Page 69 - ODUMar-Apr2019

structure you plan to fish. A larger fishing party is beneficial because you can share the work of drilling

holes and checking them for fish with sonar. Once you mark fish, take the time to drill more holes. It’ll
save you time in the long run as you’ll waste less time fishing an unproductive hole when an entire
school may be located just 10 or 15 feet away.

Once the crappies are located, hole hopping is the key to keeping busy catching them. Anglers willing to

leave the comfort of their fish houses and use their electronics to fish from hole to hole are the ones
who catch the most crappies. Keep moving if a hole doesn’t show a fish on your sonar. Keep drilling
more holes if necessary until you get a sonar return. Then drop down, catch a fish or two and move on
once the action slows.

Fish Fast for Late Ice Crappies. Crappies display a variety of moods, and their responsiveness to various
presentations can change throughout the day – often rapidly. Late-ice crappie anglers should be
prepared with a variety of offerings, from small tungsten jigs tipped with thin plastics to relatively large
jigging spoons tipped with spikes, waxes or minnow parts. The key is being prepared and willing to show
fish a variety of presentations and profiles to determine which one best matches their mood at that
moment. Then it becomes a game of presenting the preferred bait to numbers of fish, which means

moving on quickly from barren holes.

When a fish shows on sonar, try stopping the bait 4 to 5 feet above it and slowly working it down if
necessary. You’ll often see the fish begin drifting up towards your bait immediately. If they do,
slowly raise the bait while twitching it ever so slightly to make them chase it. Once you get them