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.