Good day out crappie fishing

Wanted to go for some crappie today. Usually if I go ice fishing for crappie I go first light. Today I decided to go for sunset instead. I haven't been too happy with my regular haunts the past couple seasons so I wanted to go in the afternoon to scout out some new areas and hopefully find a decent spot to be setup on for when the evening bite started up.
Drilled some holes and dropped the camera and finder in a few spots. Found a healthy weed bed that started in about 6ft or water and finished off in about 11ft off a deeper flat. There were a few small fish in the shallows before the weed bed and at the inside edge, but the outside edge was marking more and within a few minutes of jigging a freedom minnow there I was able to pull up a nice midday crappie so I figured I had found my evening spot.
I thought about moving out to poke around the deeper flat to see if I could find any suspended schools while I waited for the sun to lower, but there was enough activity on the fish finder to keep me in one place. Over the next two hours I caught a few perch, sunfish and largemouths. The biggest largemouth was a nice three pounder that put up a heck of a fight. Got him on my new ghost free fall reel, and was very pleased with how the drag on the reel performed. Second largemouth was about 1lb and the third was small enough that he could have been a meal for the crappie! Thought about keeping a couple of sunfish but decided it was crappie or nothing. Two hours after the first crappie without any others I was beginning to wonder if it was such a smart idea to keep the one and let go the sunfish.
As the sun started to get lower in the sky, the fish finder started getting even busier all across the water column and I started bringing up crappie after crappie. In less than an hour I had my limit. I was having too much fun and didn’t want to call it quits so I stayed for some catch and release fun. Called it a day at 5:45 as the bite had slowed and the wind had really picked up and I was tired and wanted to head home. In a little over two hours I had managed to catch around two dozen keeper sized crappie and a couple of smaller ones as well. Definitely happy with my decision to try to find a new spot.
MVP of the day was a silver 1 1/2” freedom minnow on my ticklestick with the frabill 361 reel. That combo caught most of the crappie while there was still some light out (a few others were caught on my second line which was a blue ice rod dead sticking a couple soft plastics). Once it got dark I switched to the ghost free fall on a lightning stick with either a fire tiger ultralight rippin rap or a glow orange buck shot rattle spoon with a dropper chain. The rippin rap brought in the three biggest crappie of the evening, all of which were after I got my limit so they all got a “get out of the frying pan for free” card.

Will finish off this long report with a few pics to reward those who stayed with it to the end! Here's the first crappie I caught, next to the ghost/lightning setup with a vmc flash champ (this is what the biggest largemouth was caught on a few minutes later, no pics of him since he was out of season).

Took a quick break from the action to get a picture of my take home before it got too dark out.

This guy absolutely inhaled the rippin rap. Just love aggressive takes!

Good to see the porn....you had a nice day.

Yes sir! Nice report! Glad you found some! Keep it coming!

Nice job on the crappie. Well done. That’s the way they are. Just when you go to move or leave, they turn on.

Dave

Always nice when a plan comes together like that. Great report Elrik, looks like you found yourself a new honey hole

Great report! I’m gonna get out Sunday, you’re making me want to go for crappies now lol.

Fantastic report... Excellent read..

That is how you do it and what makes finding your own honey holes and fishing so rewarding.

A little leg work goes a long way..

Nice haul and enjoy the crappie

We'll hook up this winter on Simcoe and give those jumbo perch a try..

Great report!

Thanks a lot.

Sounds like a plan!

Thanks for the pics and report looks like finding a new spot paid off!

well done! nice looking slabs.

Good report. I'm on the verge of finding a good spot. I've landed a few crappie but need to get consistent action. I just bought a small camera so that should make it a lot faster eliminating unproductive water. Anxious to try it Saturday.