Crappie, Bass, Bluegill, walleye., Took a break from the chainsaw.

Fishing was going great with bigger crappie today, 11,12,13ish.

Then after about one hour caught this male crappie and noticed the black face. Obviously the crappie have started to spawn in this spot, so I packed up and left. Catching and keeping spawning crappie can result in millions of eggs not surviving. It's not even wise to catch and release spawning crappie. I do have 2 friends that target spawning crappie. I don't fish with them, and they don't know my fishing hideouts. LOL. This crappie was buried in the weeds. Cool picture though, weeds are growing fast. Just in time for walleye season.

Just for anyone that may not know this when crappie spawn, the male gets very black starting at the face. The males protect the nest of future generations of crappie. I am guilty of keeping a few spawning crappie years ago. But have made sure not to do that ever again. I have never understood why the MNR does not close crappie season just for the month of May.

Some awesome catches! They really seem to like that jig you’re using. My dad does a lot of bass fishing and really likes jigs with pink in them as well. I’ve never actually used a slip float. I’m guessing you put a stop 3 1/2 feet up the line so the jig sinks, but then can you jig it or do you just retrieve it or let it sit? Good for you getting out there, I’m a little behind this year but will be hitting Lake Ontario full throttle in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks Jay, your dad is right, bass love pink jigs. This picture shows the slip bobber set up. Jig, swivel, bead, slip bobber, rubber bobber stopper slides up and down the fishing line wherever you set it for depth above the bobber. You can look it up on youtube, that might be easier as you can watch the setup. Yes you can jig with it, but it's more of a quick twitch, or just retrieve your bait slowly like I do. I never twitch or jerk the line, it's always a slow or very very very slow retrieve. Sometimes it's takes me a whole minute to retrieve a cast at night, that's turtle speed slow. It all depends, if the walleye and crappie are hitting like a truck, I know the retrieval speed can increase slightly. You just have think like a fish that swims in an average depth Kawartha lake, not a deep lake. If the water is flat, the walleye and crappie are flat and waiting for an easy bait. If the water is busy, wind and waves, the walleye and crappie are busy out cruising hunting for the bait, and much more aggressive. Truly you can hypnotize a fish into hitting your bait at a snail speed retrieve. Just my theory, but it works. Works on pike, muskie and bass as well, at night.

Nice fish crappeeemaannn

Thank you, looking forward to your next walleye video. Our methods of fishing walleye are almost completely opposite, but exact on success. Your videos are a great teaching tool assisting experienced anglers and new anglers. I will always try and answer anyone's questions, but there is one or two tricks I keep up my sleeve. Just like the full moon, without a few secrets, there would be no mystery.

I always suspected a fishing rod is more fun than a chainsaw!

Thats a crazy amount of fish.
Congrats on a great couple outings.

Great job and nice to see you out fishing. I hope the walleye are eager and waiting come Saturday.

Thanks Jay, your dad is right, bass love pink jigs. This picture shows the slip bobber set up. Jig, swivel, bead, slip bobber, rubber bobber stopper slides up and down the fishing line wherever you set it for depth above the bobber. You can look it up on youtube, that might be easier as you can watch the setup. Yes you can jig with it, but it's more of a quick twitch, or just retrieve your bait slowly like I do. I never twitch or jerk the line, it's always a slow or very very very slow retrieve. Sometimes it's takes me a whole minute to retrieve a cast at night, that's turtle speed slow. It all depends, if the walleye and crappie are hitting like a truck, I know the retrieval speed can increase slightly. You just have think like a fish that swims in an average depth Kawartha lake, not a deep lake. If the water is flat, the walleye and crappie are flat and waiting for an easy bait. If the water is busy, wind and waves, the walleye and crappie are busy out cruising hunting for the bait, and much more aggressive. Truly you can hypnotize a fish into hitting your bait at a snail speed retrieve. Just my theory, but it works. Works on pike, muskie and bass as well, at night.

Right on, I figured it would be more of a retrieve. It sure seems to work! It’s great when you don’t always have to be buying bait too, once you get a plastic dialed in.

Thank you. Yes, a fishing rod is more fun for sure. I have enjoyed all the cutting though. It's always nice to be outside. This is far from over, it's going to take a while. There was a lot of fish, but Saturday during the day they were mostly small. You could see all the fish swimming around in the clear shallow water.

Thanks flexkk, yes spring is here and so are the walleye. I'm sure you be after them soon.

The Mr. Crappie baits are very durable. I fished almost 20 hours on Saturday/night and only used 2 pink/yellow Jokers and 2 green/black Jokers. The worst culprits for wrecking baits are the smaller walleye. They don't eat it or pull it off the jig, but it does get torn sometimes. 15 Jokers in a package for 4.99 plus tax on sale.

Sounds like a great deal to me. On one hand I really love salmon fishing all summer but on the other hand I wish I could spend a lot more time fishing smaller lakes. I’m looking forward to fishing up north at some point, maybe I’ll give this method a try! Thanks!

Iceman....you just described how I feel exactly......especially fishing smaller lakes with my kayak.

Arnie