Page 6 - Crappie NOW - January 2017

MINNOWS FOR ICE CRAPPIE

2017 Crappie USA Trail

Schedule of Events

Logan Martin, AL 02/18/17

Eufaula, AL 02/25/17

Neely-Henry, AL 03/03-04/17

Lake of Egypt, IL 03/10-11/17

Weiss Lake, AL 03/18/17

Ky & Barkley Lakes , TN 03/24-25/17 Crappie USA

Cave Run Lake, KY 04/01/17 220 Mohawk Ave.
Louisville, KY 40209
Lake Wylie, NC 04/01/17
502-384-5924
Lake Cumberland, KY 04/07-08/17
www.crappieusa.com
Old Hickory Lake, TN 04/15/17

Green River Lake, KY 04/21-22/17

Grand Lk St. Marys, OH 04/28-29/17

Mississinewa/Salamonie, IN 05/06/17

Lake Shelbyville, IL 05/13/17

Patoka Lake, IN 05/20/17

2017 Crappie USA Classic

Ky & Barkley Lakes , Paris, TN - 10/26-28/17

use of an ice-braid line -- which I’ve become the minnow because it was a real meal.
a firm believer in -- would certainly help the The “technique” worked because when
situation, but even then I’d be relying on a crappie struck a minnow it had to hold

feeling the subtle take of cold crappie quite a longer than it might if it were inhaling a smaller

ways down. larva bait or plastic. Yes, these crappie were
Facing that situation I decided to use the still inhaling the minnows but also there was

live fathead minnows I’d brought along. My some mouth-adjustment, or additional gulps,
aim was to achieve a surer, and longer, strike. to get the minnow toward the crappie’s gullet.
Getting down I still used a tungsten jig, This gave me precious ticks of the clock to

but one with a slightly longer hook shank, and feel and react to the strike. I know that on very
I threaded the fathead by the lips. My weapon cold outings my reaction time gels and I can
was a 22-inch medium light jigging stick which use that extra second or two as the sluggish

I’d learned had enough backbone to set a hook neurons in my brain signal my chilly hands to

at these stretched depths. The Vexilar told me set the hook.
where the fish were and when I dropped the Minnow on jigging sticks are also good
jig-festooned minnow in their midst it didn’t for shallow water ice fishing, usually in depths
take long for the more aggressive crappie to of from six to 12 feet. This is probably the
come my way. In retrospect I had to perform situation in which minnows are least used
a bit of Hole Hopping that day as the crappie as anglers prefer to attach a larva bait or

pods were small and spread out but they took soft plastic at this range. But there are times

6 Crappie NOW January 2017