the year is off to a good start

[1morecast]

I caught a grand slam last week, all three kinds of crappie in the space of a couple hours. I had a 13" white crappie, a 13" black crappie, and a 13" black-stripe nose crappie. The fish were about 2.5-3' deep in the back end of a cove just next to where there was some ice. I spotted them on my graph and came back on the shore and rigged a a slip float. They would hit bright color tube jigs better than anything. They didn't want minnows. If the wind was over 10 mph, forget about it. A weird pattern that was new to me. Usually I am catching them 40-70 feet deep this time of year. This was almost like spawn-time, but I guess the crappie go where the food is, and I could see a lot of baitfish were at 2-3' also.

[Pole Bender]

Sounds like a great time! If you don't mind where were you fishing? I am curious where you caught the black nose. I caught one on Stockton in December but it was on 9 inches.

[bwillaub]

09 sux so far for me. i've caught 1 keeper so far. i'm thinking this OKLAHOMA trip is going to end that agony for me tho.

[bugman]

Fish with an open mind i always say cause you never know where those little succers will be............congrats on thinking outside the box and catching some nice fish because of it.

[mark lo]

Good job cast.

[Joedog]

Thanks for the detailed report. Glad you're catching!

[1morecast]

Caught at McDaniel Lake, north of Springfield.