Chillin' and Drillin'

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]We have been chatting about what gloves to use for cold weather angling. If you can get by wearing woolies, and you are fishing open water, you are way ahead of what I did yesterday. I joined a couple of other local BFTers for an ice-fishing trip on Pineview Reservoir, here in Utah.
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[#0000ff]It was 13 degrees with a chilly breeze when we got there about 9 AM. Had to wear snowmobile gloves to keep from getting frostbite. Knocks the heck out of sensitivity so you need little wire strike indicators on your rod to detect the subtle bites.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The combination of snow, frozen slush and ice was almost 2 feet deep. The actual hard ice was about 14". I brought my hand auger but was happy to let one of the other guys drill my holes with his power auger. Another guy using a hand auger had to get down on his knees to finish drilling his holes. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We fished an area that the other guys had done well on the previous week, but they were pretty slow yesterday. Only got a few small perch and crappies. Couldn't release them because they came up from about 50 feet deep and their air bladders came out of their mouths. They don't survive, even if you "fizz" them by poking a hole in the air bladder and sending them back down. I did get enough small fillets for some "Po man's shrimp".[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It got a little warmer and more tolerable after the sun made it over the surrounding hills, but it still stayed cold enough all day that we had to keep scooping the ice out of the holes and cleaning ice from our rod guides. It was still below freezing when we trudged back up the hill about 1:30.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We did get some free entertainment for awhile, when a couple of "Paraskiers" showed up to take advantage of the smooth hard snow surface on the lake. See the pics.[/#0000ff][/#0000ff][/b]
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[Bluegillman]

[font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][#0000ff][b][#0000ff]We did get some free entertainment for awhile, when a couple of "Paraskiers" showed up to take advantage of the smooth hard snow surface on the lake. See the pics.[/#0000ff][/#0000ff][/b]
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That's cool! Do they go where the wind blows only one way? Then they have to ski back? Boy those guys are thinking of those tricks than I ever did!
Bet those fish tasted great while ice fishing! A buddy of mine loves to eat those fish like that than the soft water days.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]The wind-skiers are actually pretty mobile, and can use the wind just like sailboats. They control the direction they are skiing and can even "tack" into the wind by going back and forth upwind.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You're right. New things all the time. Everytime I watch Xtreme sports, with all of the new events, I wonder "Who was the first person to try that...and did they live?"[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The fish were tasty. It does seem to be true that fish from beneath the ice, or just colder waters, seem to be firmer and better eating.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We are in the middle of another deep cold cycle so it looks like I either get my fishing on "the hard deck" or sit around the house whimpering, waiting for open water to launch my tube.[/#0000ff]
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[sjgabby]

I fished pineview last weekend and caught some perch but no crappie. Whats the trick to catchng crappie. Do they go after the same bait as perch? Do you need to find some structure? What depth are they at? So many questions...
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]The single biggest secret to catchin' crappies is to find them first. That is not easy in Pineview. It used to be a lot easier in the olden days, when the lake was full of crappies and there were no perch, smallmouth or tiger muskies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The crappies we caught were a surprise to me. The other guys found them by accident last week, looking for perch. Both species were hanging out together in 50 feet of water, and right on the bottom. I have never caught crappies that deep and on the bottom too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We were catching both species on the same things, within a foot or less from the bottom. We caught them on several different lures and baits, but the best seemed to be small ice jigs tipped with wax worm. However, one of the guys in our group was using crawler with a Berkeley's Crappie Nugget added. He caught perch on those too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I usually have my best success looking for crappies suspended a ways above the bottom in water less than 30 feet deep. Go figure.[/#0000ff]
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[AdictedBassTard]

@TD
The wifey and I were fishing Chestnut here in NYS last year, for bass and pickrel when she nailed six crappie in quick succession. We were wading off the shoreline and while I was flipping the shorline structures and brush with Blade Dancers, she was shooting deep with brown Mr. Twisters. We returned several times to try for crappie again but without success. They really are elusive little buggers aren't they!

-ABT-
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Elusive? Some might use stronger words.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are several factors to consider in upping your odds (up yours, too). Knowing the water you fish and the the patterns of the crappies throughout the year help a lot. Trying to find and catch crappies the first time on a new lake is usually frustrating.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There have been a lot of books written on crappie fishing. They are one of the most popular species in America. Maybe even more popular than bass in some areas. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Probably the best time to catch crappies is in the spring, when they swarm the shallows to spawn. In most places they hang out, almost anybody can at least catch a few at that time, even if they don't get another one all year.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you are not a dedicated crappieholic, with all of the maps, GPS spots, sonar, secret brushpiles, fancy tackle and lures, etc., then you have to rely a lot on luck. But, there are some crappie specialists who can honestly claim to be able to catch them every month of the year.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have had a couple of crappie hotspots over the course of my fishing years. And, I have caught crappies on almost every trip I took, when I knew where I was going and what I needed to do. But, I have also been humbled after being away from those lakes for more than a couple of years and then going back to fish them. Things do change from year to year...even day to day sometimes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Here's some pics from Patagonia Lake, in Arizona, where I regularly caught lots of crappies between 1 and 2 pounds, with many in the 3# class. [/#0000ff]
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A batch of Arizona crappies which succumbed to TubeDudes tube stealth tactics.


Another meal of Patagonia Lake crappies snookered by TubeDude


Super slabs taken by TubeDude with bass lures.


Two chunky crappies in the 3# class, taken by TubeDude in late November on Patagonia Lake in Arizona. [/size]
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