Let me set the scene. My first time out for the spring, fishing in my kayak on a lake I had never been before. I have an inexperienced kayak angler in the front seat of my tandem kayak. The wind is howling 15 - 25mph with gusts up to 40mph. Bright and sunny with the air temperature hovering around 80 degrees.
It felt like June but it was only April 10. No electronics as always and not even a lake contour map to get me started. When we pulled into the public access and I unloaded my kayak and gear while I visually surveyed the new water. Only about 120 acres in size with, from what I read, a maximum depth of 50 or 60 feet, it could prove to be a challenging little body of water for early ice out crappie.
North and north east side of the lake would ruled out immediately just because it would be extremely rough water due to the strong winds. The south east side was very calm and had a few little interesting points and small bays but seemed like it would be the coldest water on the lake because of the tall trees along the shoreline, blocking the warming rays of the sun. To the west and north west was a shoreline that actually looked like it would produce most of the year. A couple major points jutted out from the shoreline, with the larger point actually creating a pinch point in the main lake body. I pictured the bottom of the lake being a bowl in each of the main lake segments .With the wind blowing straight down the lake through the pinch point, I figured on the downwind side of the large point might be a likely place for crappies to hang out waiting for a meal.
As I paddled us toward the main point I immediately notice the water clarity was poor at best. Very stained water with only 2 - 3 feet of visibility, typical for this time of year on many of Michigan lakes. Making our way around the point I saw a serious change in water clarity and movement. Where the wind was really pushing the water the visibility in the water was no longer poor, it was terrible. Lots of debris, rotted vegetation, leaves, etc. were flowing past at a pretty good pace and creating a distinct line between stained and dirty water. In the slightly cleaner water I was able to spot a few old weed tops sticking up. Water temperature 42-44 degrees was still pretty cold but with the sun shining bright the specks might be in looking to warm up. It looked great to me so it was time to wet my first line of the year.
I rigged the young angler in my front seat with a 1/64 oz pink jig tipped with a 2 inch soft plastic in brown/cream color, and suspended it about 3 feet under a bobber. I used the same set up, but instead of pink I chose to start with a purple jig. I was able to check the water depths with my kayak paddle and my jig so I knew we were casting in waters from 4 - 10+ feet deep. We both threw several casts in every direction and distance. I shortened my bait a couple times and even changed my jig color and depth under the bobber. Nothing. Not a bite. So on to the next point we went.
Now this point seemed very much identical to the first one, only a bit smaller. Once again the water was 42-44 degrees. There was a bit more of an isolated bay just to the south west of this smaller point, which looked like it was creating a nice little inside corner, near deeper water. Inside corners near deep water are something I always key on when searching for early ice out crappies, so I tucked us into the little bay and we began casting again. Once again switching depths, colors, and bait lengths. Nothing. Not a bite.
Moving slowly out of the small bay, paralleling the shore about 40 feet out I started to see the dirty water and current line just off the point. I also notice a secondary little point about 20 yards farther down the shoreline. I got a gut instinct. Something looked "fishy" there. We immediately began casting ahead of us toward the 2 little points.
About a half dozen casts into it, my fishing partner tried to set the hook and said he had a bite. Huh. OK. More casting. I had gone back to a full size bait and had not gotten bit, while my passenger was beginning to a few bites. 1/8 of an inch at a time, I began trimming the soft plastic on my jig. When my bait was at about 1 1/8 inch, my bobber slowly started to move to the side. I thought it might have been the current but when my bobber went completely submerged and I set the hook I realized it was a fish. A nice fat bluegill was on my hook and came to the kayak, putting up a nice struggle along the way.
Wow, was I on to something.
A few casts later my partner missed another fish. While I was watching his bobber I saw a funny little twitch with a strange motion on the bobber. You know that way crappies hit from underneath the bobber, almost pushing it out of the water and then slowly swimming off, well that was it. I told him to get him and wham, he hooked up and reeled in a dandy crappie. Knowing that the fish were at that particular spot, I decided we would move around that real small point and give it a try.
Now we were at the very north west end of the lake. A place that seemed ideal at a glance. We made a lot of casts that were not touched. Something was different. As I started probing the bottom with my paddle, I realized we were on a fairly big flat of 4 - 6 feet of water and still fairly close to deep water. I drop my thermometer in and it reads 44 - 46 degrees. A bit warmer then the previous spot. So back to the last spot for some further investigation.
A quick cast toward the dirty water line was answered quickly with a nice crappie on my purple jig. OK time to switch again. Nope, nada, nothing.
So here is what I came up with.
I noticed right away that there were a lot of small old weed clumps scattered around the area where we caught fish. All the weed tops were about 2 or 3 feet from the surface. Another thing I figured out was that all 3 fish landed and all our bites happened within 3 or 4 feet of the dirty water line that was flowing past from the strong wind. The water was 45 - 46 degrees. All bites were on pink or purple jigs with our plastics trimmed to about 1 1/4 inch. And, the jigs had to be set 2 1/2 feet below a bobber. Putting all those factors together resulted in fish. Leaving out any one of those factors left the puzzle incomplete.
It seemed that all the components of seasonal habitat and environment had to be in play. It all made sense. Classic early ice out crappie.
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