I fished Pineview last night at north cemetery point. Didn't start marking fish till just about seven. I caught five Croppie between seven and 745. They were still showing up on my finder it 8 o'clock but had developed lockjaw. So I decided to go home and get ready for echo in the morning.
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Hey thanks for the update! I debated going up last night but decided to relax instead. Kinda glad I did now. How many FOW were they?
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I was up there too. I learned a couple of things that may help others, so here goes: My last trip to PV was a week ago and I found a spot with tons of fish in 41' of water. They weren't biting very aggressively but at least I knew I had lots of fish seeing my lures. I marked the honey hole on my GPS and intended to hit the same spot last night. Well, someone else was set up within 10 yards of my spot. I got as close as I could and drilled a hole...but too much sonar interference. I moved 50 yards away and drilled again (40' of water). I saw one or two fish and it was getting cold fast so I set up the shelter as it was getting dark. Before long my sonar was filled with fish, so much that I couldn't see my jig anywhere in the bottom 5' of water. I ended up catching a limit between 6:00 and 10:30, missing 4 or 5 hits for every one I landed. The fish were picky and biting very light but the action was fairly consistent all night.
I have a theory about why the fish congregated around my hole both times. My lantern wasn't working very well so I used my headlamp. It's nice and bright, and I was using slip bobbers so the light was aimed right down the hole all night. I think the fish are attracted to the light. I could be wrong but it's worth a try if you aren't marking many fish.
Another thing I noticed was how picky the fish were about my presentation. 90% of them were caught on a tiny ice fly dropped below a glow Ratfinkee, both tipped with waxies. If my waxie started hanging low on the hook they wouldn't bite. When I threaded the worm on lengthwise to cover all but the point of the hook I had good success. If there were no bites for 10 min I would reel in and every time my worm would be dangling or missing. With a fresh worm I would start getting hits again.
Finally, I had to learn how soft the mouths of Crappies are. I'm used to catching trout with a nice firm hook set. That does not work for Crappie, as most of you probably know. I must have ripped the hook out of 10 fish before I realized what I was doing. Too light and you won't set the hook but too firm and you'll yank it right out. After I figured out the hook set and presentation my catch rate went up quite a bit.
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Funny, I have the best luck with big, but not too hard, hook sets. Timing is everything, though. That bite is light, and second chances are rare.
I met a guy last year who had glow sticks from the dollar store tied to a weight and sunk on a line (for retrieval). It REALLY seemed to pull in the fish to the two holes he was fishing. I thought I was really on to something.
I have tried it three or four times since then, and I can't see a lick of difference. Both barometer and temperature seem to make more difference, along with lure/color/bait, etc...... If they were biting and we were on em, we caught them, and if not, not. One night I drilled about 6 holes in a circle, with three more close together in the middle, where I put the lights. We then fished hole to hole, moving around as one went dead for a few minutes. We caught fish by the lights, and some in all but one otr two of the holes, but the best holes were two next to each other, out on the periphery. So, I dunno.
I have heard/read a lot about crappies being drawn to light, though.
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Interesting experiment! I wonder if airplanes saw your circular pattern in the ice and thought it was aliens. Using the light seemed to help but it's far from scientific. It definitely didn't hurt. It's probably like any other aspect of fishing...it's a combination of factors that make for a good bite. If you're in a good general location the light may help attract fish.
I do believe the slip bobbers are a better way to go with such light hits. I tried a spring bobber rod and had trouble detecting most of the bites. When using the slip bobber sometimes it would just BARELY move and I'd set the hook into a fish.
I agree with you on the hook sets. I started setting my drag pretty light and doing a 2 foot lift of the rod. Not too hard. I think the softer drag kept me from ripping the hook out a few times.
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