03-30-2004, 03:27 AM
[size 2]Crappie crazy: Pipestem Reservoir produces slabs as ice fishing ends
By Mike McFeely [/size]
[size 2]The Forum - 03/28/2004
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[size 2][url "http://www.in-forum.com/images/photos/?id=54728"]![[Image: crappie_4_copy.jpg]](http://www.in-forum.com/images/photos/stories/crappie_4_copy.jpg)
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JAMESTOWN, N.D. -- There is late ice. And there is last ice.
A hint that Pipestem Reservoir has moved to the latter came to a party of crappie anglers from Fargo-Moorhead and Hawley, Minn., in the following manner Thursday: There was an 8-foot by 10-foot hole in the ice not 20 feet from where the party was fishing.
The hole went undiscovered for hours because the anglers thought it was simply a darker shade of ice than that surrounding it. Not until one of the fishermen walked to edge and -- thankfully -- happened to poke at the spot with a piece of wood did he discover that it was not darker ice, but a hole filled with slush and flotsam.
“Hey, now we can cast for these crappies,” somebody quipped.
Yes, it’s easy to be flippant when 10 anglers somehow escaped a plunge in 10 feet of frigid water by never once stepping into the mysterious hole. It was also easy to be flippant because the crappies -- nice ones -- were so cooperative.
A 60-degree March day -- skies filled with migrating snow geese as spring barged through the door -- was punctuated by slab crappies lying on the ice, their speckled bodies glistening under the brilliant sun.
Cooperating crappies are not a new story at Pipestem, according to North Dakota Game and Fish district fisheries biologist Gene Van Eeckhout of Jamestown.
A creel survey conducted in the winter of 2002-03 found that anglers harvested 21,000 crappies from the lake.
“This is really the third year in a row that it’s been good for crappies. Two years ago it was the best, last year was really good and this winter wasn’t bad either,” Van Eeckhout said. “It has become a pretty substantial crappie fishery and there is a lot of activity out there.”
Game and Fish officials suspect the high-water years from 1993-2000 contributed to an explosion of crappies in Pipestem, just as high water has led to outstanding new fisheries throughout North Dakota and South Dakota. Van Eeckhout said Game and Fish introduced crappies into Pipestem in the late 1970s without much success. A creel survey in 1994-95 indicated that crappies were “hardly on the radar screen,” Van Eeckhout said.
Van Eeckhout said while it’s likely crappies have always naturally reproduced to some extent in Pipestem, flooded vegetation during high-water years allowed the population to take off.
“The population that’s out there now just kind of snuck up on us,” he said.
It’s quite a population. The 10 anglers caught crappies steadily throughout the day, from noon to 5 p.m. Most of the fish were in the 11- to 13-inch range and weighed more than a pound.
“It’s just such a great average,” said Olee McDonald of Hawley. “I don’t know where else you can go to get this size on a consistent basis. Maybe Red Lake (in Minnesota), but there you don’t see the numbers you see here. It’s really quite amazing.”How long will it last? Van Eeckhout wouldn’t guess, but said it would help if the water rose enough this spring to flood some vegetation and give the crappies a chance to replenish their numbers.
“If we get a little runoff we might be able to keep this thing going for awhile,” he said. “There are a lot of fish being taken out of there. Guys are even going out in the summer to catch them. The past two summers the crappies have been hitting crankbaits, spinners, whatever people have been fishing with.”
By the look of it Thursday, anglers should wait until the open-water season to fish Pipestem again. Walking back to shore at the end of the day, Moorhead’s Mike Miller of WDAY-TV’s “Great Outdoors” broke through the ice and soaked his left leg up to the knee.
It was obvious the end was near for ice fishing.
But at least nobody took a dip in the middle of the lake in the big hole nobody noticed -- in part because they were too busy catching crappies.
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By Mike McFeely [/size]
[size 2]The Forum - 03/28/2004
[/size]
[size 2][url "http://www.in-forum.com/images/photos/?id=54728"]
[/url][/size] JAMESTOWN, N.D. -- There is late ice. And there is last ice.
A hint that Pipestem Reservoir has moved to the latter came to a party of crappie anglers from Fargo-Moorhead and Hawley, Minn., in the following manner Thursday: There was an 8-foot by 10-foot hole in the ice not 20 feet from where the party was fishing.
The hole went undiscovered for hours because the anglers thought it was simply a darker shade of ice than that surrounding it. Not until one of the fishermen walked to edge and -- thankfully -- happened to poke at the spot with a piece of wood did he discover that it was not darker ice, but a hole filled with slush and flotsam.
“Hey, now we can cast for these crappies,” somebody quipped.
Yes, it’s easy to be flippant when 10 anglers somehow escaped a plunge in 10 feet of frigid water by never once stepping into the mysterious hole. It was also easy to be flippant because the crappies -- nice ones -- were so cooperative.
A 60-degree March day -- skies filled with migrating snow geese as spring barged through the door -- was punctuated by slab crappies lying on the ice, their speckled bodies glistening under the brilliant sun.
Cooperating crappies are not a new story at Pipestem, according to North Dakota Game and Fish district fisheries biologist Gene Van Eeckhout of Jamestown.
A creel survey conducted in the winter of 2002-03 found that anglers harvested 21,000 crappies from the lake.
“This is really the third year in a row that it’s been good for crappies. Two years ago it was the best, last year was really good and this winter wasn’t bad either,” Van Eeckhout said. “It has become a pretty substantial crappie fishery and there is a lot of activity out there.”
Game and Fish officials suspect the high-water years from 1993-2000 contributed to an explosion of crappies in Pipestem, just as high water has led to outstanding new fisheries throughout North Dakota and South Dakota. Van Eeckhout said Game and Fish introduced crappies into Pipestem in the late 1970s without much success. A creel survey in 1994-95 indicated that crappies were “hardly on the radar screen,” Van Eeckhout said.
Van Eeckhout said while it’s likely crappies have always naturally reproduced to some extent in Pipestem, flooded vegetation during high-water years allowed the population to take off.
“The population that’s out there now just kind of snuck up on us,” he said.
It’s quite a population. The 10 anglers caught crappies steadily throughout the day, from noon to 5 p.m. Most of the fish were in the 11- to 13-inch range and weighed more than a pound.
“It’s just such a great average,” said Olee McDonald of Hawley. “I don’t know where else you can go to get this size on a consistent basis. Maybe Red Lake (in Minnesota), but there you don’t see the numbers you see here. It’s really quite amazing.”How long will it last? Van Eeckhout wouldn’t guess, but said it would help if the water rose enough this spring to flood some vegetation and give the crappies a chance to replenish their numbers.
“If we get a little runoff we might be able to keep this thing going for awhile,” he said. “There are a lot of fish being taken out of there. Guys are even going out in the summer to catch them. The past two summers the crappies have been hitting crankbaits, spinners, whatever people have been fishing with.”
By the look of it Thursday, anglers should wait until the open-water season to fish Pipestem again. Walking back to shore at the end of the day, Moorhead’s Mike Miller of WDAY-TV’s “Great Outdoors” broke through the ice and soaked his left leg up to the knee.
It was obvious the end was near for ice fishing.
But at least nobody took a dip in the middle of the lake in the big hole nobody noticed -- in part because they were too busy catching crappies.
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