Pineview Friday

[TubeDude]

Glad to know you bagged the Willard trip.  Probably north Atlantic sized wind waves on that pond...according to conditions I checked about mid morning.

Also glad you found some willing perch.  What do you suppose is going on with the persnickety crappies?

I don’t know people have reported tough crappie bite all winter, maybe they are just well fed.

I am inclined to agree.  Based on the increased perch population I suspect that baby perch are numerous enough to keep the predators well fed.  When perch are scarce and spawning results poor the crappie are hungrier.  In the past it was possible in my float tube...in the open water of late season (November) to watch (on sonar) as the schools of small perch gradually moved into deep water as water temps dropped...and to watch the schools of crappies follow.  The perchlets set up at about 45 - 50 feet on the bottom and if you could find a school there would usually be both crappies and bigger perch nearby.