Crappie Night

NumenOn the Water

Date:  1-24-15

Body of Water:  McEwen Lake

Boat:  None, ice fishing

With:  Alone

Target:  Crappies and pike

Time:  1:45 PM - 7:45 PM

Conditions:  Mild (37 +/- F) with decreasing S wind; about 7 inches of slush covered ice.  Fished a couple of hours into dark to assess the quality of the crappie bite.

With a work-free weekend for the first time in quite a while, I had some flexibility in my schedule.  While I'm not really a pan-fisher, I was intrigued by the size of a couple of crappies I caught on Thursday night.  I also wondered whether we'd left too early to capitalize on their activity.  So I dug out my portable shelter, rehabilitated a gas lantern, grabbed some J&S bait (suckers, shiners, and spec minnows) and was on the ice by 1:45 PM or so.  The plan: scout for suspended crappies while running a couple of tip-ups in shallower for predators; and be fully set up for the evening crappie bite by dark.

There were quite a few groups on the ice when I got there, but it looked like slow going.  Fortunately my area of choice was open, and I had the first speck on the ice from 36 feet of water in just a couple of minutes.  This hole became my base camp while I set the tip-ups and punched a variety of other holes in the vicinity.

I had two flags in the next 3 hours or so; a drive-by on a shiner suspended 7 down over 11 feet; and a small (sub-legal) pike on a sucker, 15 down over 19 feet of water.  Pretty slow predator fishing; I pulled these tip-ups before full dark.

The first flag of 2015 was an undersized pike.  It ate a sizable sucker suspended over 19 feet of water.

A typical McEwen Lake pike; at least in my experience.

Meanwhile, I bounced around in 32 to 40 feet of water. I was over marked fish most of the afternoon and evening, but they were generally reluctant biters.  Occasionally one would decide to go, and every so often I could get two or three in sequence.  But for the most part, it was a slow pick; and usually the biters were the highest fish in the column.  A jigging Rap (tipped with minnow), a pimple (tipped with a Gulp! maggot), and the slab spoon (tipped with live maggots) were all about equally effective; a dead-sticked minnow on a tear-drop only took one fish.  So while they were reluctant to bite, the best approach to catching them were more aggressive tactics.

I ended the evening with 16 specks (+/- 1), and these provided a nice set of meals for friends.  These were decent-to-good quality; all were 9 to 12 inches, with the majority "bigger" as opposed to "smaller."

I think I only took a couple after dark; while the sonar screen was lit up with activity, cruising/biting fish were less common.  Most bites probably came from about 18 to 21 feet down, regardless of depth. 

A pile of specks from 9 to 12 inches; not giant, but not bad.

Tools of This Trade; multiple holes, a trusty sonar and a lantern.  But in all honesty, fishing in the dark wasn't so great!

What do I have to say about this?

I am not much of a pan-fisher, but good pan-fishermen have always impressed me.  This was probably my best targeted catch of pan-fish in many years.  With the sonar maintaining my confidence, and comfortable conditions (I never did close up the shelter), it was pretty pleasant, at least by current standards.

McSomething

NumenOn the Water

Date:  1-22-15

Body of Water:  McEwen Lake

Boat:  None, ice fishing

With: KS

Target: Pan fish

Time: 4:20 PM – 6:20 PM

Conditions:  Quiet, gray, and about 30 F; about 8 inches of snow-covered ice.  Nobody else out there (until the end), but there had obviously been a fair amount of fishing activity in the basin, including some “fresh” holes from earlier in the day.

This was a quick, targeted weekday excursion with newer tactics on a relatively unfamiliar lake.  I’ve never targeted suspended pan fish in the basin of this lake, nor have I ever taken a quality fish from McEwen in 3 previous ice-fishing trips.  But it has something of a local reputation for pan fish, and KS has a long history of fishing there.  Plus, it’s a pretty lake and fairly convenient.  It also offers some Arracuda potential and is a current alternative to (stingy) Reeds Lake.

We went “light” once again and took advantage of our early start to stop at J&S Auto/Bait.  They had a surprisingly good variety of bait available, and we left with a couple of dozen crappie shiners to complement my colored maggots.

KS’s cry of “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!  Dog sh*t!” caught my attention as I unloaded gear from the truck, and I narrowly missed depositing my sled directly on a nice fresh pile.  An (in-)auspicious start to the trip (you can decide); but soon enough we were safely on the ice.

