Ice one day, Open water the Next, First Multi species open water trip 2025

I suspect they were crappie we saw in shallower. Lots of deep holes in this lake up to 80ft deep, but also lots of shallow flats 10-20fow. Lake itself is very small. This know the crappie are there but have t caught one yet. I have a friend who has caught many here, they get big 14” which is big around my area. I just cast out tiny offerings and slowly work them back. I probably should have slip floated it to hit the suspended depth. Tough to locate on new lake with no experience in crappie.

When you go back there if the crappie are say 5 feet off the bottom in 15 feet of water, dont drop your bait down to them. Just use a slip bobber and cast past the school and reel in the bait slowly above the school. If you stay 4 or 5 feet above the crappie, they will come up one by one to hit your bait. This way you don't spook the school. If the school does separate, throw a few quick casts past the spot and the action in the water will bring the crappie back together. I usually do not sit right above the school. I try to draw one fish at a time away from the others. Also there is no such thing as too slow in retrieving your bait. Good luck next time.

Thank you for the advice!

That’s a big sucker, didn’t know they got that big around here

Nice to get out for an open water fish already. Hoping for some time to do the same soon.

Nice! Getting me excited!!

Do we all agree this is a white sucker?

Not really sure … I would expect white sucker but maybe (less probable) red horse? Not sure what else is around here.

I’ve only ever seen suckers in creeks in the spring time up to 1.5, maybe 2 lbs.

I just posted on a Roughfish group and consensus is that is white sucker. Interesting group, I’ve never seen so many different suckers.

The people in the group, or the fish?