pistakee bay night trip

Sorry for the late report but I made it out fishing Thursday night with Damien to test out my new hummingbird flasher. We targeted crappies on Pistakee Lake after dark. The conditions were treacherous with the temps above freezing and rain falling, the ice had puddles of standing water everywhere. Wind was howling from the south west almost hard enough to push us across the lake. Walking was incredibly difficult after forgetting my creepers at home. With extreme caution we moved from hole to hole fishing all the predrilled ones that were nowhere close to icing over.

first fish on my new flasher

one of damien's crappie

Marking fish was easy, pulling fish off the bottom was no problem, but getting them to commit was close to impossible. They would come up and sniff and even give chase as you move the bait higher but inevitably they would turn and drop back to the lake bottom. Varied presetaions and kept pretty mobile for most of the night. The ever present wind made strike detection even more difficult. Despite our handicaps we still managed half a dozen crappies and a couple sheepshead.

Word of advice is never try to set up a pop up shelter in the blowing wind when the ice is slick and you have zero traction. Chasing Damien and the pop up across the lake was not my most favorite thing to do. He held on tight as the shack carried him nearly 30 yards before I could catch back up to him. Damien, thanks for holding on tight at any cost! After that experience we decide to collapse the shanty and just be outside. These last 2 night trips have been slower then I would like but at least we have found some crappie!

The wind today has been terrible but at least the temps have dropped back down below freezing. The lakes should be completely sealed back up and I’m planning a solo trip for tomorrow morning.