Crappie ice fishing

[idahopanfish]

So when you are ice fishing for crappie in a reservoir where do you start looking to find them?
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[FishKillr]

Suspended over deep water. Near changing points and in underwater, deep structure. Here in Utah, they can be all over and even shallow in Utah Lake. But in Pineview Res they are suspended over deep water.

Shawn M
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[pookiebar]

Look for some type of structure as well. In Pineview, UT they hang over deep water, but there is the edge of an old creek channel, or under water hump. They hang out over the deep side of the old creek banks, or same for the top of the humps. With the humps they seem to swim a cirlce around the hump, so the school comes in, then leaves. Then the guys to your right or left will start hollering a few minutes later cause the fish have circled the hump.

Only thing I found to "know" where the crappie will be in the winter is to mark the structure when trolling etc. in the summer and spring. Then you go back to those areas when the ice is on.

Also, think LIGHT bite. I mean like a perch bite cut in half.
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[fishingcanada]

The most effective ice fishing presentation is jigging. Jigging is basically raising your rod tip about a foot, then dropping it back down to its starting position.

A very effective method is to raise and drop the tip, wait 5-10 seconds and repeat the raise/drop.
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[Kevin_VanDam]

These are some great tips for crappie! I've caught more from Pineview (mostly dinks) this year than previous ones while fishing for perch. The biggest one was a nice 13" slab suspended at 33' in 43' water. I have this contour map of Pineview that shows the old creek beds as well as some islands and humps. Thought about trying to find these spots but it would require drilling a ton of holes with a manual auger. Man I wish I had a boat and could find these spots in the summertime like has been suggested here![] Some day, some day. Another question for all you crappie pros, do you usually fish for them at night or can you still catch good numbers during the day if you're in the right spot?[fishon]