01-15-2020, 04:56 PM
Catchinon, I'm not an expert, but I will say that finding the crappie is the first step (as usual) during the winter.
WB usually just come in mobs and like active baits (jigs, Sonar lures, rattley things) or one by one, taking things like ice jigs with WB meat, worms, or waxies nearer the bottom.
Bluegills tend to be in clumps where there is any structure, or spread along the bottom of flats. Last year at Lincoln Beach, some guys had a hole RIGHT NEXT to shore, a rocky drop-off. You could reach in and feel big rocks on two sides. They caught big bluegills and white bass every few minutes for a couple of hours.
CRAPPIES run in schools (so you gotta find the school) maybe tight, maybe spread out. AND they suspend, like TD mentioned. They may be right on the bottom, or right under the ice.
The couple times I caught decent numbers of crappies through UL ice, I was catching other species as well. I had learned on this site to lower my jigs slowly through the holes, letting the jigs keep my line straight, if not actually tight, rather than just dumping them down the hole. Often enough, a crappie would take it on the fall, and a tiny TICK would be visible in the line, OR the line would stop sinking as the jig sank. That was a crappie taking the lure on the drop.
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WB usually just come in mobs and like active baits (jigs, Sonar lures, rattley things) or one by one, taking things like ice jigs with WB meat, worms, or waxies nearer the bottom.
Bluegills tend to be in clumps where there is any structure, or spread along the bottom of flats. Last year at Lincoln Beach, some guys had a hole RIGHT NEXT to shore, a rocky drop-off. You could reach in and feel big rocks on two sides. They caught big bluegills and white bass every few minutes for a couple of hours.
CRAPPIES run in schools (so you gotta find the school) maybe tight, maybe spread out. AND they suspend, like TD mentioned. They may be right on the bottom, or right under the ice.
The couple times I caught decent numbers of crappies through UL ice, I was catching other species as well. I had learned on this site to lower my jigs slowly through the holes, letting the jigs keep my line straight, if not actually tight, rather than just dumping them down the hole. Often enough, a crappie would take it on the fall, and a tiny TICK would be visible in the line, OR the line would stop sinking as the jig sank. That was a crappie taking the lure on the drop.
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