Fishing question

[Natefisherman]

I have caught a lot of fish through the ice but I can never seem to catch crappies that's the one thing I want to catch through the ice and I just can't seem to do so

[jeffro9023]

When you have it all figured out, let us all know  lol...they can be extremely elusive....Most guys have better luck later in the season.

[redsoctober19]

Try after the sun goes down...been my best luck this year

[flyfisherdude]

Yup, crappies can be a pain. My buddy got 16 beauties on Friday (a spot I showed him) and we went back Saturday and got 2  . At least I got a bunch of big bluegills but the crappie were the target. And man, it was a brutal hike across the lake, even with snowshoes. Afraid I don't have much advice other than, as mentioned, dusk has always been the best time for me.

[chukkrok]

there is plenty of reading on this site to answer a lot of questions.. I'm sure you should be able to read up a bit on getting onto the crappies..thats what makes this site so awesome .. most of your questions , have already been asked and answered....good luck.........

[IFF]

One trick I used when sight fishing them, and if they were not committing, I would roll my line very slowly between my thumb and index finger which would rotate ever so slowly.  Like the horizontal jig would be turning away from them.

[bobberbill]

Got a trophy on the wall and haven't caught a single one thru the ice this year..

[butcher]

Nate,

Check out my post on the following thread.  This should get you started.

http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=301780.msg3169373#msg3169373

[JiggingIowa]

Crappies suspend, so using your vexilar fish suspended from the bottom. From experience a small jig (prefer a 4-5mm wolfram jig) tipped with some spikes has been the most effective as an overall amongst several different lakes. They also can have a very light bite, a sensitive rod or bite indicator with a light weight (2-4lbs depending on preference, I use 2# on my panfish rods) fluorocarbon ice line, such as P-line is quite invisible can also help with a skittish bite.
These all can be considered preferences, but has allowed me to have quite a bit of success with Crappies in specific
Hope some of this helps.

[Natefisherman]

Thank you for the link and I don't have a fish finder so I follow my instincts on finding fish and I never have tried fishing for them after dark I'll have to try it sometime and Im hoping we have a long ice season so I have a few more chances to try

[ThisGuy]

The later in the season the better. If you know where to catch them in the spring they will be staging in late ice, moving toward shallower water, cabbage patches, wooden structure. Watch for slack line when jigging, they tend to have an upward bite sometimes. Good luck. Try glow jigs at night

[eriksat1]

I have been hammering the snot out of the crappie this winter. Right now I'm getting them suspended about 8 feet off the bottom in 28 feet of water. Find the deeper basin just out outside of the spawning bays and use your locator to try and find the fish. It took me a while to find them but once I did bingo! I bought a forstener drill bit 3-3/4" drill a hole about 1 inch deep to get to good clean ice, pour a little water and take a look with a flasher, don't see fish keep moving. Like I said it took me about a half hour searching the deep basin but once I found the suspended fish it was lights out. Last time I went out to that spot I had a 10" crappie on before I even got the jig and minnow down to the depth I wanted in my first hole, I was trying to lower the line and it wouldn't go down, I already had one on. lol
I'm heading out there in about a half hour from now, I plan on bringing home about 10 good eaters for tonight supper.

[Natefisherman]

There's an area near where they go shallow in the spring that has a small stream coming into the area and there's a log slash beaver hut near there the crappies in the lake move to a cove that warms up first i catch them in there towards the end of march last year the 23 was when they moved in there then move out to spawn after feeding on baby fish

[eriksat1]

There you go, just work out into the deeper water outside that until you find them. It hard without a flasher though because they suspend.

[Basswacker]

Just keep trying!

[Natefisherman]

I went today and made many holes and tried many depths and spots and only caught perch and a few gills

[Super-ice-bird]

Crappies are always a surprise for me, I catch them when I least expect it. First time I caught one I didn't even know what it was (All I knew was that it was going in the bucket!).

[Natefisherman]

The lake I fish that has the crappies has areas of water that 17 feet deep 12 and 15 feet deep and what makes it hard is the 15 foot of water is a really long stretch near the bank and a little ways out and theres always baby perch near by and I know theres crappies because I missed one last night but they seem scattered and the 15 foot of water is surrounded by 8 feet of water with a mud flat