We walked past some open holes from earlier in the day (I should have scoped them with the sonar) as we proceeded to KS’s starting point of confidence.  This turned out to be in 30-35 feet of water and we started marking fish/activity right away.  Per usual, I started with the pimple, but the fish were clearly negative towards it.  I started to wonder if these were crappies or gills. I down-sized through the Northland slab spoon to a tear-drop and maggot, and cycled through a few holes.  The fish were tough!  I reversed gears and dared them to bite a jigging Rapala with pinched minnow head; and soon a fish rushed up off the bottom and struck.  It turned out to be a dink crappie, but at least now I knew that I was fishing over crappies.

OK, I'll stop taking these remote sonar photos; but you can see the power of this ice unit.  Fish on! and others waiting to be caught.

The night's first fish was a small crappie, but at least it told us what to fish for.

The Rapala didn’t turn out to be the answer, but targeting fish well off the bottom seemed to be a good part of it; I got a few more on the sweetened rainbow Northland slab (maggots); the biters were about 20 feet down over 35 feet of water or so.  The last two were nice crappies at 10 and 11 inches or so.  Just as I got into a productive groove, the bite stopped.  “Plankton” activity generally increased as the light dwindled, and I marked more and more fish near bottom; but the bites disappeared for both of us.

A couple of nice, double-digit crappie came through the hole, but it was over just as it got started.

What do I have to say about this?

As we prepared to leave, another fisherman set up with his shanty and lantern; perhaps it’s a night bite.  Maybe we’ll find out some other evening.  Regardless, it was a pleasant outing with a buddy with whom I’ve not fished since last April.  We were both pleased to share it, and he reported that the crappies tasted fine later that evening.

MLK '015

NumenOn the Water

Date:  1-19-15

Body of Water:  Reeds Lake

Boat:  None, ice fishing

With:  Alone

Target:  Perch and pike

Time:  8 AM – 1 PM

Conditions:  Post-cold front, about 30 F +/- with NE winds < 10 mph.  Cloudy and generally quiet with about 7 inches of slush-covered ice.

Local ice-fishing on MLK Day is something of a tradition of mine, since it's a day off with the kids in school.  With no pike minnows on hand, and some mild concerns about the condition of the ice after a weekend thaw, I waited until light before venturing out.  My plan was to catch a few easy perch and set some tip-ups for pike using the perch as bait. I chose to fish the south side of Reeds Lake since I knew there should be some perch there.

My first couple of holes showed no activity, and I decided to check some weed edges for bluegills early on.  This would take advantage of the low-light conditions while also giving the perch some time to wake up.  There was no evidence of anybody fishing the shallow weed-beds, and there proved to be no evidence of fish activity, either.

Once I started drilling holes in 23 feet or more, I started raising some fish activity near bottom on the graph.  At first I was not sure I was marking fish, but it was certainly biological and responded to the descending jig.  After some certain refusals and trying a few more holes, I down-sized to a tungsten teardrop and maggot and finally got a bite; I half expected a bluegill as it approached the hole, but it turned out to be another yellow perch.

Well, at least now I could set a tip-up!  But somehow I managed to lose the perch before I could deploy it as bait.  Fortunately the perch were waking up and soon I had perch suspended from traps, 3 to 5 feet off bottom in 15 and 23 feet of water.

These baits remained untouched for the rest of the session as I poked around for additional perch.   I ended with a dozen or so, but all were small (bait-sized to small eaters.)  All came on the tungsten pilkie (perch colored) with a colored maggot or two.  

So the fishing was pretty poor, and the "best" biters were typically in about 30 feet of water.  They were most likely to bite if I could tease them a few feet off the bottom, but a quality bite never developed for me.  It looked like (and sounded like) slow going for others on the lake; there were no real indications of success.

Seeing my tear drop on bottom in 30 feet of water was no problem.  It's certainly nice to know that any fish below my feet will show themselves, and I simply sensed many bites without actually feeling them.  Some unknown sense in combination with their behavior on the graph initiates the "hook set."  This will be a powerful combination.

What do I have to say about this?  Probably not a whole lot; it wasn't exactly an exciting outing.  But it was better than work, the graph is interesting, and MLK Day provided an opportunity to otherwise get out there at a time that ordinarily I'd have been unable to do so.

First Trip - 2015

NumenOn the Water

Date:  1-11-15

Body of Water:  Reeds Lake

Boat:  None, ice fishing

With:  Alone

Target:  Perch and crappies

Time: 1 PM – 5:20 PM

Conditions:  Seasonally mild; about 30 F with SW winds < 10 mph.  Clear at first, but increasing cloudiness and about 4.5 inches of snow-covered ice.

