Cold Day Crappies

A buddy and I decided yesterday to head out and do some fishing today. Well after waking up around 7, we both were a little indecisive aboot heading out in the -15 temps. Around 10 am, we finally decided to just man up and head out for the afternoon. While pheasant hunting yesterday around the Avon area, I had noticed a few trucks on a smaller body of water and decided that is where I would try as the lake was new to me. Pulled the lake up on my Navionics app on the way out and set ourselves up in a nice basin area.

While I am normally a shallow water fisherman, i have noticed that basin fish seem to be much less susceptible to big changes in weather. Luckily, with the bitter cold, the first two holes we drilled held a ton of fish. While the action wasn't fast and furious by any means it was very consistent as long as you kept the fish moving. We did have a few flurries of very active fish move through where it was as fast as you could get your jig down. Fish ranged in size from 7"-12" with a medium sized bluegills mixed in. Best baits in the deep water were tungsten Toads in bright colors (the water was a little dark) with a glow plastic.

All in all a great outing. Listened to a couple podcasts out on the ice and caught a bunch of fish. The best part though was being able to fish in short sleeves in a portable, while it was -10 outside. As far as lake conditions, we had around 18" of ice and very little snow. I think there might actually be more snow on the side streets in St Joseph than there was out on the lake today. Forgot to take photos on the ice today, but here is one of the fish I kept thawing in the sink.

Refining Your Panfish Presentation

Refining Your Panfish Presentation

Bob Bohland

            Panfish can either be one of the easiest fish to catch or the most frustrating. Most days it doesn’t seem like there is much room in between. However, even when they are at their most fickle, there are several things you can do to draw strikes, even when everyone around you is being flummoxed.

            A friend of mine once wisely compared crappies to Labrador retrievers. “If I drop a ball in front of my dog,” he said, “she looks at me like I’m an idiot, but if I throw the ball, she will go through anything or anyone to get it.” Crappies behave in much the same way, if you put your bait directly in front of their face; they will often stare at it briefly until something more interesting happens off to the side. Put the same bait down near the crappie and play a game of keep away, and watch their predatory instincts kick in. A little secret for you, fish (actually all predators) are not used to their food getting up in their face, nothing wants to get eaten. They will struggle mightily and try and put as much distance between themselves and the predator as is possible. This is what you need to make your bait look like it is doing. Practice your “evasion” techniques with your bait and you will be more likely to be rewarded with a fat crappie flopping on the ice.

            Getting panfish to chase your bait is a great starting tool, but many anglers are convinced that they have to continually go up with their baits. But guess what? Prey can swim down as well and often, when fishing near the bottom or in shallow water, their first instinct is to seek shelter. This can mean weeds or burrowing down into the muck. In shallow water, there simply isn’t enough room to continually raise the fish up 10-15 feet like you can when basin fishing; likewise murky waters limit how far you can take the bait away from the fish before they lose sight of it.

            This is where the “yo-yo” comes into play. Exactly like it sounds, the yo-yo is getting the fish to move up, and then if they do not commit, lower the bait below them. When the fish starts to move down, raise it above them again. By doing this you can extend the time you keep a fish interested. This has a couple of benefits. One, the longer you can keep a fishes attention, the more likely it is to bite. Two, the longer you can keep that fish there, the more likely another fish is to come along and want your bait. As I said earlier, panfish behave much like dogs, and there is no way I know of to get a dog to chase something faster than to have another dog going after it as well.

            Keeping a fish interested in your presentation is only half the battle, however. A moving bait will keep the fishes attention, but only the most aggressive fish will attack while there is constant movement. You will need to occasionally mix in a trigger. This can come in the form of a slowing down of your jigging, or just an all out pause. The problem many see with trying to include this trigger, is that with standard spinning reels, your line twists every time you turn that handle. So when the time comes for that pause, your lure will continue to spin. Try sight fishing with a spinning reel sometime and you will see it. Panfish, bluegills especially, will just sit back and wait for that spin to stop.

            Luckily, many advancements in the technology of fishing reels have been made available to the general public in the last few years. My favorites have come from the guys at 13 Fishing. For shallow water, it is hard to beat the ease of use of the Black Betty. But for deeper water situations, the 6061 and the new Teardrop shine with their ridiculous retrieve ratios and free spool options.

            The main idea behind these tricks is to make your lure behave like the prey the fish are feeding on every day. Eliminating line twist will allow you to pause the lure and give the fish that ambush point much like an indecisive minnow. However, keep your pauses brief and periodic, as the goal is to keep the fish moving to keep their interest. The longer you keep that interest, the more likely you are to get bit when fish turn inactive.

Dogs

It comes as no surprise to fellow dog owners that we empathize with fellow dog addicts. We understand the frustration during training, the laughs shared when the dog does something so ridiculous that there is nothing else to do but laugh. People that are good dog people are simply so alike that they can sit and tell stories about their animals for hours on end with no ego involved.

            While I had only met Bob St Pierre but once in person, we talked semi-frequently on social media. At first it was just bantering back and forth, me mocking his music choices while writing, his mocking my lack of birds in hand. It was good-natured ribbing between two like-minded individuals that understood that it was not about who shot more pheasants, or who actually enjoyed Taylor Swift songs, it was always about the dogs.

            So when I heard the news of Bob’s young pup, Izzy, dying from a freak accident in the field, I felt as if I had lost one of my own. The many good words spoken and written by fellow dog-owner/lovers helped ease the pain of a loss of a good dog, but nothing truly helps completely heal that hole that is left when a friend leaves you. They say that a dog is man’s best friend, but no words can truly capture that bond. Fleeting memories of an amazing point or retrieve is all that is left.

