Been a Good Season

We were fortunate at having an early ice season this year with the cold temps and allowing us to fish many waters we haven’t been able to in the recent past. But with warming trends and rains starting now and into most of next week, looking like our local ice season may be coming to an end.

Been pushing hard on the ice the last week and it has been paying off. Visiting numerous lakes and ponds searching for crappie has been fun with some nice catches happening as well.

Been noticing that the fish are congregating in areas and starting to feed much more heavily lately. This in turn is making for some fantastic fishing and allows you to be able to concentrate on certain areas instead of being in search mode.

The fish are using a good portion of the water column now and after spending some time watching your flasher screen, you can pick which marks are the fish you want to target. The ones that come fast off the bottom are typically perch and the marks that are high are usually crappie.

Lately, the better sized crappie has been very close underneath the ice and by hole hopping and searching for those marks, that makes for some fun fast action. Using many baits is productive now and with the fast bite, spoons have been working great.

Jigs with a variety of plastic offerings will seal the deal for those that may be a little more finicky. Water depths don’t seem to matter as much right now as they can be caught at any level underneath the ice.

Looking like road trips are going to start being more normal coming forward and that will open a lot of new waters once again. Enjoy these last days for our local waters, have fun while you are out there but always keep in mind those safety items and watch your every step.