First ice Crappie Location???

[Slop]

I was introduced to a sweet Crappie pattern this summer and as result my bass fishing suffered ....but who cares cause the Crappie were plentiful and many fish were in the 11-16 inch range. The bite would start every evening like clockwork. The lake i speak of, has a mean depth of 6' and maxing out at about 35' in the main basin. The lake is quite fertile and is roughly 1000 acres in size.

Now that you have an idea of what i'm dealing with, where would one start fishing for them at first ice? The fish that we were getting into for the most part in the summer seemed to play a game of hide N seek come fall (present) I have very limited experience with ice Crappie so if anyone here can offer advice about general location(s) or techniques, i would appreciate the jump-start on these fun and tasty buggers come first ice!...Thoughts anyone?

[iceintheveins]

Generally at first ice crappies will suspend in the open water not too far from the first big drop off. They almost always suspend, so work the entire water column with subtle bait tipped jigs.
During the day you have to move around a lot to find and stay with schools. In the evening crappies become very active moving around a lot and are much easier to find and catch than during the day. They will move from deeper to shallower water to feed at night, and the first drop off is always a good place to intercept them.
When fishing low light periods, glow colored plastics or little spoons will really up your catch. Carry around a bright LED light or taser to keep them charged.
The best baits to tip jigs with are maggots and waxies, but mealies and small pieces of crawlers work too. A lot of guys like to set out a second line tipped with a little live minnow in the 1.5" to 2" range.

[Slop]

 Sounds like i'm gonna be , popping lots of holes and i expect to move alot till i find them. The depth factor here, or fishing deeper areas, will really help me eliminate some (lots )  unproductive water though. Finding them is one thing.....catching them, well we'll just to see what the fish have to say about that!

Those were some excellent tips to get me started guys! Appreciate it...thanks.

[iceintheveins]

Sounds like i'm gonna be , popping lots of holes and i expect to move alot till i find them. The depth factor here, or fishing deeper areas, will really help me eliminate some (lots )  unproductive water though. Finding them is one thing.....catching them, well we'll just to see what the fish have to say about that!

Those were some excellent tips to get me started guys! Appreciate it...thanks.

Finding crappies is 90% of the battle. Getting them to strike once you see them on your sonar isn't that hard usually, especially with smaller spoons or jigs tipped with bait. For aggressive crappies a #2 jigging rap or a very small spoon tipped with a maggot works best. For turned off crappies, the smallest shrimpos, demons, and nuclear ants work wonders when tipped with a single maggot. I generally always use 2 pound test for crappies, but jigging rapalas will perform better on heavier line, say six pound fluorocarbon.

[BUCKSKI]

Some good advice given, go deeper,  the fall/summer/ winter patterns are deep water based. In the middle of the winter have stumbled onto supsended crappies fishing for walleye.
Sonar is VERY important, keep your eyes higher in the water column.
Like to use heavier jigs or spoons to get down quickly once I get one.
Also the flash draws fish in. A dead stick with a minnow works well once you get em to inspect the flash.
Good luck

[Slop]

Well, the info you folks gave me paid off big time! Thanks for the tips. Slipbob i bought a wack load of different glow jigs and man, they worked like a charm. Poor fish don't stand a chance anymore