Early spring panfish on ice 3/20-21
MT Bucket: Early spring panfish bite 3/20-21
A couple of warm sunny days had me out on the ice to get some panfish action before the ice melts. Saturday during the get together there was lots of crappies scattered on a gradual drop off from 18 to 24 feet. just off a shallow bar. many holes were cut already so I just got to hole hopping marking fish in most of them. I usually got one out of a hole then I would have to move. Had to work for them, but caught many nice crappies and a couple of good 'gills and perch along the way.
I got my fish on a 4mm fiskas jig in various colors with a glow nuggie with the ball cut off.
I also tried a new ice line made by cortland that looked yellow in the store, but out in the sun it really glowed bright green making it easy to see. When I got a bite, instead of just setting the hook, I would drop the rod tip toward the hole and with that hi vis line, I could tell right away if I had a fish on, then set the hook. I found I missed a lot less doing this, and they would be hooked deeper in the mouth instead of on the tip of the lip, making it harder for them to escape.
Sunday found a few of us fishing a small 26 ft depression out near the mouth of a creek. The fish were there pretty thick for a couple of hours and were biting pretty hard. the average size was better too.
When they slowed down, we went and tried another spot that was hot last week, but the fish had moved out. Returned to the other spot only to find no fish. tried drilling holes in another smaller hole nearby with no sucess. Returned to Saturdays spot to find fish still there but tight lipped, got a few there then called it a day. Good way to end the ice season!
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