Fishing Report-Excellent Mid-September Crappie Bite
Normally I’m an avid bass fisherman who occasionally masquerades as a walleye fisherman. But this past week I put my walleye and bass interests on the shelf for a week and went is search of Crappie. Usually in the fall the crappie bite is very good, but this year it didn’t seem to be that way. The water was very warm for much of September and the usual spot for the crappie bite was barren. In most years the hole to the west of Bald Island is the best place to fish for crappie. I hadn’t heard anything being caught in the deep water by the hole so I took a boat out one morning and slowly moved around out there with the depth finder scanning for fish. Nothing. I knew the fish didn’t get up and walk away. They had to be in the lake somewhere. So I started looking for them. And I found them. They are hanging out in 8-12 feet of water, mostly in the weeds. Off Donovan point, edge of strand island and Susan bay are all really good for crappie right now.
Personally I find it more fun casting for crappie rather than jigging in 20 plus feet of water. We have found that beetle spins are the best lure right now for crappie fishing. Especially green, chartreuse and white seem to work best. A couple days after finding the crappie a friend said he was going to Myrtle Lake to fish for crappie. I suggested we fish here on Pelican Lake instead and we went to the spot. What a night we had! Between the two of us we boated 90-100 crappie. Lots of 12 inchers and some 13s as well. Not only was the fishing great, but the weather was perfect that evening as well.
Crappie is my favorite fresh water fish to eat. I know that most people make a big deal about eating walleye, and I do enjoy eating walleye. But in my opinion, crappie is better. So while I normally prefer to fish for bass or walleye, when the crappie bite is on, I will fish for them. My in-laws were up this week visiting and we invited them to join us fishing a couple of times. Again, we caught dozens and dozens of crappie. Mostly in about 8 feet of water. Here is my father-in-law with a nice Crappie.
The one morning we went out Kasey put on a clinic for all of us. The caught the first fish, the biggest fish and by far the most fish. Here is her biggest crappie which came in at 13 and a half inches.
We had a really good time fishing that day. We had more than a dozen moments where we had doubles on. Like this time.
One of my favorite things about operating a fishing lodge is doing “research” on fishing. I love giving a guests some advice on fishing and then they come back and tell me how amazing their day was. Few things make me happier. This week we’ve had all our guests out there fishing for crappie and catching tons of fish. One guest this morning when they left said they’d been coming for years and love it here-but this week was the best fishing they’ve ever had! If you want to see more about how we are fishing crappie right now please check out the following YouTube video. Cheers!