Reeds Lake closed up on about 1-1-15, and after a wicked Alberta Clipper and associated lake effect snow event, folks started getting out (all over) on Reeds Lake this weekend.  I joined them on Sunday.  I didn’t have any bait, but I did have my new Humminbird 688 Sonar/GPS, so the focus of this trip was simply to practice with the unit while targeting (first) perch and (then) crappies.

I went “light” on this trip with only a couple of light rods and a handful of ice spoons, along with all the tools of ice fishing.  I powered up the Humminbird before I started my walk onto the ice, and I was pleased to see that the GPS had me correctly and pretty precisely located before I stopped to drill the first hole.  I was less pleased to see that the sonar was obviously not reading depth correctly; but after a few minutes of fiddling around, rebooting and accepting some default settings, I was soon watching my favorite Swedish Pimple in 27 feet of water.

Bottom activity was obvious and it wasn’t long before I teased a fish a couple of feet from the bottom.  As the sonar readings from the lure and fish merged I sensed a bite, and soon the First Fish of 2015 was on the ice.  It certainly wasn’t a monster, but it was a nice, eating-size yellow perch.  After a quick picture, I watched this fish descend to the bottom on the graph.

The First Fish of 2015 was a decent Yellow Perch taken on a trusty old smooth glow Swedish Pimple.

The power of this new sonar was immediately obvious.  With a split sonar view (normal and 2x or 4x zoom), I was able to assess the presence of any “live bottom” or suspended fish activity under any of the dozen or so holes I drilled.  I was also able to watch my lure and see fish react to it, so I was also able to refine my tactics to each fish and anticipate most bites.  I know I caught more fish than I would have without the unit, and I also know I didn’t waste much time at “deserted” holes.  Overall, this unit really boosted my efficiency on the ice, while making pan-fishing more fun.

This not a great picture, but you can see the fish I'm fighting while at least three more await my lure near the bottom.

This was the nicest fish of the day with a solid girth and beautiful coloration. In addition to the Pimple, a glow-rainbow Northland Slab Spoon produced.

After 20 or so perch in 27 to 30 feet of water, and with the sun getting lower, I re-located to one of Reeds Lake’s primary basins.  This is a well-known community hole that has produced hundreds of crappies for me over the years.  In the past I’ve found suspended crappies here in 35-45 feet of water, and usually these suspended fish are willing biters.  There had obviously been lots of fishing activity here previously based on tracks in the snow and slush on the ice, but only a couple of others were out with me at this time. 

My first couple of holes here seemed lifeless, but when I found some live bottom in 38 feet, I decided to camp for the duration.  I could watch the activity level rise on the graph, and after a couple of clear refusals, I finally got a fish to accept my dancing spoon.  But it turned out to be another perch, as did the next few biters.  I never saw any suspended crappies, and so at 5:20 PM or so, I pulled the plug on the trip and headed off the ice.  It’s possible that I left too early and missed the bite, but I don’t think so.  In the past, the crappies have been active as dusk developed, and the bite usually reached a crescendo before full dark.  It simply didn’t seem to be happening on this evening; and I also know from past experience that the crappie population on Reeds Lake “cycles”.  Maybe the crappie fishing for others had been poor, and the obvious lack of traffic this evening was due to that, and not to the NFL playoff games on TV.  Time will tell how this season will unfold.  Regardless, it was worth getting off the ice, even if a bit early, to have some spaghetti and meatballs for dinner!

What do I have to say about this?

While local pan-fishing isn’t exactly exciting, it was a nice outing.  It’s certainly worth doing, as even poor ice-fishing on a soft and pleasant winter’s day beats staying inside or doing chores.  I liked the quick-and-easy “light” aspect of this trip, and I appreciate the productive introduction to the new sonar.  This unit will be indispensable for many aspects of ice fishing, but will probably be most important for sessions just like this one.  There’s no sense in fishing “blind” out there, and I’ll appreciate the increased efficiency that I hope to enjoy while utilizing this new tool.

While I can’t say that the “live bottom” conditions I observed were entirely due to fish (and not plankton or insects), it was certainly the clue to look for (in the absence of suspended fish activity.)  There was a strong correlation between deciding the bottom was “live” at a given location and subsequently pulling multiple fish through that hole.  Finally, I can’t help but appreciate the analogy between this and selecting a spot to anchor in the Keys to set up a chum line and start drifting shrimp.  Perch and crappies aren’t snappers and grouper, but they are lot closer and convenient, and they’re providing the same service of fun-fishing for food (for those that choose to eat them.)

