TO...crappies right under the ice?

[eyepatrol]

You've mentioned in past posts that you've caught crappie just a couple or a few feet under the ice, and that sometimes these can be better quality sized fish. Do you see them on your flasher, or do just just set a line at that depth just in case they come through just under the ice? On Saturday, I kept a close eye on my flasher for super shallow fish, but didn't see any. Obviously if the crappie were to come in that shallow under the ice, they would have had to swim basically directly under my transducer. One thing I should have done was lit up my coleman, but got too excited about catching fish and never did. Just used my spotlight to charge my glow jig.

Also, I had some fish move through at about 10'-12' deep while fishing in 20' of water. I'd bring my ratso up to these fish and jig it there, but noticed that they would start swimming down away from it. I'd try lowering my jig to follow them down, but then they'd disappear from under me. Could these have been walleye?

I guess I got caugt up a little too much in the moment out there. I was so excited to be catching crappie and was having a blast watching them on my new Marcum, that I didn't think of much else! Next time though!

[ice-man/vexilar-king]

When i am in an active school of fish i will just jig a few feet under the ice the bigger and deffinetly more active fish will come flying up and inhale the bait. As far as a ratso I very seldom tie on a bait that small and slow. Ilike it fast and ferious. If they don't want to eat a large offering to bad I'll go get their buddy a couple of feet down the ice to eat it. ? thou did you have a vexilar in addition to your camera?

[eyepatrol]

I had my camera along, but really didn't use it until I went looking for sunnies the last 1.5 hours. I did have my Marcum on though. Saw fish on the bottom, 5' up and 10' up from the bottom in 20' of water. Didn't see anything within 3'-5' of the ice though.

[Team Otter]

A majority of the better fish that I have caught in this part of the state have come anywhere from right under the ice to 6' down. Typically, I can see the fish on my flasher but not always. I'll just set a presentation up in that area of the water column, especially after the sun goes goes down. Tear drop jigs and minnows under a float is generally what works best. These fish are very aggressive so you usually don't need to worry about whether or not you have a bite. It's kind of a "cat and mouse" game and you really need to be quiet.

I've caught plenty of suspended 'eyes on Washington during the summer months on in-line crawler harnesses and deep-diving cranks, so it wouldn't surprise me if the 'eyes were cruising a little higher from time to time during the winter months as well. They're always where the bait is!

[eyepatrol]

Thanks for the info. I'll set a line down at about that depth next time and see what happens. I'll try to be quiet also and make sure I don't eat any chili with beans the night before! J/K!

The other thing I'll do is have a walleye rod ready. Not sure what those higher up fish were, but if it happens again, I'll grab the walleye rod and give 'er a try.

Thanks for the info.

bc

[Team Otter]

No problem. I can show you how to refine the technique on Saturday!