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Late Summer Scouting For Early Ice Success!
Late
August and into October can produce some of the best panfish success
of the season for many…. Ice….anglers. The weather is beginning to
cool, the dog days of a body of water should be at an end or nearly
there, and water clarity should be returning to a mere green hew
instead of pea soup. Good time to begin scouting for winter? Or even
thinking about winter? You bet it is!
When fish begin to stage in the fall for the winter months ahead,
you will find them, like always, where the baitfish or food is. The
food can be found, like always, on, in, or near structure.
Primarily, the structure of choice is vegetation. This is a general
rule of thumb. However, these fish do not leave these key areas just
because the ice comes in. Neither does the food.
Plush weeds, reeds, lilies, and other aquatic vegetation will remain
below the ice and usually is healthy well into the freeze. Some will
remain healthy all winter long. Usually, the first stage of ice, or
“early ice” is the best chance of finding the weed beds you fish in
the fall still standing tall, green, and crammed with fish! As
winter progresses into “mid ice” and then to “late ice”, the oxygen
levels of a body of water change quite dramatically, killing weeds
in one area, and promoting growth in another. Dying weeds also
deplete oxygen. No or low oxygen levels is, of course, fish
repellent.
It’s easier to scout these areas in open water, with a boat. You can
cover a ton more water and don’t have to tire yourself out with a
hand auger or spud in order to hunt these areas down. (Usually the
ice is too thin to justify a gas auger) When you find them, fish
them and move on. If a spot hold fish, mark it in your GPS or plot
the area somehow.
When the ice arrives, return to the areas that held fish. If you are
not too
late and the weeds are still there and healthy, the fish will still
be in the very same place or nearby and they will be hungry!
Aggressively fishing a Moxy Jig or a Fairy Jig by Arnold Tackle
tipped with a single waxie or bouquet of maggies is a killer tactic
that will catch the slabs we all look for.
Story by:
Raymond Tiffany/ HARD WATER MANIACS
Photo:
(Raymond Tiffany and Mandolyn MacHaffie of the HARD
WATER MANIACS with some late season slab crappies. This
area is returned to at early ice and the photo is the same,
exchanging shorts for Ice Armor….)
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