Fishing just so-so for crappie

[rlfrazee]

Fishing this winter has been pretty slow so far. Water is very murky from all the rain in our area and snow melt this week. Need clear water for best fishing. Crappie fishing is hit and miss. Lake Melvern has been best since is in the flints hills prairie and water run off stays reasonably clear. Fish are on drop-offs about 18 to 20 feet down. We use our graphs by lowrance to find schools of shad hanging on these breaks along creek channel. The crappie are usually below these schools of shad. We then use the old led flasher type depth finders to get boat over the fish. Flashers are the key to doing this as they are instantaneous and you know your fish are straight below the transducer on the trolling motor. Cant do this with graph. We are partial to the hummingbird super sixties from years ago. We spend quite a bit of time tracking these flashers down and buying them. Fishing should get better before long. Waiting for the crappie to turn on at Truman Lake, Mo. Can only keep 15 per man per day but they are usually biggggggg!......RL

[6pack]

RL! Small world, spent 2days & 1 eve on the ice, 9 tip up's. 3 Fish total. U/W cam showed walleyes, but no takers. Possibly tad early yet?? Got me thinkin on that Hummer got an old portable lying around somewhere. Did loose a great northern but thats a story. Northerns are full of winter spahn feed but those walleye's are hard to figure unless in a feeding frenzy, Ok like the Nort's just as well, once the Y is goodbye.

[rlfrazee]

Hey Wannabe, Christmas is almost on us! Never did any ice fishing like you guys up north. Son now lives in St. Paul and works in Menomonee, Wisc. He says its is quite the deal up there. Ice hardly ever gets thick enough to get out on here in Kansas. Years ago I visited a friend in Minnesota and we drove out on the ice, scared the ...... out of me! Anyway he had an ice shack out on the lake and once inside with the heaters was quite comfortable. Spent a couple days there and caught lots of fish. Yellow perch mostly I think not sure I remember though, does that sound right? They were like 3/4lb mostly. A few northerns and walleyes also but was many years ago. Anyway posted some pictures of our crappie. Hope you do better next time out.....RL

[6pack]

RL, now thats what I call crappie's. Nice catch! Love eating EM thru the ice when meats good and firm. LP stove on the ice is like a bratwurst at a Packers game with a Big Miller. Last year without much snow we had 36" plus ice on the lake. I need a break for couple days. Good fishing to you also.