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I spent all day (sun-up to sun-down) on the ice trying to chase down active panfish on Washington with the rest of the "BLC Clan". grin.gif We had a great time despite the weather conditions and we managed to get a few fish to cooperate. We found active schools of both crappies and 'gills early in the morning and near sun-down in both shallow water and 18 - 24' of water on or adjacent to mud bottoms. The fish were very finicky but the quality made up for it for the most part. grin.gif Mobility and persistence was the key today. Those that did both caught fish, which wasn't easy in that wind and snow! Eurolarvae and plastics on small jigs was the main presentation.

It was also great to meet many FM'ers on the ice today. I think at times, we did more BS'ing than fishing. That's what it's all about.

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TO Nice to meet you today. Did you find crappies in the other spot you went to? The crappies moved back in about 1/2 hr after you left. The key for me was to use a Eurolarva and a 1/16 oz jigging spoon (glow fully charged),hole hopping, and keeping the spring bobber in constant motion. I fished the same spot yesterday and only caught 9 sunfish. I usually hole hop but I spent most of the day looking for fish on Madison and was to tired to hole hop by the time I made it to Washington. I did find suspended schools of agressive fish but they were only 4-5 inchers. The difference between yesterday being one of my worst outing on Washington and today being somewhat productive (19 crappies, 20ish sunfish in 5 hours)was hole hopping in the WIND.The crappies I kept were between 10-12 inches. I went to another local lake around 4 and caught a 19 in. walleye and lost two others. This weekend was very tough and the worst I have had on Washington but overall it was an o.k. day considering the negative mood the fish were in.

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Good to meet you as well. You did a nice job of catching fish today in those conditions.

That spot will hold fish for quite awhile I think and probably in shallower as the season moves on.

We got into a few crappies and some nicer 'gills but nothing crazy. It was tough going all the way around. A lot of our 8 and 10" holes were down to 4" by the end of the day.

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Brava.... It was nice to meet you! Tyler and Iwere on sort of an agenda and did not have much time to chat, but the meeting was worth it! Again, it was good to meet you.

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Brava, Glad to have met ya. Sounds like you toughed out the weather and got some decent fish. Great!

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