2011 crappie season is on!!!!

[DDSBYDAY]

     Lakes are opening up.  As soon as the sun starts showing up the 2011 spring crappie bite will be on.  (some have shown up already)   Post your reports here.   

[Go Big Red!]

Went out today for a late morning fishing expedition and not a single bite.  Still too cold.

[DDSBYDAY]

At least you got out.  My lake of no fish still is iced up.  It finally turned black so it won't be long.

[Carp]

I do not have a boat. But I like to fish for them from shore.

[DDSBYDAY]

    Carp.   glad to have you with us.  This cold spring has delayed the crappie bite.  I have found that if we can get a couple of sunny warm days the crappies will move into the shallows.  If you can find a dark bottomed shallow bay-the smaller the better you should be able to hit them easily from shore.   Good luck.

[FireRanger]

Fished Pelican Lake (south of Monticello) on Sunday. Three guys in the boat, from 0745 to 1430 and caught a few really nice ones between 9-11 inches. The Sunny bite was unreal though. We were fishing in 3-7 fow with small jigs. I was using a small chartreuse Ice jig with a waxie and was catching hand over fist. We counted 35 in one half hour for one guy....incredible. Kept less then a limti due to becoming very selective as the day went on. Going again soon.

[DDSBYDAY]

    Finally got the boat in the water over Memorial weekend.   Surface temps were in the low 50s and saw the sun only briefly the entire weekend.  The crappie bite was on although they held real tight to cover.  If you could drop your bait within a foot or so of a fallen tree the game was on.  Not a lot of fishermen out because of the weather.  I did a little jigging on the lake of no fish for a while to try out the ATI- "Danno" long shank jigs.  I was really surprised to pull in a couple of sunfish that had no trouble going after the long shank with a 3/8oz. jig.  I can't wait to try them on a lake that has fish in it.   

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[walkingstick3]

Fished Pelican Lake (south of Monticello) on Sunday. Three guys in the boat, from 0745 to 1430 and caught a few really nice ones between 9-11 inches. The Sunny bite was unreal though. We were fishing in 3-7 fow with small jigs. I was using a small chartreuse Ice jig with a waxie and was catching hand over fist. We counted 35 in one half hour for one guy....incredible. Kept less then a limti due to becoming very selective as the day went on. Going again soon.

I will be back on Pelican as soon as it firms up.  I spent a lot of time out there last year. Hit or miss everyday out there, but the spring bite is unreal some days.

[KNCantu]

Pelican is a good lake for panfish but does see a lot of pressure in the early spring and in the winter too especially since the NAIFC was there last year. You sure can pull some dandy crappies and blugills there too! It seems to be a great panfish factory! I usually hit it a couple of times each year and always have success!
Does anybody know when they plan to drain and use for waterfowl? I keep hearing they will and then they decided not to....some clarification would be nice!?\