Goose gills and crappies

[CALVINIST]

I want to get out to Goose in about 2 weeks and fish for some gills and crappies. Not familiar with

Goose...where can I find these fish at late ice? Not asking for specific locations, just general depths and structure.

Thanks!

[john.wells]

If the farmer has the access open, you could try the breaklines around the first point on the east side in 12 to 18 FOW. The south end can be good too in the same depths, but be wary of the ice around both spots. If the access is closed, he either knows of cruddy ice, or the ground is too soft on his property and he doesn't want it torn up. You could go down to the lake from public road right of way, but it is a little steep and has lots of rocks that make it impossible for most vehicles to get on, and parking is an issue as well. Best to have a plan B

[CALVINIST]

John,

Thanks. A backup plan is in order

[john.wells]

You bet! I don't want to sound like I am detering you at all, Goose is a fairly good lake, but does swallow up cars on a semi-regular basis. Even in the best of years. A good plan B could be Rush, or Pokegama, or a number of phenomemal lakes up this way. Pokegama has treated me pretty good this year. Some nice crappies, but not a lot in numbers; and some surprisingly nice sized perch (9-11 inches). If you are into perch, go shallow pretty much anywhere on Pokegama. Anywhere from 4 to 12 FOW. Just punch a line of holes in this depth range and jump between them. My best luck has come from using a demon or similar jig with a little chunk of pink gulp maggot tucked tight to the jig body and a pinched off crappie minnow head dangling for the bigger fish ! Crappies are a little deeper at 12 to 21 FOW. Daytime bite has been great, and you don't need to be around anybody else (hint hint)

[shorefisher]

Fished it Saturday. Farmer landing was open. I moved around most of the lake and did not find any bad Ice. Fishing was slow in most areas but did get on a few crappies at dusk on south end. Most were small. Did not find the gill's.

[mistermom]

My experience on Goose is that there isn't a lot of gills. I've caught them while crappie fishing. They do tend to run a nice size if you can find them.

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