Ice Crappie Help please

I am currently focusing all of my efforts on a 12-15 acre private lake in IL near the iowa line. From 1st ice all the way until last Sunday I was rippin lips on some nice slabs and big bass. A cold front and about 3-4" of snow came in and i cant get a bite. Im using an FL18 and watching the crappie come up to my bait, sniff and LEAVE every time. I am marking fish all over the lake! No takers .. I've tried spoons big to small, finesse plastics, glow in the dark, minnows/waxys/spikes ... Slow subtle presentation to fast. Any advice would be appreciated. I know the crappie are plentiful in this very small lake (around 30ft, spring fed, clear and steep drop offs.) It was dug out for fill to build the interstate. Please let me know if you can help me decide what may be going on. Thanks!

That's a mystery. Maybe change the time of day you are fishing. I'v heard of the winter doldrum when they just don't seem to bite. I bet they will pick up in Feb to ice out. Maybe short hours of daylight have something to do with it. Let us know if you figure it out.

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Originally Posted by barrelslime

That's a mystery. Maybe change the time of day you are fishing. I'v heard of the winter doldrum when they just don't seem to bite. I bet they will pick up in Feb to ice out. Maybe short hours of daylight have something to do with it. Let us know if you figure it out.

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Thank You. I'll just try going out around 830-930 tonight & see what happens!

Hello ....Down size your line to two lbs test at least. Try and leave some slush in the hole because they are looking up and can see movement real easy. Try one our two maggots on a size 12 rat fink. Slow way down and keep your bait above them a little. Try a diamond jig,gold our silver,size 10 with a white, pink our purple sliver of plastic type bait. Good luck. STEVE

Bassbull has it...also change from a vertical to horizontal lure. I run only 2lb test which does make a difference. On your spoons jig them up and watch on the vexilar. If there are coming up "you can move them a foot and they follow" stick on them. Also on your spoons tie a #10 hook about 6" up the line with a palamor take tag in back threw the eye and complete loop knot for spoon. Also I will add one or two more split rings to the treble on the spoon. I have seen crappies on camera spit the spoon before I knew they had it but they felt it! Add more split rings or small chain they do not feel. Another option is to take on treble hook add #10 hook on a 6" 2lb leader. Makes a difference if they are backing off. Drill holes and run the spoons...we catch the aggressive if any in the hole and keep going (150 to 250 hole) in a day. Go back once you have the string cut to the holes you caught fish out of may be only 25 holes. We have also find out once you have the depth stay on that contour for the lake. Tip the spoon also with just a minnow head or other jigs used. If you have the vexilar you can really look at there moods. I have one lake that night ice fishing is the best from dusk to about midnight. Pending on how much time you have......good luck

bass and plate put ya on the right track for sure. down sizing and due to the weather conditions you are seeing a super lite bite. I use a spring bobber or cable bobber depending what rod I am using. Not so much looking for it to pull down as I am looking for the bow to come out and let it come up a little. On my underwater camera I've seen them come in and suck the jig in and spit it out...if I was only going from my Marcum LX-5 or the rod with no strike indicator I would have went home fish-less.

good luck next time out.

All of you guys have been a huge help! I will try all of your suggestions tomorrow morning and I will make swiss cheese of the lake tomorrow. Guess I better strip off the PowePro (1lb diameter 5lb test) and go with some good ol' mono I suppose. Thanks again!

Which spoon would you recommend? I have forage minnow, CJS slender spoon, globrite demon & lil Cecil's

Lindy red frost spoon 1/16oz 1st (go to bait color), you can tell on the vexilar if they are aggressive. If they are pounding/aggressive with that spoon which when snapped goes more vertical quickly..... switch to a custom jignspin spoon any color 1/16oz. Snap the custom jignspin and it flutters in more of a horizontal position and the crappies kill it.
The powerbraid freezes and has no flex. I use the sufix ice fishing line in 2lb test.

Thanks Plate, I think I'll head out tonight around 3pm and see what happens!

Okay so here is my report. I went with a friend this morning and punched a ton of holes on the dam side, the drop offs, humps and submerged trees. All I seen were gillies & some carp. Moved into the 10ft Flat with weed beds sporadicly scattered across it. WHAM Slabs were cruising the weed beds. Popped a few holes & dropped down an aqua-vu and found out why I wasn't catching any fish. They wouldn't touch a jig that was vertical. If I didn't keep a slow up & down movement around 1" vertical they wouldn't look at it. They were hitting so light that my spring bobber didn't move & I couldn't feel on the line. Within seconds the crappie would spit everything out. I was only able to catch them with the help of the aqua-vu. I caught all the gills & 1 crappie on a "bro jig" from Northland (pumpkin color) tipped with a single waxy. The Swedish Pimple was what caught the other crappie. Thanks for all the input!

Glad you figured them out!

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Originally Posted by bassbull

Hello ....Down size your line to two lbs test at least. Try and leave some slush in the hole because they are looking up and can see movement real easy. Try one our two maggots on a size 12 rat fink. Slow way down and keep your bait above them a little. Try a diamond jig,gold our silver,size 10 with a white, pink our purple sliver of plastic type bait. Good luck. STEVE

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Key words are CONFIDENCE and SLOW. I agree with the downsized spoon and a wax worm. They work really well for me. I use a 1/64 spoon myself.
Attachment 146395

Cool!

WTG on figuring out the bite! That cam sure does come in handy with the winter bite as lite as it is. Ain't it amazing how fast they can suck in a bait and spit it back out? Never know they were there.

PX!! I only get in one ice trip a year down here. Went to the U.P. last Jan. so living vicariously through you right now :biggrin

Cpainter, yesterday I posted Crappie Now. There is an article on ice fishing, with many tips, check it out.

Would love to try that