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2/9/20 - Back to an old lake I once hated

4K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  bapentec 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'm living in a new area about one hour away from where I used to fish over the years, I feel like I'm starting over again finding new productive, quiet and accessible waters. I have a natural aversion to popular, easy to get to places and with the snow cover this year my more remove lakes I'm not hitting yet. Perhaps these well known lakes are productive but my external locus of control gives me a bad attitude about them and aesthetics are a big factor for me.

In any event I hit a somewhat quiet 100 acre lake that about 10 miles from the nearest town but it has a modest share of cabins and homes, the lake has been noted for having a decent population of crappie and after about my 6th outing to this lake it's finally starting to pay off, granted it's about a 30 minute drive from home.

First ugly lake hammer handle on a jig in about 9 fow. Maybe it's a productive lake but I didn't care for the views although it's close to home.
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All these crappie were caught on 4mm tungsten jigs tipped with waxies and sometimes a piece of plastic as well, I wanted a larger presentation once the crappie started hitting, I almost always fish smaller lures for pannies. On a side note it's liberating not to drag tip-ups and a minnow bucket on the ice on the 2nd half of the day. All crappie (5) were caught from 15:00 to 16:30 in 10 fow and within 50' feet of each other on a grass flat. Important thing to note, always use some type of spring bobber when pannie ice fishing and LOOK for the bend in the spring bobber to disappear as some of the crappie were biting from below and moved higher up and caused the string bobber to straighten out. If I didn't have some type of spring bobber I'm sure I would have missed half the bites, they were subtle today.
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I plan on hitting this lake tomorrow after work and hope to pop holes by 15:45, we'll see how that goes. Good news is folks are able to drive there trucks on the ice on some of the inland lakes.
 

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#2 ·
No need to hate that lake any longer! Great report...'always like seeing nice crappies.

catchafew said:
Important thing to note, always use some type of spring bobber when pannie ice fishing and LOOK for the bend in the spring bobber to disappear as some of the crappie were biting from below and moved higher up and caused the string bobber to straighten out. If I didn't have some type of spring bobber I'm sure I would have missed half the bites, they were subtle today.
I was just thinking about this today. What's really cool is when they are super aggressive and you see crappies on your sonar and they are chasing your jig down after you drop it in. Doesn't happen much, but is great fun when they are hitting hard like that.
 
#4 ·
Ron,

I had lots of red weed activity on the bottom vex and some of the red marks were suspended so it was at times difficult to see clear fish activity so bobber watching was a big role today. Not much jigging was involved to tease them off the bottom, they'd just show up from outside the cone and slowly hit.
 
#8 ·
Great report. I was also just thinking about the spring bobber straightening out thing just this weekend during my Friday evening session.

I always use spring bobbers. A few years ago, I got frustrated though with various issues and caved in and bought St. Croix legend ice rods with their really cool spring bobber system. It is great and has been worth the money (we spend so much on augers, flashers, and shelters, might as well spend an extra 20-30 per rod).

The runner up for me are marmish spring bobbers. I bought a couple rods that came with them a few years ago. They are hard to find but very good. If I was adding a spring bobber to a rod I would look for one.
 
#9 ·
nice slab sesh. all my spring bobbers are DIY. bic lighter spring attached to whatever doohickey i can find in the garage. ive tried patented versions but that bic lighter spring is really sensitive and out performs the competition.

i'm with you on the scene. i find a different hole if i pull up and see trucks parked.
 
#10 ·
DasGoby said:
Great report. I was also just thinking about the spring bobber straightening out thing just this weekend during my Friday evening session.

I always use spring bobbers. A few years ago, I got frustrated though with various issues and caved in and bought St. Croix legend ice rods with their really cool spring bobber system. It is great and has been worth the money (we spend so much on augers, flashers, and shelters, might as well spend an extra 20-30 per rod).

I now have 2 legend silver and 2 legend black's. Well worth the money. My only complaint is that I manhandled one of the springs and now it looks like a bent up piece of spaghetti on both ends. I called STC and asked them the best way to replace it and I'm waiting on their response. It's been two weeks now. I guess I should follow up.

The runner up for me are marmish spring bobbers. I bought a couple rods that came with them a few years ago. They are hard to find but very good. If I was adding a spring bobber to a rod I would look for one.
 
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