Fishing Forum

I had hoped to take the boat out to Willard Friday but the wind forecast kept me off that pond. I met my friend Juma at Pineview at 7:00 am, we were a little apprehensive about the water on top of the ice when we arrived but found good edges and over a foot of solid ice at windsurfer beach. We set up in 43’ of water and found large schools of Crappie stacked up that had no interest in biting, so we moved down to the bottom targeting perch, caught the first one on meal worm then went with eyeball. The bite was lite and we caught several dozen 8-9” perch this morning. We almost lost the tent to a big wind gust, thank god one anchor held the tent blew off the top of us and we put it away and fished in the warm windy conditions after that but the fish had gone to bed, so we bagged it at noon and went home.

(03-01-2024, 10:05 PM)obifishkenobi Wrote: [ -> ]I had hoped to take the boat out to Willard Friday but the wind forecast kept me off that pond. I met my friend Juma at Pineview at 7:00 am, we were a little apprehensive about the water on top of the ice when we arrived but found good edges and over a foot of solid ice at windsurfer beach. We set up in 43’ of water and found large schools of Crappie stacked up that had no interest in biting, so we moved down to the bottom targeting perch, caught the first one on meal worm then went with eyeball. The bite was lite and we caught several dozen 8-9” perch this morning. We almost lost the tent to a big wind gust, thank god one anchor held the tent blew off the top of us and we put it away and fished in the warm windy conditions after that but the fish had gone to bed, so we bagged it at noon and went home.

Nice report, thanks for sharing! If the bite was light it seems like it would have been really tough to detect fishing outside the tent! You must have it mastered!

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?

(03-01-2024, 10:27 PM)TubeDude Wrote: [ -> ]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.

(03-01-2024, 11:09 PM)obifishkenobi Wrote: [ -> ]

(03-01-2024, 10:27 PM)TubeDude Wrote: [ -> ]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.

Well darn…I guess my theory about the crappie potentially being hungrier in the AM (because they sure haven’t been in the PM) is all shot to pieces now. Maybe they’re eating midday?? ?. I’ve caught 3 crappie in 3 trips to PV. It’s nice to see the perch coming back though.

Glad you caught some fish and didn’t lose your tent in the process. We’re supposed to go to a ski race this morning up at Solitude. I’m not looking forward to the mid 20s winds that are forecast!