Ice fishing is is full force.

[crappiekeith]

Boy did it feel good to hit the lake today.
We spent 4 hours out there today.
Drilled 25 crappies and a handfull of walleyes.
The high pressure had them pinned to the bottom ,but we were able to lift enough for a meal.

[Baxter1]

Good news,can't wait.

[crappiekeith]

I forget the day but it's the last sat. of the month.
We have a good 6" of ice.The snow is coming down sideways.

Rick & I hit BSL this morning at 7.
There was no snow at the time.
The barometer was 30.27 and falling.We drilled holes along the mud bar
and instantly marked fish up to 6 foot off of the bottom which was so different from yesterday.
Yesterday they were pinned to the bottom or a foot off.
I knew it was going to be a better day ,however being BSL's bite is better with the sun the bite was still slow.Having fish higher was promising though.
I was thinking if we could stick it out until the pressure dropped ,but by the time it did the fish disappeared.
I worked many holes and hardly marked a one.

So anyways I get this email a few days ago from George.
He says I'd like some help understanding my Vexilar and I'd like to try your jig.Well I could not resist the opportunity to help a guy out.
About an hour after we got there George comes walking up.

a very amicable guy for sure.
It amazes me at how many great guys I've met through these online forums.

We spent a few minutes talking about reading the Vexilar and gain settings.
I rig him up with T.H.E. Jig and we proceed to fish.
I had a few smaller ones before he got there and then I tag this slab.

Soon after Scott say ya baby!
check out this one.

I was proud to see how he used what we had talked about and caught his 1st 13" slab on T.H.E. Jig.
You can see how finicky those fish were with the placement of the hook.
Mine had just a piece of skin up front.a loose drag kept me from pulling that one loose.
Here's George's mule ....see where T.H.E. Jig is.


A few minutes goes by and although the fish we were catching were about 5-6 feet from the bottom I see a flicker on the bottom.Ya just gotta love
a flasher.
So I drop down to it and after 3 seconds I lifted a foot.The signal separates from the bottom.OOOOO here it comes I'm thinking.I lifted another foot and the fish came up and barely popped my spring. I reared and once the fish got half way up it really started fighting.I loosened my drag a skosh more and worked this guy up my hole.

I had George shoot another pic for me.

We left at noon ,but by all accounts it was a great day and George was still catching fish.

[T-roy 120]

Hello CrappieKeith Ive been on crappie.com for a few weeks now. I live in east Tennessee. It never stays cold long enuff here to ice fish or even have ice thick enuff to walk on. But ever since I first saw grumpier old men (my all time favorite movie) I have been very interested in ice fishing. I have too seen it on In-fisherman and it looks like a blast. I am an hardcore waterfowler, and ice fishermen seem to be cut from the same cloth. It looks to be a great sport thats fellowship seem to be a big part alot like duck and goose hunting.
I have never fished any northern lakes. I used to be in a band that played up north several years ago. But I never got a chance to fish. Since I have quit that band and now play in church I havent been up north. Our lakes in east TN. are deep rocky and gin clear. Our crappie get big. I have caught alot of 15" crappie. In middle TN there is a lake that they stock perch, on vacation this past year I caught some perch. Do yu catch many where you fish? I kept thinking while I was on vacation in june how great it would be to be somewhere catching those things through a hole and the temp wasnt 100 degrees. Would it be possible for a hillbilly like myself to come up north and get in on some of that ice fishing? Do you have any guide services around? Cause I dont have the gear or knowhow to do a freelance trip.
Enjoyed you pics but to tell you the truth they give me a bit of cabin fever. We dont have any birds hear yet And I dont know why, looks like all you northern guys are getting plenty of snow.
Have a good one Godbless

[crappiekeith]

I do guiding.
You'd be welcome anytime.I have all of the gear you'd need.

[crappiekeith]

Here's some ice fishing working a flasher.
Small fish ,but you'll get the idea of how we do it.
Mallard came up & we went to BSL only to find we could not mark a fish.After a few hours we bagged it.
There were other spots to fish,but we were dragging a heay porty so we went back to town and got the quad and headed for a different lake.

The fish were there only nothing very big.
I did however get some good video of how to do a lift with a flasher.
The bottom was at about 11 o'clock or what they call the leading edge.
the fish were stack for anywhere from 2-4 feet up from the bottom.
Watch to see how we drop into them,pull out and trigger the fish to give chase.
http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...eseason057.flv

http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...eseason059.flv

http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...eseason056.flv


Nothing huge ,but we did catch a decent dinner and sometimes action is better than no action..

[crappiekeith]

Here's a decent slab caught working the water column.

[birdman]

wooo baby!!!! thats a hog! Congrats man...how long and how much did it weight????