat. fishing get together. The main course will probley be fresh deer meat.Sounds like Harvey scored the big three. C.S.D. not in that order.

[harvey lee]

efgh- We cant have that deer meat because it is in the road ditch pretty beat up. You can stop by my portable though and I will have some venison pepper stixs with or summer sausage.

[tims]

is there a day bite or is it mainly low light periods? just how big of crappies did you get? i found a nice school of 10-11 inchers on German but that seems about as big as i can find.

[harvey lee]

tims: What I personally have found is that the sunnies have been biting the best for myself anytime I go there,as I have really not had to much problem with them. As far as the crappies go, I almost always have real good luck fishing the first 2 hours in the morning. I probably dont do to well in the evening as I usually dont fish then.Over the last 3 years, the crappies on average that I catch ice fishing have been between 8-11, with 11 being the bigger. The three times I have fished crappies this winter has been that size except that there are usually 3-4 each time that run a little bigger. Today was just a little bit better.I have alot of luck with the crappies in summer or winter in the mornings.This is just my experience and that of others may be different.Most times out summer or winter I catch more crappies on ratsos or shrimpos tipped with a spike or a piece of spike than a minnow. I hope this answers your questions. If you could tell me where you are catching you crappies on German that would be great and the time of day as I am going there Friday. You can e-mail me at [email protected].

[jed]

not to sound to dumb, but what is a spike??? it used to be what we did to punch....

[harvey lee]

A very small waxie. They are maybe 1/3 the size of a waxie and thier skin is much tougher. When you fish with a regular waxie after one or two fish you need to put a new one on as a spike will last much longer.The real benefit to these spikes is when the fish are neutral or not likley to take the bait a spike is smaller so the panfish will more than likly hit the bait.I like to use a ratso or shrimpo plain if the fish wont bite or that jig with a spike.Sometimes that is the difference between the fish biting or you going home with a bad day of fishing if there is such a thing.Another version-euro-larve. Like a crappie minnow to a fathead.

[Team Otter]

Basscatcher,

Thanks for "the kudos". Congrats on the great day on the ice. I'm happy to help and it's always nice to hear when people are able to put it together. Looking forward to more conversation and "tip sharing" this weekend.

Tom, maybe that doe ran down from ND to try and get revenge??

[harvey lee]

T.O.

Thats possible,but she lost out.I didnt think I left any up there to try and get revenge.

[jed]

thanks for the repsonse, thats one of the great things about this site, good people. i've fished with "spikes" before (like this morning on sabre), but never heard them called that prior to this website. thanks again.

[eyepatrol]

TO-

Absolutely. I'm pumped for getting out on Saturday. With the new auger blade I bought, I'm ready to drill all kinds of holes.

See you and everyone else who plans to attend on Saturday!

[tims]

Harvey, I fished German in 25-27 fow. I just walked from the north access to a group of houses. If i remmber from the maps I looked at there were 2 deeper holes in the lake. I was on the edge of one of them, not sure which to be honest. Used small glow RED jigging spoon with minnow head. The bite was 5-8pm. This was about a week ago. Hope this helps.

[mrwalleyee]

Was out on Washington last night with my 4 year old boy. Hooked his first crappie by himself and landed it. Had to keep that one of coarse to show mom. Got to the lake around 2:30. Was between grassy and third point. Sunnies were biting supper soft and super slow so I moved out deeper in between the two groups of houses to about 28 fow. Found some suspended crappies right away. Didn't move around as much as I would have because of the boy, but he still had fun reeling in the crappies that I hooked for him.

The active fish were suspended up at 20'. Fish on bottom would just look at the bait. White and black glow horizontal jigs with a minnow tail was the ticket for me on the active fish. Spring bobber came in really handy last night. By the end of the night my boy was even telling me" dad, I got a bite". By then it was too late though. Threw everything I had at the one's on bottom, but they just stared at the bait. Caught around 20 and kept 7 for the pan. Left the lake by 5.

I was somewhat disapointed in the size of the crapps. Only caught 4 that I would consider keepers. Kept 3 marginal fish to make a decent family meal. Where are the big fish hiding? Are they the fish that are on bottom and wouldn't bite for me? Once I got out away from the crowd, the fishing got a whole lot better for me. Makes me wonder why I ever start by a crowd.

[Team Otter]

Right on basscatcher.

Thanks for the information Tim.

mrwalleye, try positioning a few of your presentations 3 - 6' down. Both you're quality and quantity should go up!

[howellcanufish]

Was out on Saturday and caught about 25 sunnies in the 7 inch range, in about 9 FOW in mud bay. Tried the white ratso with little luck, a plain gold hook with a waxie seemed to be the best bet. 99% of the fish caught were between 11-2. The bite seemed to turn off completely during night hours. Marked quite a few fish on the bottom that didn't want to bite...would have been a great time for a spring bobber. All in all, it was a great day to be on the ice weather wise and the bite wasn't too bad itself.

[1lkstage]

8"+, otherwise they are just "fishsticks". Haven't you cought some big ones out of Loon?

[Fishky06]

Fished Washington on Sunday night and got into the crappies really good just off of third point in 28fow. The were all some of the biggest fish I have ever pulled out of that lake. I hope to get back out there soon.

[Fishky06]

Fished Washington on Sunday night and got into the crappies really good just off of third point in 28fow. The were all some of the biggest fish I have ever pulled out of that lake. I hope to get back out there soon.