I managed to fish some open water from shore this morning. The water was easily 4 feet high with the run-off pouring into the lake with the river and there was a ton of current. Still I managed 15 or so crappies in an hour and a half. Fog had things socked in for a while right off. A cast of more than 20 feet simply disappeared.

None of the crappies were huge but the all were easily 10 1/2 or better....4 went much larger.

In spite of the extra water and added current, the fish were all caught fairly shallow, like in the top couple feet of the water column. I saw several crappies break surface while chasing something.

We're still cold temp-wise, with a temp of 37 degrees at 8 feet this morning. Ice was still apparent in adjoining bays on the lake, but it was fractured pretty bad and lots of ice was floating down-stream.

In the bottom 1/3 of the state I can see us ice free within a week perhaps if cold night-time temps stay away. The far north has ice and the central part of the state has ice that varies day to day. The ice can go as far as I am concerned and the open water can get underway fully now. I've had enough winter. This morning was like a breathe of new life.