Ice conditions and crappies

[curleytail]

Ty, sounds like the ice is pretty solid on the Chip. I'm thinking about heading out there with an ATV sometime soon. Are there any areas of soft ice to stay away from or should I be able to travel more or less anywhere?

I'm guessing the crappies you are finding are open water/basin type fish? Or are they relating to cribs or something specific? Sounds like drilling a lot of holes is required. Just part of the fun!

Thanks!

Tucker

[Ty Sennett]

There is a lot of good ice but stay away from current areas like hay Creek Narrows or the highway CC bridge or Crane Creek or Musky Tale bridge or.....I think you get it. Those are all thin ice all year. Lots of holes and lots of different tactics. We caught them on waxies and plastics yesterday. Most of the big ones were on plastics. It seemed like the crappie were really swithcing moods fast. They would come flying up fast and hit hard for a little while and then would only hit live bait stationary some times. Kind of like that farm dog that comes up and licks your face and then bites your leg. Keeps you on your toes.

[RobertTB]

It seems like your reports to date indicate the crappie are being on again/off again, Ty. From your experience, is this typical of early ice action with that species ? I perceive them to be kind of skittish, wary little buggers that they are.

That dog, reminds me of Miss Larson's dog down the road there when we were school children in the rural area. You'd go to Miss Larson's house to pay a visit and that dog would be nice as pie, friendly and wiggly tail waggin'. Then when we kids would go to ride our bikes past her farmyard heading to school, that darn dog would be there lurkin', waitin' for us. We knew it, the demon dog knew it, I bet even Miss Larson knew it ( I figgured the ol' sphinster peeked out from behind the barn watchin' all gleeful like), when we'd try to race past. That nasty ol' dog would bust outta' the yard hell bent on taking as big a bite on a pantleg as a killer dog could. Here we are, standing up on the peddles torque ing them peddles for all we wuz worth, gaining as much speed as possible to escape old Fang. It was terrifying I'm telling you. Then we discovered...water balloons. ha ha ha. We'd fix him ! Except, Donny went and fell off his bike whilst he tried throwin' them balloons. Donny was a good dude.

[Ty Sennett]

I'm glad you post on here in the winter Robert. Otherwise, it would be an even longer winter. Thanks for the story.

As for the crappie and early ice; most of the lake still has good oxygen levels so the crappie can roam more in early ice. Later in the ice season they are way more predictable. I like the fishing strategies both ways. Early in the ice season you have to move around "a lot". Later in the year you just show up and the crappie are there. I try to drill at least 100 holes a day during early season. Some days it's closer to 200. Anyone that has ice fished with me knows I'm not exaggerating. I guess I unjoy the hunt. I bring lots of extra gas with.

[curleytail]

Thanks for the info Ty. I might have to give it a shot one of these weekends. I've been using Little Atom plastics for several years and haven't used live bait since I started using the plastics.

Tucker