MyFishFinder Forum
MyFishFinder By Species => Crappie => Topic started by: chez on Mar 14, 2013, 02:47 PM
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WHAT TEMP.DO YOU GUYS FEEL THE WATER SHOULD BE AROUND FOR ICE OUT PERCH AND ICE OUT CRAPPIE TO START HITTING?IM JUST CURIOUS.IT SEEMS WHERE I FISH THEY DONT START HITTING TILL THE END OF APRIL OR BEGINNING OF MAY NO MATTER HOW WARM THE WATER GETS.
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I don't think it really matters at ice out. IF you can get to where the fish were being caught during ice season you can catch fish. They haven't begun their movement towards the shallows yet, so I fish these spots. If you can't get to these spots than it seems for me that when the water temps get into the low to mid 40's with STABLE water clarity. When the water is murky (that white or brown color) I don't seem to do very well. But get the water nice and clear and I clobber them.
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In upstate NY, our crappies are usually somewhere up shallow when the ice comes off, no matter the water temp. They will hit, its just a matter of finding the concentrations of them.
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Here in south eastern PA. All of my regular early spots for crappies. They dont seem to be biting yet. The water temp has been colder than usual. Yet they do bite under the ice when the temps are in the same ranges. Which makes no sense to me. I have been marking them in all the usual spots. I think the water needs to be around 50 for them to really turn on. Thats one reason they are in the shallows. The shallow water warms earlier. Just my observation.
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thanks guys.
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Here in south eastern PA. All of my regular early spots for crappies. They dont seem to be biting yet. The water temp has been colder than usual. Yet they do bite under the ice when the temps are in the same ranges. Which makes no sense to me. I have been marking them in all the usual spots. I think the water needs to be around 50 for them to really turn on. Thats one reason they are in the shallows. The shallow water warms earlier. Just my observation.
Try using an ice fly and some maggots under a float leave the minnows at home right now. They are feeding on micro insects that getting ready to hatch (been doing that under the ice). I use the same lures that I use for fish through the ice this time of the year. Do really well than when the temps get to mid 40's out come the minnows and jigs and tails.
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48-53 deg has been the most productive for me for several years 8)
AW
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As was mentioned before, Chez.
Ya gotta treat ice out early spring crappies as though your still icefishing.
Small jigs under slip bobbers tipped with larva and/or small fathead minnows.
If your lookin' for a good way to cover alot of water to find them.
A slow troll with small jigs is always a gd way to target crappie
year round. Using your electric trolling motor at slow speed. Or a
controled drift on those windy days. An I wouldn't use jigs larger than
1/16th oz. With 1/32 oz usually the choice this time of the year.
Finding the school is the trick (in which they'll probably be
suspended over deeper water still till water temps start to warm up).
Ya find them, and ya should put some in your boat.
An ya probably know, once water temps warm up to 58-62 degrees here in PA, lookout!
That triggers the spawn. Find those springtime spawning areas near shorelines
and shallow water, it's like finding gold! They feed and attack everything like
parahnas! Little word of advise too. When you find those spots on your lake,
keep it to yourself and only a couple of your closest friends, if any at all.
As you will find them in the same spot every year during the spawn.
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As was mentioned before, Chez.
Ya gotta treat ice out early spring crappies as though your still icefishing.
Small jigs under slip bobbers tipped with larva and/or small fathead minnows.
If your lookin' for a good way to cover alot of water to find them.
A slow troll with small jigs is always a gd way to target crappie
year round. Using your electric trolling motor at slow speed. Or a
controled drift on those windy days. An I wouldn't use jigs larger than
1/16th oz. With 1/32 oz usually the choice this time of the year.
Finding the school is the trick (in which they'll probably be
suspended over deeper water still till water temps start to warm up).
Ya find them, and ya should put some in your boat.
An ya probably know, once water temps warm up to 58-62 degrees here in PA, lookout!
That triggers the spawn. Find those springtime spawning areas near shorelines
and shallow water, it's like finding gold! They feed and attack everything like
parahnas! Little word of advise too. When you find those spots on your lake,
keep it to yourself and only a couple of your closest friends, if any at all.
As you will find them in the same spot every year during the spawn.
when trolling using jigs, do you actually jig them at all or just leave em sit??
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I think they will bite if you are on the school no matter what, but obviously some days they will be more finicky than other days. Anyway, I do think the water temperature is a major factor. In my experience they are usually heavily in the shallows during spawning season when the water reaches around the 50-55 degree marks. When the temps are below the 50 degree mark I sometimes have trouble locating them, probably because they dispersed into deeper water. Here on Chautauqua Lake in Western NY, the bite changes from day to day depending on the surface temps of the water. Last week we were hitting them consistently when we had a string of warm days. When the cold front came in they shut right down/moved to a different location or depth. When the temps warmed up again on Monday we did very well. Just my opinion based on my experiences.
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in my area they begin to stage near the spawning areas in the mid 50 degree temps, but don't actually move onto and start building nests or actively spawning until 62-65 degrees.
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when trolling using jigs, do you actually jig them at all or just leave em sit??
You can do either and it mainly depends on the type/style jig you're using.
I like trolling with curly tail or shad "paddle tail" type plastic grubs on a 1/16 or 1/32 oz jig head. You don't have to do anything with this presentation, just put the rod in the holder and troll between 0.8-1.2 mph. The action of the curly or paddle tail plastic mimics the beating of a minnows tail fleeing to get away.
For other jigs like tubes, feather/marabou, and whip tail like Bobby Garland baby shad it is better to jig the jig to give it more action. Left alone in the rod holder these jigs have very little action and just pull straight and boring, you'll catch a few fish this way buy imparting more action will trigger more strikes. A rise and fall or darting forward and falling back is much more attractive than just pulling straight as an arrow.
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I use a bobber with a tube jig in open water[orande /brown]
i start at JUST under the WATER LINE,FISH FOR 10/15 mins
no bites drop it a foot fish for 15mins and so on,[remember
crappies WILL NOT GO DOWN FOR FOOD only up,so fish down
and school in ALL sizes[LOOK AT WHERE THERE EYES ARE]
skew up,
;D ;D ;D
RAT