            Having lost a few great dogs in my life, I understand the pain involved; however, nothing can erase the memories you create with a dog. I still think back to some of the things dogs that have passed have done. You can always tell when someone is reminiscing about a dog memory, it is impossible to hide that smile or the slight tear in your eye. That tear could be pride over something that the dog did on its own, something you accomplished together, or just some random moment that you will never forget. That memory is something that will never leave you, it helps shape who you become as a human. That memory is the reason you, as a dog owner, can’t help but tear up when you see a story on the news or in a magazine of someone recounting a story of a great dog. You have been there, you know how the pride and the emotion all tie into one, and you want to reach out and pat the dog and shake the owner’s hand and say, “You get it, thank you for being a wonderful person.”

            Dogs truly make everyone around them better people just because of their very nature. They love everyone that even shows them the littlest bit of kindness; whether it be a treat, a pat on the head, or the squeal of excitement a kid lets out when a dog comes running up to lick them. There is no lack of love in a dog’s heart, and though they live far too short of lives, they can teach us so much.

Re: The Hunt for New Lakes (West of St Cloud)

Hit 3 different lakes around the area today, with mixed results. First lake I found some decent bluegills in shallow (8-12 feet), but couldnt seem to find any crappies. Pulled the plug and headed to the second lake that had a very promising survey for crappies, but drilled all over and could only find a handful of 7-9" fish.

Headed to the third lake and found the motherload, unfortunately they were: a. a bit on the small side, b. not willing to bite until after 4 pm, c. suspended over 50+ feet of water. Didn't catch any big crappies today (none bigger than 10") but I did catch a lot and found a promising bluegill spot for future trips. All fish were caught on a RattlN Flyer Spoon in both Purple and Firetiger tipped with a white glow plastic. Lots of crappies in that 7-10" range that should make for good fishing in a few years, plus an amazing sunset that really makes you appreciate having an entire lake to yourself.

The Hunt for New Lakes (West of St Cloud)

As those who live in the area know, the city of St Cloud provides quite the border of where you can/have time to fish. Since I moved to the St Cloud area, I have lived on the east side of the city, so I have always fished lakes to the SE and North of town with the occasional trip to the Chain. Earlier this year, we bought a house in St Joseph. While the St Joseph/Avon area offer a ton of opportunities for fishing, most of these lakes are new to me and it represents a challenge I am very excited aboot: New Waters!

Anyways, I tried a few new lakes around Avon today with not the greatest result. First "lake" (it was really more of a pond) I tried I found 3-5" of ice with not another soul on it. Drilled out all the area I was comfortable walking on and didnt mark a single fish. Went to the next lake and started drilling. The ice on the second lake was the clearest black ice I have ever seen. There was around 8" out to the edge of the sheltered bay, then 4-6" after that. I started shallow, but didnt find anything until I got out deeper than 20 feet of water. At that point, there seemed to be fish in almost every hole i drilled, however none of them wanted to bite. Kept drilling around the basin area with the same results, but right around sunset, I had fish start showing up 4-10 feet off bottom. Was able to ice several mediocre crappies before I had to head home. 

I have 4 new lakes to try picked out for tomorrow, stay tuned...

Techno TipUps

Techno Tip-Ups

Bob Bohland

            In recent years I have found myself going away from my tip-ups more and more. It isn’t that they aren’t enjoyable, most of my favorite days on the ice have been spent running back and forth between flags; it is simply that I find myself on the move frequently and when I am not drilling a ton of holes it usually because it is really cold and I am camped out in my fish house. However, with a little work combined with some new technology, tip-up fishing is no longer a sit and wait technique.

            Tip-ups can be very effective in a run and gun setup, especially when the fish are on the move over shallow flats with little structure to hold them in one place. With this kind of setup, it is no longer a waiting game with your tip-ups, but you need to be ready to constantly move them to different locations in your area in order to keep them productive. The type of lure you tie on the end of the tip-up makes a huge difference also. While quick-strike rigs are all the rage among pike fisherman, for other species they are not as efficient. While I will at times use a quick strike on my tip-ups, I have found that a spoon or a circle hook increase my hooking percentages for all species. One major benefit to using a spoon as opposed to a quick-strike is that allows you to present many different colors along with your bait. Not only will this help you adjust what you are catching on other tip-ups, but it also shows you certain color preferences on new waters that allows you to change your setup on your jigging rod.

            Much like everyone else, I have become a slave to my smartphone. As a fisherman, I will try out almost any fishing related app. My new favorite, however, is the Blue Tipz app from Deep Freeze. Granted, you will need to buy the accessory for your tip-ups (it does work with all existing tip-ups), but being notified directly from your phone the moment your tip-up goes off, and knowing exactly which one (as you can name individual BlueTipz devices) is priceless. Blue Tipz doesn’t just stop at notifying you when your flag goes up though, it also allows you to store data such as:

1. What depth you were fishing
2. What bait you were using
3. Whether or not you landed the fish
4. If you kept or released the fish
5. Species and length
6. Dates and times of day

            There are several other things you can do to increase your catch rate while you are fishing tip-ups. One of my best is to hook the minnow upside down. While this isn’t a tactic for a tip-up to remain in one place for a long time, the minnow will constantly struggle to right itself, creating more flash and vibration and attracting fish looking for an easy meal. Another is to cut the tail fins off of the minnow. This makes the minnow swim harder to move, again creating more attraction for fish in the area.

            Ice fishing is the fastest growing segment of the fishing industry, and the technology is finally starting to keep up with the growth. Whether it be underwater cameras that fit in your pocket, underwater sonar that shows you what is around you without drilling holes, or a tip-up alert that goes straight to your smart phone the technology is out there. So don’t be afraid to try out all the new technology out there, you will find some very useful tech that will help you catch more fish.