Headed out with my girlfriend Alyson to Crappie Bay this morning. Got on the ice around 10:30am, and began the arduous task of drilling holes. The ice is certainly thick, and the muscles in my arms that I hardly knew existed certainly felt the strain.
Set up two tip ups, both with medium sized minnows on, in hopes of getting a few pike. Due to the gorgeous weather we had, the hut was only used as a wind break during our stay. The sun was nice and hot!
Alyson has been out ice fishing twice in her lifetime - both with me. Both times she has struck out, so the pressure was on to get some fish on the ice. She started off jigging a pink/white flutter jig, tipped with a green Berkley Meal Worm. Within five minutes, her rod was bent, and a really nice crappie was flapping on the ice. The curse was finally broken...
Ten minutes later she gets another, and then another not too long after that. Yours truly has nothing to show for himself, although the arm fatigue was making it a tad bit difficult to hold the rod at times! lol
I was using my old standby - a small siver Forage Minnow, tipped with a small piece of minnow. Within 15 minutes, I had my first chunky crappie to the hole.
Most of the fish were suspended two feet off of bottom, and we were fishing in water between 11 and 14-feet deep.
Fishing was sporadic to say the least, with it being a 'one fish per hole' kind of day. That luck was about to change..
Not long after drilling a new hole, I proceed to catch a decent crappie. Dropping the spoon back down the hole, I feel a decent tap and swiftly set the hook. The fight was on! The HT ultralight was bent something else, with this fish taking drag. My first inclination was of it being a northern, although a bass also crossed my mind. Finally it reaches the hole, and out comes a horse of a crappie. A brand new personal best for me! 14 inches exactly in length, and 11 3/4 inches in girth. A dandy of a fish for sure..
This fish hit around 12:45 pm.
The tip ups went down a few times during the day, but it seemed like the pike were just knocking them off, and not really committing themselves. It was either missing minnows, or nothing there. As for the jigging, by 2pm, you couldn't even buy a fish out there. Not a ton of fish caught, but that's fishing sometimes. I did get a chance with the blue sky and beaming sun to shoot a ton of fishing shots for magazine work, so that's always a bonus.
All in all a great day to be on the frozen stuff! Total fish for the day was 8 crappie, 4 perch and a sunfish. Alyson caught her first fish through the ice, I got a PB and we both got some sunburnt faces to show for it. I can't think of a better way to say goodbye to the end of the season..at least until next week! lol
Good Fishing,
Justin
Alyson's first two fish of the day..
Alyson holding the big one..
My personal best - 14" x 11 3/4"
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