slooooooooowwww

Man,...are the crappie hitting slow now. I'm on the Winnebago system and with all the wacky weather they are finicky. In the backwaters and channels now. Haven't tried targeting the weed edges in the lakes yet.

Only way to get them to hit is to get small, light, live and slow. Managed to coax some to bite by tossing them a small minnow on a weighted thill steelhead pencil float. No other weight or anything. Had to be close to structure/brush. The float would slowly stand up and go under in slow motion. As soon as it was almost all the way down, I'd set the hook. Might pull a fish or two off a piece of structure. After that nothing. Had to move down to the next piece and maybe pull a couple more off and so forth.

Have you tried dipping? If you can see the structure, like a tree sticking out of the water I would give it a try. Use a 10 or 12 foot rod. Take your float/bobber off and just have on a 1/32 to 1/64 oz. jig ( you could go smaller or larger depending on the crappie's mode). Slowing lower the jig as tight to the structure as you can, stopping every 6 inches or so for a minute or two. Hold the jig as steady as possible. What you're doing is searching for the depth the crappie is holding. If you don't get any bites it wouldn't hurt to tip it with a minnow or a crappie nibble to give it some scent. This technique takes a lot of patience, which I usually don't have, but when I do, it is very productive in the summer months. Todd Huckabee has published some articles on this technique and he has really perfected it.

On a side note, where are you fishing? I grew up in Kiel, WI and am hoping to move back up there next spring/early summer. I ice fished Lake Winnebago a lot when I was growing up, but we targeted eyes.

Haven't tried dipping. Still need to get the 10 footers setup for the year. I will for sure try it the next time we are out on the water.

I'm fishing primarily on lake Winneconne. Have a small place on the water there. But it's centrally located so I do get to fish Poygan, Butte Des Mortes and both rivers without too much of a boat-ride. Still have yet to get on the Winnebago. I need a bigger boat to make that trip from Winneconne.

Weather permitting, ha-ha, the bite has been good in the evening at sundown stripping a flie fast just below the surface in around 8 ft of water around Langlade. I don't keep crappie now because they get soft. Rhinelander area lakes and Tomahawk, SM Bass fishing with flies has been great. Mostly 15-18". Remember to C&R them. Gills still have eggs, but I don't see many beds, with the weather also, I think the gills are confused.

The crappie in Teal Lake/Lost Land Lake - Hayward - many still have spawn in them, and I am finding in 4.5 feet of water in the larger bays. I believe the weather has messed up about all species in our lakes. The fish carrying spawn will probably become egg obsorbs this year. Walleye fishing has been slow. The crappie are hitting tube jigs on 1/32 oz jigs - have caught many 7-81/2 inch fish - returned for next year.

I caught a few in the weeds in 7-8 fow on a dropoff last weekend. They were hitting 1/32 tube jigs fished slowwwwww. The bites were really soft, like they put the bait in their mouth and kept swimming towards the boat. Anytime the line twitched, I had to assume I had one one, once I figured that out, I caught them every cast :)

Have you used Yum Beavertails on standing timber in the summer like Huckabee uses? Wondered if they work as well in Wi as in Ok.

it will get better

yes weather has fish scatter out. fishing lake to west of you two weeks ago got limits on flyrod. cold front move fish deep harder to find . have fish deep and slow.out today only got nine. have nice day hope weather gets better .

Found fishing on Teal Lake very slow today. Will try deep water jigging tomorrow over the mud flats. I agree weather pattern probably drove them deep. caught a few small fish over downed birch tree in water. No keepers,