Ice-out Slabs
By Ron Anlauf
The mad rush for ice-out crappies starts and stays with shallow
water, at least for most anglers. But for a few (those with a
boat and a depth finder), there’s a real option, and it’s one
that can pay off big time. Instead of standing shoulder to
shoulder with all of the early season enthusiasts lining the
banks you might be better off dropping the boat in for the first
time of the year and finding a deeper variety of crappie. It’s
not that they’re different, it’s just that they don’t all do the
same thing at the same time. When schools of crappies make a
move into shallow water they do it as a school and not as a
species. Instead you’re likely to have individual schools move
in and move out when conditions are right, and stay deep when
they’re not. While there may or may not be crappies shallow at
any given time, there is almost always some holding in deeper
water.
Those
that hold in deeper water are fare game and usually willing to
take a properly presented bait, you just have to know where to
look. One of the first places to start your search is outside of
known shallow water hot spots like shallow bays, reed beds, and
man made channels. Those are the areas that see the heaviest
runs of foraging crappies and it happens as early as ice-out.
After identifying the good shallow spots start looking for the
closest deep water which will be relevant to the area you’re
fishing and could be ten to thirty feet deep and even deeper.
Ron Anlauf
went deep for this ice-out slab
The good news is that it
doesn’t take long to determine if you’re looking in the right
place as they will easily show up on a depth finder. With a high
quality graph like the Garmin 250C you’ll see crappies when they
suspend and will show up as stacks of fish holding off the
bottom, which is a condition they most often exhibit. When
they’re not some of them will still hold off the bottom far
enough to be easily seen and marked and will need to have a bait
put in front of them to see what they are. An option if you’re
not sure is to drop down an underwater camera like the Marcum
VS560and see for yourself. The VS560 is the last word on what
you’re really seeing and will provide you with the undeniable
truth. You might see crappies and you might not, but either way
you’ll still learn something.
If you’ve found fish and
they’re suspended it would be a good idea to throw a marker off
to the side of the school. Suspended crappies seem to be in
constant motion and will make mini moves this way and that and
it’s easy to lose track of them and the marker will give you a
reference point to work from. Rather than deep to shallow or
shallow to deep crappies on the run will often move parallel to
break lines and drop offs and stay at approximately the same
depth.
Little jigs are the real ticket
to a well full of slabs and helps to keep the program simple.
Jigs like the 1/64 or 1/32oz Northland Gum-Ball Jig tipped with
a 1” Screwtail, or a Gypsi Jig in a few different colors
including white, chartreuse, and orange is about all you’ll
need, except for maybe a scoop of crappie minnows. When the
going is good the jig and plastic will get the job done but if
they’re a little off or skittish it might take the addition of a
small minnow to close the deal.
When you drop a jig down about
all the action you’ll probably need is a little lift and fall,
followed by holding it steady. You may or may not feel the bite
but by lifting the rod tip you’ll know if they’re there. And if
you let it fall and don’t feel the weight of the jig something
has picked it up.
With an electric trolling motor
you can hover right over the top of the school and pick away at
the biters. The new MinnKota Vector transom mount makes the job
a whole lot easier because of the multiplying turning radius,
allowing for hard and fast turns. Crappies can make quick and
sudden moves and it takes a good deal of boat control to stay
with them. With an electric trolling motor tiller in one hand, a
rod in the other, and your eyes on the electronics you can slide
with the fish as they make their moves.
When you approach a school of
fish try attacking them from the top down instead of from the
bottom up. By starting at the top you can help the reduce the
spooking factor and will help you to ultimately catch more fish.
Starting at the bottom and hooking up with a fish can spook the
rest of the school and after boating a couple you might find
that rest have gotten out of Dodge. On the other hand it’s often
those bottom huggers that have the larger shoulders and may be
all your interested in. Don’t forget the net.
Ron Anlauf
