ten_scoach

Would you say ice will be gone by weekend?

Thanks mo I am curious what the thaw rAte will be this week. Please keep is posted when it's fishable again. Thank you!!

Great pics. Here's the experience that builds all our knowledge. When does that plus 50 degree days equal fishable. Thanks and I got my two nickels says next time I'll have my boat out there is next weekend, not this weekend. Thanks again for the super pics From north country originally and slightly makes me miss ice fishing.........slightly.

I was hoping it would be gone by Monday. Anyone with any experience have an opinion? 50 and 60 by weekend. Can't imagine ice would hold on long with that. Not sure. Never been around frozen stockton so your reports are very helpful for saving us all time and gas. Many thanks

Particularily at Ceder Ridge. That way I know when I can make the trip. Thanks for keeping us all posted.

Here's my 2 cents....boat stands for bust out another thousand. That being said, although a 1978 boat may be in good shape this month you may wind up busting out another thousand in the next few weeks. If I had a 2k budget I'd be looking for a 16-18 foot aluminum with decent outboard confirmed by a reputable outboard mechanic. I am more comfortable with an older outboard that is well maintained than I am with an older everything else. Here is the best advice of all....be patient. If you wait you will come across a good deal. Let me give you an example, a buddy came across an early 2000 17ft love v bottom all rigged out with low hour Johnson 90hp for $ 3200. Now, keep in mind I offered to buy it for 3500, but bottom line, he stole it. Be patient, if it looks rough it is rough, and when something does come up....act fast. It won't be there long!

Has anyone heard if anyone catching walleye around holiday island?

Ha!! Thanks for the updates.

I am looking at a 20ft express boat. I cannot find them on nada. Can any past or present xpress owners give me their opinions on xpress construction. Are they comparable to high quality aluminum boats such as seaark or war eagle? Thank you for feedback

Most bass waters in the arid West are manmade impoundments without a natural population of predator and prey fish. The fisheries consist of intentionally introduced sport fish, and forage fish mixed with other fish that were present when the pond was formed or added later by subsequent introductions. In many cases the naturally occurring minnows cannot supply enough forage to allow the bass population to expand in numbers to the satisfaction of the anglers that use that fishery. More times than not another forage fish is needed. In the West, the fish of choice is the threadfin shad. The name comes from an elongated fin ray on the trailing end of the dorsal fin that extends almost to the caudal fin. It looks just like a thread hanging from the dorsal fin. The slender silver fish sport a neat, black body spot just behind the gill plate. The fins have a yellow cast in the adults and the backs are an iridescent blue-green. Probably the most important characteristic is that all game fish seem to prefer eating shad to the exclusion of just about anything else except maybe the crayfish. Shad are prized forage because they remain the ideal eating size all of their life and they have no spines or sharp edges to discourage predators. This delicate body that provides such fine food to our game fish is really sensitive to environmental stresses. Shad caught to be used for bait are very hard to keep alive. They require a high oxygen environment and withstand very little handling. The most critical need of threadfin shad is stable temperature. They cannot stand drastic temperature changes. This tiny gladiator, which may be the greatest forage fish every made, would probably be wider spread if it could withstand cooler temperatures. The rule is that a body of water that freezes over in the winter is too cold for threadfin shad survival. Water under the ice generally maintains a constant 39 F. The lowest temperature threadfin can survive is 40 F and then only for a short time. If the water were colder than 40 F for more than 2 days all threadfin shad would die. In situations where ice-over occurs the larger gizzard shad can survive but the size of this larger shad and its rapid growth make them a poor second choice to threadfin in most instances where bass fisheries are concerned. Threadfin start to shiver when temperatures fall to 57 F. Shad behavior between 57 and 40 F is important for winter angling. Generally, water cools slowly falling a degree per day. In these conditions shad seek out the warmest water available. If warm springs or warm inflows are available shad will flock to those areas and bass and other predators will be in hot pursuit. Without thermal sanctuaries shad dive to deep water where water temperature is constant. Shad do not feed or move much when temperatures is below 50 F since they are totally driven by temperature and staying alive. They can acclimate to cold water but they dont have to like it. Shad are schooling fish and cold temperatures make them school more tightly and in larger numbers. It could be that they crowd together to get warm. Storms with high winds are a shads worst nightmare. An arctic front with high winds may cool a shallow body of water by 5 degrees or more. This drastic change in temperature can lead to loss of shad to thermal stress or winter kill. Rapid temperature change is lethal in the 40-55 F zone. Death comes just as certain to shad in the spring when a warm wind can warm the water too quickly for shad acclimated to cold water. That is why shad go deep to find stable temperature that cannot be as readily influenced by surface winds. These catastrophic events lead to shad behavior that is distinctive and one that can be duplicated by a knowledgeable angler. Shad in thermal stress exhibit rapid bursts of swimming followed by a lifeless fall toward the bottom. The fish can right itself and then quiver and swim again before falling once more and finally ending up on the bottom. The action of a lightweight jigging spoon closely resembles the final demise of thermally shocked shad. Bass that have witnessed winter shad behavior may be favorably influenced by a silver spoon fluttering near or below a school of healthy shad. Winter bass may be suckers for a spoon that rests on the bottom and then flutters up 6 to12 inches every once in a while. Game fish in most waters containing shad are so in tune with shad movement and behavior that anglers must know as much as possible about shad and where shad are at all times to keep up with the fish. Time invested in studying shad movements and behavior will probably be rewarded with a better understanding of game fish vulnerability when it comes time to put one in the live well

