Crappie Ice Fishing Tips

[Captain Don]

First of all I wanted to say this is a great site!

Now I need to ask for some Crappie Ice Fishing tips. Here's what I have been doing and no Crappie have been caught. I know they are in this lake too cause I catch nice ones in the Summer!

Lake is Marl and Organic Bottom. Deepest spot is 20 feet. I set up at the edge of the marl/organic in about 18 feet of water. Drill my 4 holes; 2 to fish from and the other 2 to let more light from my propane lantern down.

I have tried Minnows, Glow Jigs, waxies, Spikes, Jigging spoons and I cannot get the Crappie to show up at night!

I have ice fished this lake into the evening and just before dark I caught some nice crappie once. I work til 11pm and like to go fishing around midnight and have sat there almost til daylight and nothing! I have a vex and nothing shows up on it!

Any tips or critisism on what I am doing wrong?

Thanks!

[SkeeterJeff]

Too deep? We were fishing 6-8' on Sunday, and lots of nice crappie, gills, & lm bass caught.

I'm a rookie, but I had a bunch of experienced fishermen around me giving me advice.

[crappiekid24]

Try it around dusk or dawn. I have had a crappie bite at dusk last 30mins to an hour and they disappeared from the screen. Fish deep, fish shallow and move move move. Crappies will move alot especially during night time. I had the same problem until this year where I found them partly on accident. Good luck!

[Buckeye Mike]

Being that you are from Michagan, you are probaply talking about a natural lake. I would ask at the bait shop if they catch any crappie out of this lake, and if so where do they get them and how deep do they get them. Then start my search around there with the Vex, to get some idea of how deep the water is, and to see if you can mark any fish.
If you mark any fish, try some ice jigs or some small hair jigs 1/64 oz. and smaller, tipped with a couple of spikes, to see if you can catch what you are marking.
Also i would read some of Crappie Keiths post on ice fishing for crappie. Good info in them. Good Luck

[crappiekeith]

Locating crappies at night......they should be in the same areas during the day as well with the bite fading into dark ,but an hour later pick back up again.
I'd drill holes up and down the break line and go back to mark after sdrilling those holes.
Drilling can spook them.
So drill a bunch of holes then go back to read them with your flasher.
The may slide up shallower ,say 15 FOW to look for forage.
Patterning any lake takes time as does a puzzle.Once you put the pieces together it's payday time.Ka-Ching!

Once you do find them work the water column lifting those fish with small baits.Under 64th oz down to 100th oz.
I'm not a meat user ,but you may be.
A marmuska tipped with a waxie or a few spikes will trigger a finesse bite.
I like hair or fur jigs without meat keeping my profile thin and small.

[jbird68]

You're supposed to clean and cook the fish before you try to eat them. The scales and bones get stuck on the way down.

[crappiekeith]

I ran out of fingers.
There was more in the bucket.
Katie taking the pic was laughing her butt off.

[smoothlures]

Originally Posted by crappiekeith

I ran out of fingers.
There was more in the bucket.
Katie taking the pic was laughing her butt off.

LOL. Those are some nice fish, good job.

[Icehole]

You have to go shallower just on the edge of the weed line if you fish the lake in the summer you should know where the weed line is.Drill the holes before it gets dark as not to spook them.