Jaruary 8th Ice fishing report

[Ty Sennett]

I did some crappie fishing with a couple friends yesterday and it was pretty darn nice out. There wasn't much for wind and I'd guess it was close to thirty degrees out. We caught quite a few crappie. Most that we kept were in the 10 to 11 inch range. I didn't measure any over 12 iinches but most were pretty good sized ones. We didn't use any live bait, just plastics. I think we caught about 80 in the three hours we were out. They were hitting pretty good once you could make them start to chase the baits.

[Mark Benson]

Ty:

Any particulars (manuf., style, color, etc) that you are using on the plastics, Ty??? We are fishing the Chip, just want to see what the experts are preferring for their use... Thanks in advance!!!

Mark

[Ty Sennett]

I don't think the model is as important as how you fish them and if you are willing to move around to find fish. I use about ten different companies for plastics and haven't found where one will produce a lot better. Just when I think one company has the hot plastic, one of my buddies will come over from Minnesota and kick my butt with something new. So basically Ratso's, Bros bloodworms, Gulp plastics, or anything similar works. A word to the wise........don't cary Gulp in your pocket. Not good.

[Mark Benson]

Thanks Ty... I was thinking it was more about confidence in your jigging stroke and being around/on fish... we got on a nice crappie bite yesterday, 6 of us kept 53 fish and I let a 14" fish slide back down the hole after a measurement and a pic.

Mark

[curleytail]

That's a pig of a crappie Mark! Nice work getting on them. I started using Little Atom plastics years ago and haven't bought live bait for panfish since. I use a micro nuggie 90% of the time, with regular Nuggies and Wedgies the other 10%. Regular Nuggies when the fish are more agressive and possibly trying to select for bigger fish and wedgies when the fish are more inactive.

I've tried other plastics that have also worked but the Little Atoms work so well for me I haven't experimented much.

Tucker

[Ty Sennett]

It's funny you mention those. That was the biggest purchase I made at the Chicago musky show. A bag full of Little Atom products brought down from Thorne Brothers.

[Mark Benson]

curley:

Those seem to be my favorites while I have been trying to make the switch. I don't believe that I have purchased the nuggies yet, tho I have the wedgies... I also like the plastics that go on the ratso and shrimpos (glow candy cane, new favorite) and used them in combination with the cubbie jigs once that piece wore off, but they always seem to like the plastics with the one spike or waxie on it better (scenting I believe). Even with plastics in FL, the guides sometimes like to use a small piece of shrimp with them... I need to remember when I get on a good bite to make the switch to get more confidence!!! I am using more plastics and its easier to try when your boat partners are using live bait, tho they think you're fishing with the dirk digler lure!!!

Mark

[Ty Sennett]

Congrats on the big crappie Mark. Was that off the Chip or another lake? I like the tipup in the photo for a size comparison.

[curleytail]

Mark,
I haven't felt the need to tip my jig/plastic with live bait. I should say I almost never ice fish the Flowage, but anywhere I fish, if I have panfish below me it's a rare day that I can't get them to bite. On the really tough days, maybe live bait would work better?

I'd say the Wedgies you have will catch fish just as well as the Micro Nuggies/Nuggies. The nice thing about the Nuggie style is durability. It's nothing to fish most or even all day with just one nuggie, even on a good bite. Colors? I don't get to wrapped up with color. Maybe I should but I don't. A white plastic is usually my go to, with red coming in 2nd. With that said I've caught fish on chartreuse, pink, orange, glow (glow can sometimes make a difference at or after dark), black, motor oil, etc.

I think there are a couple keys to making the plastics work.

1.) Keep it moving. I'm almost always constantly "Pounding" the jig and don't stop to let the fish take it. Search Dave Genz Pounding if you aren't familiar with this, but it's basically very small, rapid rod tip movements. You want to feel the taptaptaptap of the jig constantly. I fished this way with live bait prior to switching also. For guys that jiggle a little and then pause, plastics might be a little harder to get used to. I've caught a few fish on plastics with it sitting still but it's not high percentage most days. On some very finicky fish I've had to barely move the jig or they would spook, but a very slow swimming/bobbing motion worked and dead sticking didn't.

