Right under the ice?

[Williefast]

I have a permanent fish shack on my favorite lake and fish almost every night after work. One afternoon I saw a crappie swim by my hole right under the ice. I pulled up my line and caught. Thats where I've been getting them. 1 to 5 feet below the ice. It almost takes the fun out not having to reel em in but I will take it. Anybody else find them way up high? Is this normal?

[blufloyd]

Pretty often if the zooplankton is still around or hatch is on.... I caught only 7 crappie in my brief season this year. 4 foot of water but the crappie came in high and chased fly down every catch.
I would have spent more time dropping if gills were not 8 inches.

[MnIceMan]

I've pretty much caught all my fish suspended in deeper holes only once did i catch a blackie just under the ice and that was on
a new lake!

[Swift]

Not all that uncommon, as blufloyd stated, it's basically all about the food source and it's location. Have caught them with their backs nearly scraping the ice in 30fow, also have caught them scratching their bellies on the bottom in the same basic area. What really gets spooky is when the Northerns start doing the right under the ice stuff.

[no1son]

This happens once in a while and it may be more common than most of use realize, since that part of the water column is not shown on the flasher. We catch them quite frequently during open water that shallow right below our feet on the docks and along the walls. No reason they should not come up that shallow in winter. Same fish after all. So far we have taken bluegills, perch, pike, largemouths and one sucker from the bottom there, but only one dinky crappie.

Last evening a guy who knows the lake and came out to check on us while walking his dog dropped a comment about where he takes them in the spring, but then clammed up real quick when I forgot my manners and immediately asked him about the size. Don't blame him either, really. BUT we are now sure that they are there in numbers big enough and fish large enough to clam up about. We haven't fished that lake in open water yet, but if we can work them out a bit this winter, that should help us next summer, too. Time to dig into the Bag of Tricks for some alternative tactics. If I know my fishing partner at all, we won't move off until we work them out at at least a little bit.

[Williefast]

Thanks guys! There is lots of little things floating in the water that look to be alive. Must be plankton? I guess a guy needs to try all depths while fishing crappie. I don't move around a whole lot because I dont have a wheeler to move my shack. It seems they bite or swim by at certain times where im at too but they have been up high almost every time.