Canadian Cruise

Recent circumstances left me in Detroit, finished with my work for the week, a day before I was due to pick K up at the Detroit Airport for her Winter Break.  With the family’s (and Ollie’s) blessing, I opted to spend the evening locally on my own dime, rather than driving an extra 5 or 6 hours round-trip in pretty-nice-but–still-winter conditions to go home for the night.  This left me with a rare open afternoon.  It would have been very easy for me to fritter this time away, but I’d brought my Passport with me in anticipation of this exact possibility.  And so in the early afternoon I easily crossed the Ambassador Bridge into Canada and started looking for facilities to support my future Lake St. Clair muskie fishing efforts.

I was without a map or GPS, but I did know that Lake St. Clair was on my left; that I didn’t need to go past the Thames River; and that Belle River was located on the southern shore of Lake St. Clair, about midway between Windsor and the mouth of the Thames.  With a full tank of gas, a few hours of day-light and a cup of Tim Horton’s coffee, I started poking around.

Once out of Windsor, I found this appendage to southern Ontario (crammed between Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie) to be pretty agricultural and undeveloped. The landscape was flat, and the surveying had been completed at generally right angles.  It was pretty easy to navigate without fears of getting lost or turned around. There weren’t a whole lot of people around, and they were generally loosely congregated in villages.  Cities and most of their accompanying amenities were left in my rear-view mirror.

A local public meteorologist predicted a Green Christmas; Mr. Heat Miser was correct!

Moving to the east, I did a lot of poking around.  I found several ramps with convenient access to the lake, but for the most part these were local use/marina ramps without parking.  On this bleak December day there was nobody around to ask questions of; and so I kept plugging away.

I had Belle River in my mind as a waypoint of sorts, and the launching facilities there are beautiful.  Nice protected ramps, parking, plumbing; everything you could ask for when launching a boat.  The village even had a Subway and a T-Ho.  What it didn’t have was an obvious campground or fisher-friendly hotel.  Le Petit Dragon hotel was right there at the base of the launching facility; I just can’t imagine staying there with anybody I care about!  Plus, parking a trailer there seemed out of bounds.

Some quick Googling indicated that "Can Am Charters" fishes for muskies out of Belle River and notes the following local accommodations:

• Le Petit Dragon

• Belle River Yacht Club

• Green Acres Motel

• StoneGarden B&B

• River Back Acres

At least it's good to know there will be options.  It's also good to see that "Can Am" appears to catch a lot of fish, too, but they seem to be a trolling (-only) operation.  I'm looking forward to doing it myself, and by casting, if possible. 

The first ramp I found would work OK, but parking could be an issue.

A very nice, protected ramp with a bit of a cruise to the lake.  Again, parking seems to be an afterthought?

Belle River Marina and Park; this is it!  Quality facilities located along the central portion of Lake St. Clair's southern shore!

I was starting to think that our Canadian friends simply play by day and sleep at home at night.  But I believed the Thames River was a major port on Lake Saint Clair and a primary base for local fishing operations.  So I continued to the east, expecting to find what I was looking for there.

While I recognized the facility at the mouth of the Thames from You-Tube muskie fishing videos, I was amazed at the lack of public recreational development here.  There was a marginal ramp and some limited parking, but I’d hate to base anything other than an off-season trip from here.  There’s quite a bit of private development here, and some potential for (crappy) camping or renting a house, but I’m thinking Belle River offers more promise overall.

A local landmark, if only in my mind.

Marginal ramp and little parking; but a hint at some services just a bit upstream.  Also, I bet these canals load up with bass and pike in the spring!

Lake St. Clair was not at her most attractive this day; but I bet there were still fish to be caught!  One local small-boater was out there, somewhere!

Coming back into the US at sunset, the Border Guard looked as if she might question my stated purpose of my visit; “to look at boat ramps.”  But I guess the Abu Garcia Volatile muskie rod in the truck, backed up with the visible Cabela’s window sticker and my (generally good) citizenship data based on my Passport and License, all convinced her of my sincerity; and I was soon back on native soil.

It was a good trip!  I’m glad I did it.  I’m still a little fuzzy on suitable lodging over there, but I think I can launch Numenon in productive Canadian Lake St. Clair waters in about 4 hours from her resting spot in the garage.  I’ve done similar day-trips before, and I think I will be able to make this work.  I look forward to sharing a trip (or trips) with friends or family in 2015!

My primary goal for such a trip would always be safety and lack of problems, but my fishing goal for a trip in 2015 would be a 48-incher in the boat!  A 50-incher would be like playing in the Championship Game.  My personal championship victory would include a nice picture of me with the 50 on Numenon.