2.) Keep the plastic horizontal. This is huge. I always use a horizontal jig like a Wolfram Fiskas Tungsten (my favorite), Mud Bug, Genz Fat Boy, etc. That plastic and jig need to fish horizontally. If you get a bite and miss it, you'll probably need to reel up and adjust your knot and plastic to hang horizontal again. It's surprising how hard it is to get even active fish to hit a combo that's hanging more vertical than horizontal.

3.) Use it on a day when the fish are agressive. I got lucky that the first time I tried it fish were hammering hard and probably would have hit anything. Still, it gave me the confidence to stick with it.

The weekend after this I might see if I can find any Flowage crappies willing to sample some plastics.

Tucker

[Mark Benson]

Ty:

Biggest crappie was on a tip-up on Lake Koshkonong many moons ago at 17". Never thought much about it, but probably should have had that one mounted. It was before the days of CPR, so it was probably filleted. In my last few of years of leaving the winter walleyes alone and targeting the biggest panfish in many of the systems over here in the Minocqua area (where I caught the pictured crappie), I have caught a lot of 12's, maybe a pinch bigger, but that was a special fish, really made the rod pound on the way up from 20'. Also the tip-up was the only thing I had with to show proportionate length. If I had been thinking fast enough, I think from the big hole of the beaver dam to the small hole is 15 inches... We used to use that to be sure we had legal walleyes.

Tucker:

Thanks for the reminders!!! I have become a pounder/swimmer in my jigging technique. Unless there is a fish on the screen, I let my jig fall all the way to the bottom of the column and get it pounding in the bottom substrate. Then steadily lift it jigging constantly, trying to lift a fish up the column with my jig. But I am a holder once the fish is at my mark on the screen. The last three years or so I have been experimenting with the heaviest heads I can find. If I can't draw fish into the hole, I either move hole location or switch to a bigger spoon to call fish in from further away. The two spoons I use are the slender spoon for flutter or the buckshot rattle spoon. Dropping those to the bottom and and again pounding to stir up the bottom a bit. If they move in but don't hit these items, I then move back to the heavy heads.

Horizontal is paramount even in the spike/waxie world and removing spin is another small item I try not to overlook!!! Though I haven't made the switch to the fly reel styles yet, I believe that these two elements are critical to panfish success including open water!!! Another bait I abosolutely love for crappies is the lil' cecil from bfnfishing tackle. They are a mini spoon and are fun as hell to get crappies swimming up, chasing to midway through the water column before smoking them. This is almost always a rod tip/spring bobber unloads and set the hook!!! I think that is what I like best about crappies is their willingness to chase so far and at times pretty intense speeds!!!

As for baiting, one spike/waxie, chandelier the treble, minnow heads, and now plastics, oh boy!!!

You ever try the vertizontal stuff with a small vertical spoon and running your wedgie onto the hook and off at horizontal??? I haven't yet, but am going to be trying that soon. Enough for right now, hoping to get out soon to check ice and get my ice boat (truck) off the shoreline!!!

Mark

[curleytail]

Mark,
regarding the jigging motion, I'm almost always pounding the jig. Maybe with more intensity if I'm not marking any fish, but I never stop the movement. I've been pretty surprised at how agressively the panfish prefer the jigging to be at times. I don't move the jig up and down much with each jig but can always feel the tinktinktinktink... When I have a fish in my hole I'll put the bait a few inches above their heads and jig away, slowly raising it the entire time. Taking the bait away from them is big too. Lots of times they'll just sit below it until you start lifting it and then they'll come after it. Once they start moving they'll usually hit. Keep playing cat and mouse and pulling the bait from them. It's just like a musky in a figure 8. Lots of times speeding it up and taking it away from them gets them fired up and they hit it. Slow or stop the movement and their interest fades. Unless the perch/gills/crappies are extremely sluggish this usually works for me.

I almost never use spoons for anything but walleyes but I have used a vertical spoon with a plastic rigged horizontally off it. I have caught fish using them this way too. When they're agressive you're right. Those crappies will really chase down and hammer a spoon hard! I remember one day years ago when the gills and crappies below us seemed unresponsive to regular jigs and jigging. I put on an Angle Eye Jr. spoon and ripped it hard - like fishing for walleyes and then some. Those fish came unglued and started nailing that spoon. The hits felt like bass or walleyes hitting a Jigging Rap.

Tucker