Know the prey.....find the predator "Most bass waters in the arid West are manmade impoundments without a natural population of predator and prey fish. The fisheries consist of intentionally introduced sport fish, and forage fish mixed with other fish that were present when the pond was formed or added later by subsequent introductions. In many cases the naturally occurring minnows cannot supply enough forage to allow the bass population to expand in numbers to the satisfaction of the anglers that use that fishery. More times than not another forage fish is needed. In the West, the fish of choice is the threadfin shad. The name comes from an elongated fin ray on the trailing end of the dorsal fin that extends almost to the caudal fin. It looks just like a thread hanging from the dorsal fin. The slender silver fish sport a neat, black body spot just behind the gill plate. The fins have a yellow cast in the adults and the backs are an iridescent blue-green. Probably the most important characteristic is that all game fish seem to prefer eating shad to the exclusion of just about anything else except maybe the crayfish. Shad are prized forage because they remain the ideal eating size all of their life and they have no spines or sharp edges to discourage predators. This delicate body that provides such fine food to our game fish is really sensitive to environmental stresses. Shad caught to be used for bait are very hard to keep alive. They require a high oxygen environment and withstand very little handling. The most critical need of threadfin shad is stable temperature. They cannot stand drastic temperature changes. This tiny gladiator, which may be the greatest forage fish every made, would probably be wider spread if it could withstand cooler temperatures. The rule is that a body of water that freezes over in the winter is too cold for threadfin shad survival. Water under the ice generally maintains a constant 39 F. The lowest temperature threadfin can survive is 40 F and then only for a short time. If the water were colder than 40 F for more than 2 days all threadfin shad would die. In situations where ice-over occurs the larger gizzard shad can survive but the size of this larger shad and its rapid growth make them a poor second choice to threadfin in most instances where bass fisheries are concerned. Threadfin start to shiver when temperatures fall to 57 F. Shad behavior between 57 and 40 F is important for winter angling. Generally, water cools slowly falling a degree per day. In these conditions shad seek out the warmest water available. If warm springs or warm inflows are available shad will flock to those areas and bass and other predators will be in hot pursuit. Without thermal sanctuaries shad dive to deep water where water temperature is constant. Shad do not feed or move much when temperatures is below 50 F since they are totally driven by temperature and staying alive. They can acclimate to cold water but they dont have to like it. Shad are schooling fish and cold temperatures make them school more tightly and in larger numbers. It could be that they crowd together to get warm. Storms with high winds are a shads worst nightmare. An arctic front with high winds may cool a shallow body of water by 5 degrees or more. This drastic change in temperature can lead to loss of shad to thermal stress or winter kill. Rapid temperature change is lethal in the 40-55 F zone. Death comes just as certain to shad in the spring when a warm wind can warm the water too quickly for shad acclimated to cold water. That is why shad go deep to find stable temperature that cannot be as readily influenced by surface winds. These catastrophic events lead to shad behavior that is distinctive and one that can be duplicated by a knowledgeable angler. Shad in thermal stress exhibit rapid bursts of swimming followed by a lifeless fall toward the bottom. The fish can right itself and then quiver and swim again before falling once more and finally ending up on the bottom. The action of a lightweight jigging spoon closely resembles the final demise of thermally shocked shad. Bass that have witnessed winter shad behavior may be favorably influenced by a silver spoon fluttering near or below a school of healthy shad. Winter bass may be suckers for a spoon that rests on the bottom and then flutters up 6 to12 inches every once in a while. Game fish in most waters containing shad are so in tune with shad movement and behavior that anglers must know as much as possible about shad and where shad are at all times to keep up with the fish. Time invested in studying shad movements and behavior will probably be rewarded with a better understanding of game fish vulnerability when it comes time to put one in the live well"

