crappie fishing, where to find

Hi i was wondering what lake to go to catch crappies i have always wanted to go but never knew where any info on where to go would be appreciated i have fished Simcoe for perch but have always wanted to catch bluegill and crappie and hoping this winter to venture out to new areas thanks.

Lake Scugog. Find the weed edge and find the crappie or fish where everyone else have their huts. Not hard to find shanty town on the bog in winter.

Wow that's exactly what I was going to say I have fished scugog many times and my first time catching a crappie was my first time ice fishing there. Try finding a spot with 20 or so huts all lined up and you'll get into some nice crappie.

thanks for the info any idea of what to use and is there any good hut operators that you might reccomend

Smal vertical jigs either 1/16 oz or 1/32 oz tipped with a small minnow or plastic curly tail grub. White has been the best jig color for me but I like to bring a variety of colors. Small spoons tipped with a minnow head are supposed to work well for crappie but I haven't had the chance to try them out yet. I recommend the rattl'n flyer spoon in 1/8 oz and 1/16 oz. Like I said I haven't had a chance to try them on crappie yet but I've caught jumbo perch on them and have alot of faith in them. The rattle and the fluttering action will attract fish, and since you can use 2 poles at once you can have a jig and minnow rigged up at the same time.

There seems to be 2 hut places on Scugog. The first is paul's ice huts and the second is scugog ice adventures. I called paul's ice huts a couple years ago and he said he moved and doesn't rent out huts anymore. His webpage was still up and all over the place back then and it still is. He might rent huts out again but i'm not sure. If not I don't know why he doesn't take his site down... maybe all the phone calls makes him feel popular?

Scugog ice adventures is still around as far as I know and they are pretty new. Also if you want to book something i'd book it now, I tried booking in the beginning of febuary last year and they were basically booked solid.

any ice on the bog at the moment? Want to take my boat out

Hi rivermaster, here's my take on the goods. I use small vertical jigs, and minnows, both real, and plastic, or grubs. I use a 1/8 oz. Rattlin Flyer in gold. Works great, with, or without a minnow head. My preference is with, it gives me something to squirt on some Berkely Power Scent. LOL I use that sh*t on everything. LMAO I really do. I also use ultra light crankbaits. A size 3 Cordell Spot, and the like. I don't use a set rig for panfish. I cut lots of holes, and if I am not keeping busy with my main rod, I move to another hole. I use a set rig for Walleye fishing, but it would work for Whitefish, or Lakers. I use a tip up with a rod holder. I tie on a circle hook, set it to the depth, and connect the flag. With the rod in it's holder, I loosen the drag to almost nothing. When I get bit, I remove the rod, and tighten up, then start reeling. Works good. I use live minnows, but be sure and grease them up with the Power Scent. Really, I don't work for them. LOL

I haven't seen the gold color but I have silver/blue, silver/purple and firetiger in 1/8 oz. I also have red/black in 1/16 oz and 1/4 oz. You sound like you have alot more ice fishing experience than me walleye37. I've only been out 4 or 5 times and i'm trying to give people advice

Well rivermaster, it might be I do. I started down this track behind my dad, when I was 6 years old. Wading through snow to some Speckled lake. Can't remember where we went. Probably toward Bancroft. That was 51 years ago. I haven't always ice fished. I fished Jack's in Apsley in the early 80's Then in 84 I built a fibregalss ice fishing rod. 32", and I put a Mitchell 4410 on it. Way to big now. That was before you could buy one in stores. I didn't use it till 2002. But, now I make up for the lost time. But don't let a lackof experience stop you from speaking out. You might know the one thing that brings all my efforts together. Just one thing can be important. I was at a Bob Izumi seminar in the early 90's, and he admitted a whole evening of information can be intimidating. He said if you remember just one thing, then the evening was a success. Start adding all your just one things, and together with what you can gleam from this site, and pretty soon, it's a lot. I like gold in stained waters, and that's us in the Kawarthas. Despite the zebra mussel, weedy areas with soft bottoms are going to be stained. The gold flash defeats that better than silver. Just my belief, and I read it somewhere else. But your firetiger would be bright enough. Your s/b, and s/p would be a good bet in waters harboring shad, alewifes, and ciscoes. They are also good Walleye baits. The red, and black would work all of these different lake types. Now the only question I would ask, is when are we gonna get some safe ice???

Pretty much all of the info you need has been said but I would like to add that glow in the dark,, jigs work incredibly well too. The three of us put 28 slabs, and I mean slabs, in a bucket and we could of had more but once we had a big pile going we would replace smaller fish with a bigger one, otherwise known as culling.

Sounds awesome I haven't had a day like that yet but I probably will this year.

@River Master I'm sure you will, it's a right place right time sort of thing, and of course luck comes into play too. For us we won a free hut rental,lucky, and were put on a good spot,lucky again lol.

Good point, and too add this. I use Northland jigs, and High Tech. The Northland uses a paint finish called Superglo, and H.T. calls theirs techniglow. The H.T. stay charged for longer, and radiate the true colour. The red jigs glow red. Superglo have red, blue, and green painted jigs, but the green glow comes through. Maybe fish can see the actual colour, not sure. The longest glow comes from a Blue Fox Flash Spoon. Mine is kind of a firetiger, and it has rattles.