Pineview Crappie Durinf The 2/21 Storm

[MWScott72]

Not much new to say about Pineview crappie, but thought I'd share some info about fishing in "the storm" on Tuesday night.  Had my doubts going in with the barometric pressure dropping like a rock, but a friend and I have been trying to get out and Tuesday was the night.  My general thoughts about the storm affecting the bite were dead on.  Got set up about 5:45 or 6 and there was nothing on the finder.  Usually, they are there, but not Tuesday.  It was more or less dead until about 8:15, but then some fish started to move thru until 9:45 or so.  Green / Yellow glow Hali's were the lure of choice.  I ended up with 8 (and missed twice that many), my buddy only got 1, and a friend of his got skunked but is very new to ice fishing and crappie in general.  Probably not the best fish to cut your teeth on!

I have a question for those of you more experienced.  When we were setting up, we cleared the snow off the where the tent would go.  When I drilled holes (4 to be exact), we had water an inch or so deep on top of the ice.  It was like we were in a shallow swimming pool!  My thoughts were maybe the extra weight of the new snow was pushing the ice sheet down enough that it was forcing water up thru the holes???  Any thoughts on how to avoid this (short of "don't drill holes") would be appreciated.

[RockyRaab2]

My best guess is that the lake level is rising, but has not yet created enough pressure to break the ice free from the shoreline. When it does, there will be that familiar "ring" of open water at the edges.

[Muskyon46]

I would recommend not clearing the snow off the ice. Just pack it down with your feet. After you drill a hole try not to disturb the shavings around the outside of the hole, just clear it out with a scooper. Should help quite a bit