In my opinion. What holds crappie in the winter is first and foremost shad and food. Forget structure, forget spring, shad! Big crappie are schooled around big shad balls. Find the shad you'll find the crappie. This winter my experience has been they are suspended at the top of the shad ball, not the bottom

Mo. Many thanks for the solid information. Definitely something we all appreciate as we read. I wish all corp reps had as much community involvement as you do. I am sure most of your colleagues are excellent people, just very few share as much as you do. Thanks

Thanks Phil. First class. Hope to get down on those tail-waters this weekend and chase what ever bites. Got my heart set on a few "thumps" around the landing.

Went to the seminar tonight. Awesome. Lots of great info. 50ish people. Without telling you exact gps coordinates, Phil and other guides were very helpful with "where and how" to catch the big boys as the seminar was designed. What impresses me most is how open some experts are in our area to share information. Believe me, that is not a common thing.....especially when your livelihood depends on your success. Like this forum, a first class opportunity to learn.

Pd......always spot on where to connect with some "fish-on" action. Thank you for sharing. I have been out a few times this winter and my experience has been fish hanging out more on the top of shad instead of bottom. I think fishing from shore 99% of efforts would be just because you like looking at the water. If you can isolate like pd has described, you can get on some fish. Good luck and post your production.

With the cold this week I would guess things froze over worse than in past weeks. I'd be curious to hear from someone actually there

Thanks pd. really enjoyed what you shared in the fall walleye thread too.

I've been reading a lot of previous posts on this forum and other websites about winter crappie tactics. Here is my question, do crappie hold in brush piles during the winter? From what I've been reading the experts like to fish around schools of shad but I haven't figured out how to find those with my low level electronics. I can find the brush piles though with my GPS. As soon as this weather breaks I'm going to head up and get after em.

We're you in brush piles or on suspended fish? Thanks for the report

By "unmarked" do you mean it doesn't have that green sign? I think all of the piles are listed on their website with gps coordinates. I've come across a bunch of others while trolling around mutton, but those mdc ones usually seem to be bigger. Thanks for sharing. Good to know there's a lot of piles to target out there!!

Thanks for the tips and advice on the rock slides on bluff ends. How deep would you say you keep your jigs? Right on the bottom? I'll try to find some deeper MDC piles. I know how to download those coordinates and I guess it will be trial and error until I find the deeper ones. Thanks again and tight lines!

hey line wetter, I'm heading up sunday. Are those rock piles MDC piles I can download from mdc website? Thanks for help.

Great report. Thanks Hoping to find the same success in the James River Arm of Table Rock tomorrow.

A limit in 90 min. That's impressive! That's a keeper every 6 min. Well done sir. I agree on the 1/4 oz jig head for getting it down. I've slowly graduated to the heavier heads for bigger fish.