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Ice-out Crappiesby Steve Welch A strange phenomenon occurs on northern lakes right after the ice comes off the lakes. For about two weeks the fish go on a feeding frenzy and move into shallow water when the afternoon sun warms up the dark-bottomed flats. This time frame varies from as early as the first of February down on Kentucky Lake to about mid- month on Lake Shelbyville, three hundred miles north. Lake Shelbyville, the lake that I guide on, is drawn down about five feet to winter pool. This moves the fish and congregates them. It is also the best time of the year to find yourself some good structure to fish when the lake does come up to summer pool.
I can find fish up in the Okaw River area as shallow as two feet of water, but most of the time you need to stay close to the old channel and watch your depth finder for the fish to suspend up off the bottom right next to standing trees. I can catch fish down about four feet deep in ten to twenty feet of water. When the water temperature is still below fifty degrees, I opt to fish a jig only. I will have a pole rigged with a tube jig on a sixteenth-ounce jig head. I use a smaller tube this time of the year in chartreuse and red, white, black, or just plain chartreuse. Crappie Pro has smaller solid body plastic tubes. I opt for these during the first few outings. I will use the larger Southern Pro umbrella tubes and the Midsouth Super jigs a little later in the spring. I also like hair jigs and tinsel jigs. I also rig up a pole with a slip bobber rig with a jig under the cork. If it gets tough I tip the jig with a wax worm or PowerBait Crappie Nibble. This is also the time of the year when I go to four pound line. The fish can be finicky, and since they are up out of the thick brush piles and suspended, the lighter line won't be a hindrance. I use either the Stren Sensi-thin in hi-vis or the camouflage color, depending on the water clarity. I depend on my GPS unit to keep me on brush and the high power of my Mercury deuce and a quarter to cover a lot of water. Crappie fishing is all about covering water if you want limits. The waypoints on my GPS make it a lot easier to cover water. I have more than two hundred programmed in on Shelbyville and about fifty on Kentucky Lake. I fish fifty or a hundred trees in a given day, but I have a milk run laid out so I am not bouncing back and forth. It all depends on the wind direction and speed as to where I am fishing on a given day. The one thing that I like about Shelbyville over Kentucky Lake is that I can hide from the wind and avoid a day that I might have to reschedule my clients. You can surprise them and tuck up under a high bluff and stay completely out of the wind. I don't want you to confuse this pattern with the spawn, but this shallow early bite can be one of the better periods of the year. I have frequently had more than a hundred crappie come into my Ranger bass boat on a good day. Next month I will talk more about the pre-spawn period. Let's talk about planning fishing trips and some tips that might help you. Most of you wouldn't dream of planning a trip down to Kentucky Lake in February or early March but that is when I like to go. The resorts aren't open yet, so staying on the water is a problem. I like to go before the crowds and while the fish are still out on those deep ledges and schooled up from the winter. I know it isn't a period where limits are the norm, but big fish is what I go down there for and this time frame is your best period. I go to the Big Sandy area just because I like all those steep ledges. I stay at Fishtail Lodge. It is one of the newest places on the lake and is close to the water and food. Gary Mason, a prominent guide down there, told me this past summer that he switches over to bluegills about April twentieth, confirming my decision to go early. I will be speaking at numerous fishing shows in Central Illinois from January through March and will be taking bookings for my guide service. If a guide trip is to your liking, give me a buzz and set up a trip. With my Crappie U.S.A. tourneys and new job, I don't guide as much and dates are hard to get. So book early. Steve Welch |
