late ice panfish

[Mike Frisch]

Here in western Minnesota the late ice panfish bite has been pretty good. Was out on a small local lake fishing a deep-water basin area recently and caught good numbers of crappies. Late afternoon and into the evening seemed to be the best bite. Fished in 27-feet of water and caught fish close to the bottom and all the way up to about 8-feet below the ice. For that reason, monitoring the sonar unit closely was important. Buck-Shot Dropper Spoons and Doodle Bug Spoons and Jigs in glow colors were the leading producers. Aggressively jigging to attract the fish and then holding the lure stationary when they were close seemed to be the ticket to success. Ice conditions at the time were very good with some anglers even driving full-size trucks on the ice. However, I am sure the recent rain has deteriorated ice conditions, especially near the shorelines. I would think safe ice is still present, though getting on it may be a problem because of the shorelines.


Mike Frisch
Fishing The Midwest fishing team member
Elbow Lake, MN

[stinkycat]

Thanks Mike for the post. I have never tried the Buck shot dropper spoon but have tied similar in-line flashers myself with good success. Looks like I will have to get out and get some late ice crappies.

Thanks!