The bigger fish came out to play yesterday! I left my small rapalas in the tackle box because I didn’t want to be unhooking 12" bows all day. The 6’ magnum rapala did the trick! Still caught a handful of 14 inchers but bigger bait equaled bigger fish! Probably caught 12 fish total, would have been a whole lot more if I wanted to mess around with the dinks…
One sheet of ice about the size of a football field had blown into the middle of the lake, but by the time I had left it had blown onshore and melted. The lake is 100% ice free! The little boat ramp is in the water and ready to go.
Was pretty windy, but the fish didn’t mind, most were caught at 1.8-2mph, 30 down on the rigger. Water temp was 42 deg. The bows have been eating good too! I’m pretty sure they were full of crappie minnows, but some people are insisting they are wiper minnows. The markings are vertical unlike wiper, and I think the wiper they put in EC would be 3" or so by now. All these minnows in the bellies were 1.5 - 2".
Nice report and pics thanks for sharing with us. Yea, those are crappie for sure. Wipers grow 4 to 6 inches in the first year, so by now those wipers they planted last year and getting to be 7 or 8" depending on the size when they were planted. I talked to a guy last Fall that caught a 6" wiper at EC. Did you catch any tagged fish?
I also caught some Rainbow back in Jan.of 2007. They had Crappie fry in them. I have a question , Why are we not catching more Crappie in the summer and where are all these baby fish coming from ?
And back in 2007 there were no wiper anywhere near East Canyon!
Good question on the crappie bite at EC… Maybe the rainbows keep their numbers down? To be honest, I’ve never even tried to fish crappie there. I’d rather be at Willard that time of year anyway!
There is some decent sized Crappie in there. Just a matter of when and where…
June 2014, from shore, between Taylors and the southern campground (we call it Big Rock, as it is a very noticeable large rock on a point). Worm and bobber. We caught easily over 100 that day, all cookie cutter 8" - 10". If the Smallies are in close, the Crappie aren’t far behind. Water temp…
Thanks for the detailed report and pics. It’s always fun fishing somewhere that has multiple species available. It will be interesting to see how well the wipers do in there.
I like your fishing partner.[;)]
Take some white mohair, sea fibers, or something similar. Layer it up on a nice 1/0 long shank hook. Start with short fibers then layer them up. Each layer getting progressively longer. Glue some eyes on. Take. Black marking pen and add stripes/dots and wallah— one little fish.
-Hook: Mustad 3366 #2
-Thread: 70 denier Ultra Thread, white
-Tail: white marabou
-Tail flash: silver Flashabou
-Body: mix of white crosscut zonker and silver holographic Ice Dub (clamped together, spun in dubbing loop)
-Wing: white barred rabbit strip, punctured over hook and tied in near head
-Collar: Lazer Dub (black on top, red/white on belly)
-Cheeks: teal flank feathers
-Head: Medium silver Fish Skull
Or, if you don’t have a full-blown fly-tying bench, just thread a piece of 550 (parachute) cord onto a hook. Melt the head end to secure, or use a drop of glue. Use camo or white and add some eyes and stripes with markers…
